Description
Cartology is a vinous exploration of Cape heritage. It’s intended to be a picture of the Cape seen through the lens of her old vineyards in a given vintage. The cuveé is composed of rare and extraordinary parcels of mature dryland bushvines, of heritage grapes, namely Chenin Blanc and Sémillon. These grapes have been planted in the Cape for centuries. Cartology has become our staple offering. It serves as a poster child for our project, and also seems to have become a flag bearer for Cape heritage wine in general.
As a rule, the Cartology parcels are dry farmed bushvines, with a minimum age of thirty-five years, although most are between forty and fifty years old. Average yields for these parcels is around 3 tons/Ha or around 20hl/Ha.
Cartology 2021 is 90% Chenin blanc and 10% Sémillon. The Chenin comes from our parcels in the Skurfberg, Malmesbury, Perdeberg, Bottelary, Upper Blaauwklippen, False Bay and Tygerberg. The Sémillon comes from the old La Colline block in Franschhoek.
The nose is detailed and beautiful – ripe pear and sweet herbs, both citrus juice and rind. The palate is very pure and true, fine boned clarity, lovely proportions, no extra weight (unlike myself). This vintage shows good intensity and saline length. For me, the key word for this vintage is purity. This wine is already drinking well in its youth, but will reward maturation.
