Agaat John David

Herb crusted debone leg of lamb cooked on the Weber with Moroccan couscous and roasted sweet potatoes.

Our wine affair starts with the story of us, as early as our grade eight years when we met. I always knew that I’d marry Hugo, he realized this later during our first year in Stellenbosch where we studied to become winemakers, ironically, this is also the place where we were romanced by the fruit of the vine. In 2010, in our spare time we bottled our first wine, Agaat was born, a Cape blend and ode to our family and friends that came before us and shared our dreams. It was only in 2013 that we made the big leap when Hugo decided to work full time on this part-time affair. I joined Hugo in 2017 after 8 years in wine quality assurance and compliance at Accolade Wines. Since then we have worked harder than we ever expected and learned even more, but we would do it all again if given the choice. Now years later the picturesque town of Wellington, South Africa is still our home and our family has grown to include two dogs and a cat and we are still getting great joy from this wine-life that we would like to share with you.

The wine matured for 18 months in a combination of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fill barrels, where it underwent malolactic fermentation. After this maturation period, a meticulous blending process was undertaken to craft this exceptional wine.

Each grape variety was meticulously hand-harvested at the peak of physiological ripeness and underwent a two-week fermentation process in small open-top stainless steel tanks maintained at temperatures between 25 °C and 26 °C. To achieve optimal extraction of color and tannins, pump overs and punch downs were performed every four hours until reaching 10°B. Following fermentation, the skins were pressed, and each varietal was transferred into carefully selected French barrels.