Dimension

A wine this well put together calls for the rare extravagance of roasted marrow bones alongside a piquant parsley salad and crispy sourdough toast. Savour the smoky flavours of aged rump charred over the coals or a warm salad of biltong, butternut and burnt figs. Venison curry brings another dimension to the table.

Iconic moments happen around tables. Over the past few decades, Du Toitskloof has earned and enjoyed a profound place at South African tables. Du Toitskloof Wines sources the majority of their grapes for their ranges from the Breedekloof valley, all within a 10km radius of the cellar. This sees to it that all the grapes share similar soil types and micro-climates. With a large array of different terroirs, the cellar makes wine with grapes that have grown along cool mountain slopes, in alluvial soils with high water-retention capabilities as well as sandy and rocky soils.

Vines are grown in sandy and rocky soils. Controlled irrigation is applied as moisture levels are measured by neutron hydrometers. Leaf canopies are carefully managed to ensure the berries receive adequate sunlight. Grapes come from trellised vineyards and bush vines.

After initial fermentation for 6-7 days, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and is aged for 16 months in 80% French oak and 20% American oak before bottling.

More or less the same method of vinification is used with all the cultivars. Grapes are harvested when reaching optimum physiological ripeness at 25° Balling. After crushing and de-stemming, the mash is cold-soaked for 3 days. Fermentation follows with rotor tanks turned every 4-6 hours.