2010 Quando Vineyards, Sauvignon Blanc, Robertson, South Africa

One of only 2 wines produced by brothers Fanus and Martin Bruwer in the Robertson Valley, about 150km east of Cape Town, on a farm which also features citrus fruits, apricots and a Friesian dairy herd. Unusually, an old-fashioned manual circular press, called old Bessie, is used to crush the grapes, and the juice is then fermented in tank at low temperature.

The wine is then left in tank for a further 2 months in contact with its lees to extract additional complexity through yeast autolysis, during which time it falls naturally bright because of the cold ambient temperature of the farm in winter.

The flavour is somewhat unusual, with stone-fruit such as peach more to the fore than the typical gooseberry. The wine has a wonderful freshness, is less pungent than a New Zealand example, and shows a wonderfully pleasing vitality and crispness.
(Alun Griffiths MW – BBR Wine Director)