Percheron Old Vine Cinsault

Intro to Percheron Old Vine Cinsault –

Percheron Old Vine Cinsault is made from gnarly 40 year old bush vines – an elegant national treasure from dry grown coastal vineyards.

Full tasting note and wine making –

Percheron Old Vine Cinsault is made from a variety – Cinsault – that is now a very bright star in South Africa’s
modern wine making. Crushed for flavour not colour, this 40 year old unirrigated bush vine wine sucks only from the rocks underground. Bright, expressive and gently savoury on the nose. Along with its blushing hue, the palate rewards with fresh pomegranate flavour and acidity, savoury gamey notes, and a bright, beating heart of cherry ripe fruit. Slightly chilled with pink duck, pink lamb or carpaccio of beef, this is a beautifully defined expression of South Africa’s most achingly fashionable varietal.

No irrigation is used on the vineyards and very little crop control is needed due to the age of the vines naturally restricting yield. All grapes are harvested by hand. Cinsault has bewilderingly been overlooked for so long in the Cape but is a grape variety we have proudly been championing for years – so it’s great that this voice of the Cape’s cool Atlantic vineyards is finally finding favour with wine drinkers. The vines are mostly 40 year old bush vines from hidden corners of the Cape. No irrigation is used on the vineyards and very little crop control is needed due to the age of the vines naturally restricted yield. The climate is perfect for viticulture with the low rainfall in summer months,
tempered by cool afternoon breezes and the cold winters allowing the vines to rest and to build up reserves. All grapes are picked by hand at optimal phenolic ripeness, followed by a fermentation using delestage in which the juice is oxygenated which brings a lower concentration of tannins and a higher concentration of esters, key compounds that contribute fruitiness. The result is a wine, in which red fruit dominates full off and which is full of juiciness.

The producer –

Boutinot South Africa is driven by a passion for discovery and desire to capture the real essence of South Africa in every bottle. It was the simple love of Loire Chenin Blanc that first led them to South Africa in 1994, where they pioneered the wild ferment style that has now been adopted by many producers in this region.

Since then they have been exploring the country’s amazing vineyards to make fabulous wines from specific sites and plots that scream location, location, terroir.. Our home-grown South African winemaking team of JD Rossouw, Ryno Booysen and Pierre Louw drive the energy and enthusasiam for expressing the loveliest wines from their country, along with Samantha Bailey’s expertise in finesse. The key is knowing the characteristics of each plot, understanding the benefits each cultivar can bring, breaking rules and pushing boundaries. We use a combination of knowledge, a love of nature and science to create versatile, expressive and food-friendly wines from a country that has been making wine for 360 years.

Drink with –

Delicious slightly chilled, this Cinsault’s bright, earthy notes and acidity marries beautifully with Asian duck dishes, pork belly, stir-fried beef and indeed carpaccio of tuna, beef or game.