Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

A fantastic companion to most meat dishes

Kleine Zalze wines are marked by a classical structure and complexity matched by a vibrant flavour intensity. Discernibly South African in style, they are refreshing, beautifully balanced and well-suited to food. Our wines are made according to traditional methods with minimal cellar intervention, but supported by modern equipment.

The fruit for this wine were sourced from 2 specific vineyard blocks on our farm and two small parcels from the slopes of the Helderberg and Helderberg basin. 2018 started off with a bang and everything looked set for a short intense harvest. Although we were at the end of a 3 year drought we had moderate temperatures and small spells off rain that was enough to keep the vineyards happy. This prolonged the ripening period and thus ensured amazing flavour development in these grapes.

After primary fermentation the grapes were gently pressed and transferred to 300l French oak barrels; 70% new, 30% 2nd and 3rd fill, for 18 months before final blending took place.

After de-stemming only (no crushing) the grapes were fermented in a combination of stainless-steel tanks and traditional open-top fermenters. We used a combination of “punch- downs” and “pump-overs” at different stages in fermentation and tried to extract a lot of flavour and tannin at the beginning of fermentation. Towards the end of the process we drastically reduced the extraction and usually limit it to only one pump-over per day not to over extract the wine and ensure we achieve the best balance.