Aidan 2017
R300,00
The AIDAN 2017 is, despite its youth, incredibly elegant. It shows upfront characteristics of blackcurrant with subtle nuances of star anise, white pepper and clove on the nose. The concentration of fruit on the nose unwinds onto a generous palate with further layers of dark fruit and morish plum providing a juicy tartness to the wine’s supple, silky smooth texture.
14.5
ALC
5.0
TA
3.71
pH
0.62
VA
2.40
RS
Words from our winemaker, Megan:
The Vintage
The 2017 vintage was exceptional. The preceding growth season saw winter arriving slightly late, though providing enough cold units to break dormancy. A timely Spring and a warmer-than-usual August induced early, even bud burst in our earlier varieties. A cool September had the later varieties hang back, where budburst followed the usual cycle. October and November brought large diurnal shifts with cool nights and warmer, drier, days – greatly beneficial for flowering and berry set.
The dry season resulted in healthy vineyards with low disease pressure and very little risk for rot. Furthermore, dry conditions resulted in healthy grapes and small, concentrated berries. Substantial variation between night and day temperatures during ripening promoted colour and flavor formation, whilst allowing grapes to preserve higher levels of acidity. Harvest kicked off on time. Though a dry season, the average temperatures during the 2017 harvest period were lower than usual, allowing for the grapes to ripen more slowly and benefit from the longer hang time in the vineyard. Exceptional stuff.
The Wine
The grapes were hand harvested, gently destemmed and berry-sorted before being batch-vinified in small fermentation vessels. The wine was matured in 225L French oak barrels (50% new, 37% second fill and 13% third fill) for 18 months before bottling and is unfined and only lightly filtered.
The AIDAN 2017 is, despite its youth, incredibly elegant. It shows upfront characteristics of blackcurrant with subtle nuances of star anise, white pepper and clove on the nose. The concentration of fruit on the nose unwinds onto a generous palate with further layers of dark fruit and morish plum providing a juicy tartness to the wine’s supple, silky smooth texture.
