Pinot Noir Reserve

Grilled salmon or tuna. Lighter, mildly prepared beef of pork.

Kara-Tara is a joint-venture between Rüdger van Wyk (2018 Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year) and José Conde of Stark-Condé Wines. Translated from the Khoisan, the language from the first people in Southern Africa, it means “deep dark shadows” and refers to the Karatara river that runs through Rüdger’s home town, near Knysna which is located in South Africa, on the Cape South Coast, facing the Indian Ocean.

We received plenty of rain during the winter. Summer had a relatively cool start, with excellent canopy growth and fruit set. The combination of moderate to warm days, accompanied by cool, misty evenings made for even ripening in the vineyards. This vintage produced wines of great concentration and longevity. The vineyards is situated at 160m above sea level and planted in rocky shale soils. The isolated site has ideal conditions for growing Pinot Noir - it is a cool-climate site, surrounded by mountains and covered with a misty blanket of fog in the mornings.

The wine was barrel matured for 12 months in small French oak approximately 20% new and the balance in neutral oak.

All grapes were hand-picked into small lug-boxes. The grapes were destemmed and given hand punch-downs. About 20% of the wine was whole-bunched fermented.