Vintage Cuvée

Shrimp and shellfish, smoked salmon, caviar, fried calamari, and oysters.

Le Lude a wine farm in the picturesque Franschhoek Valley of South Africa’s Western Cape follows an ethos committed to its founding family and the crafting of naturally bottle-fermented sparkling wines known as Cap Classique. Here the Barrow family have made their home writing a new chapter in a premier wine region where French Huguenots fleeing persecution for their religious beliefs landed in the Cape and began making wines in Franschhoek as far back as 1693. Today Le Lude builds on this important vinous tradition by specialising in Cap Classique ensuring that grapes expressing site and terroir are coaxed into a premium product of unrivalled excellence. Innovation in the cellar and the restless un-comprising pursuit of perfection in the bottle have made Le Lude one of the world’s most exciting new producers of Cap Classique a wine becoming internationally renowned for finesse elegance and refinement. The pioneering approach of Le Lude is underscored by it being the first cellar to produce an Agrafe® (Tirage Liège) Cap Classique paving the way for a sector of the South African wine industry on the road to greatness.

The grapes are hand harvested early in the morning and packed into shallow picking crates. Grapes are stored in the cold room to reduce core berry temperature before pressing. The grapes are loaded for whole bunch pressing. 3 Different quality fractions are selected at pressing. Cuvée – high quality free run juice, Première Taille Deuxieme Taille. Only Cuvée juice is used in the Vintage blend. The clean juice goes through a cool fermentation. A small fraction of the Chardonnay portion is fermented in 3rd – 4th fill French oak barrels and the large majority is fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. No lees contact is given post fermentation. Malolactic fermentation is avoided. The final blend is made up from various parcels that were kept separate throughout production. This allows for unique terroir characteristics to be expressed within the blend. Tirage takes place on crown cap to control the rate of gas exchange and ensure optimal ageing.