16 March 2004

The original Cellar Hands’ Blend came about largely by accident – press wine from the 2002 vintage that was tossed together by the Cloof cellar team and then aged in French Oak barrels. Not only have we loved the extreme concentration of this wine, but international response has been such that we are busy working on the blend that will make up the 2004 version of this wine.

The basis is press wine – the last, most concentrated drops of wine we squeeze out of the skins at a pressure of nearly two atmospheres. Along with all the flavour comes more tannin. Spending a year in barrel is therefore important for this wine, because the tannins soften through a process of gentle oxidation. Harvesting ripe fruit means that the tannins start off being chunky rather than astringent. Balance on the palate is assured by the extreme concentration of our fruit from dryland bush vines.

This year we’ve taken in some Tinta Barroca grapes. When the grapes came into the cellar there was a brief discussion about fermenting this juice on Pinotage skins (like Ripassa from Veneto), but for technical reasons the idea was discarded. As it turns out, the Tinta has ended up with the Pinotage anyway, giving an exotic fruitiness to the 2004 Cloof Cellar Blend.

The blend is awaiting Merlot and Cabernet press wine, and will then be transferred to barrel.