Flagstone Dragon Tree Reserve 2001

50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Pinotage – The concept behind this wine was to push the logistical boundaries of our Flagstone Winemaking technique to the limit. We picked Pinotage off our favourite vineyard in the Bottelary Hills on the 15th of February 2001. The grapes were sorted, cooled to zero degrees and de-stemmed into a Flagstone open-top fermenter. There they lay for two months at zero degrees until we picked the same tonnage of grapes from our favourite Cabernet vineyard in the Kuils River foothills. After sorting, the grapes were de-stemmed and fed by gravity into the same open-top fermenter. The cooling was switched off and cold-soak punch-downs began immediately. The whole berry mash took a further seven days to warm up to the temperature where spontaneous fermentation started. Fermentation was fairly rapid thereafter, rising to thirty-two degrees centigrade. The wine was pressed off just before primary fermentation was complete, straight into new American, one new French and one second fill French barrel. There it remained for the next eighteen months on its primary lees, undergoing malolactic fermentation in the barrel. Lees were stirred periodically and the wine received a rough pad filtration prior to bottling under screw-cap. Tasting note: Dense, dark red colour. On the nose, intense wild blackberry jumps out of the glass. This is backed up by toasty and ripe spicy plum and raspberry. The palate is as intriguing as it is balanced with loads of character. Black cherry, vanilla, chocolate chip muffin, cloves, toffee and just a hint of hedonistic animal magnetism.

Winemaker: Bruce Jack – Re…