La Bri Viognier
Description
The Harvest
Handpicked during last week of February.
In the Cellar
Overnight cold storage of the grapes to preserve the fruit character during whole bunch pressing. After settling, the clear juice was racked off its gross lees into three 2nd fill French oak barrels. The wines were aged for 12 months before bottling.
Botanical Sketch
Each of our wines is linked to a specific flower – the characteristics of the wine are symbolized by that particular flower on the label.
One of the most striking and unusual of our Cape, winter rainfall bulbous plants - very few can beat it for sheer brilliance of flower. An extremely rare, unique and difficult plant to grow that offers much satisfaction if achieved. As with Viognier, which is fairly rare in South Africa and is completely unique depending on the style of winemaking and approach to making this wine.
Alcohol 13,14%, pH3,9, RS 1,5 g/l, total acid 4,0g/l
Awards
620 bottles produced Limited Release
Platter Wine Guide 4.5* - 93 points
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The crux of the La Bri renaissance began with the 2008 harvest, the first to be crushed in the new, modern 120 tonne cellar on the Estate.
The new cellar has unique circular design and boasts a gravity-fed winemaking process. This allows the team to focus on producing limited volumes of superior quality, elegant wines, that people want to drink and enjoy.
To this end, the grapes and wine are, where possible, moved by gravity in order to minimise the use of pumps. To protect and preserve the fruit’s freshness, all grapes are hand-picked and stored overnight in a cold room. The red grapes are then sorted, first as bunches and then as berries, after which they are hoisted in a satellite tank and tipped into fermentation tanks. A pneumatic punch-down system allows for constant skin contact with the fermenting juice, which in turn allows for the maximum extraction of colour. Automated temperature controls built into the tanks ensure ideal fermentation temperatures, while individually programmed pressing cycles ensure the optimum recovery of quality juice.
The 15 hectares of vineyards at La Bri grow in diverse soil types from sandy loam to deep and rich alluvial soils. This allows for the range of Grape varieties grown from Cabernet sauvignon to Viognier.
The myth that great wine can’t be grown in the Franschhoek Valley is rapidly losing traction. We believe that the terroir in the upper reaches of the Valley offers sufficient diversity in the climate and soil. This aspect, when combined with meticulous vineyard management practices and artisanal winemaking, can produce outstanding wines. The Franschhoek Valley wines are well capable of competing with the best wines South Africa has to offer.
Each La Bri wine has its own Cape flower on the label, with the exception of the Syrah, which appropriately features herbs.