Deep Rooted Wines Journey to the Centre of the Universe Blanc Fumé 2021
This wine stopped me in my tracks at a tasting at the beginning of this year. The winemaker was a gem...friendly, passionate and kind. I don’t usually take home pamphlets (a side effect of my day job as a graphic designer), but I took one to ensure that I remembered him. Luckily, I spotted this at Vino Pronto a few weeks/months ago and had the chance to relive what made me pause in the middle of hundreds of people elbowing each other to taste wine.
The Wine:
The deeper colour hints at more going on with this Sauvignon Blanc. A fairly pronounced nose leads you down a path of fresh grass, asparagus, some sweet hay, gentle honey (less pretty than honeysuckle), oats, cooked apples, a sprinkle of cinnamon. Okay fine, it’s cooked oats layered in poached apple slices with a drizzle of honey and a halfhearted dusting of cinnamon! It’s round and deep.
Dry, with less acid than you’d expect but still has a definite metallic tartaric acid erm acidity. Weightier than you’d expect. Creamier than you’d expect. Some grapefruit peel texture that I didn’t expect! A decent finish that counts as long when you focus on the toffee apple flavours. And for all these reasons, I turned around and spoke to the winemaker because this was kewl!
Apples, honey, tinned pineapples, metallic, burnt sugar...you want to hold this on your tongue for the sensation...it’s invigorating and intriguing. It evolves from the cooked apples, honey, tinned pineapples...through to the metal...until you land in burnt sugar toffee wonderland...all in one small sip. I will say that this dies down by Day 2...so explore this wonderland quickly.
Vini + Viti:
A blend of three parcels of Sauvignon Blanc from the Sondagskloof, Stanford Foothills and Klein River Lagoon wards within Walker Bay.
Two parcels were whole bunch pressed, the third was crushed and left on the skins for 6 hours before pressing. Natural fermentation in 500L old French oak barrels. The wine remained on the gross lees for 10 months before bottling.
RS: 1.5 g/L | pH : 3.32 | TA : 5.7 g/L
Final Thoughts:
The winemaker had this to say:
This wine is the story of how I came to find my place in Walker Bay. After seven years of challenging exploration, working and immersing myself in many great wine regions around the world, I came home. I discovered the incredible cool-climate vineyards of the Cape South Coast. The wildness of this place, from its abundance of fynbos to the roaring wind and sea, creates a desolate landscape that is difficult to cultivate and requires a close relationship with nature in order to thrive.
I loved this wine!
It’s sophisticated and reserved and has a quiet magic that I only find in my favourite wines. I struggle to define ‘magic’...for now, it means ‘memorable’ to me...the potential of a distinctive style...something that makes me raise my eyebrows, head back to ask questions, and an instant purchase at my favourite wine store. A journey, indeed.
Find the Wine:
www.deeprooted.wine , though I picked this up from VinoPronto.
