Riesling grapes are perfectly suited to cold climates and Riesling is known as an “Eskimo” variety. Since Elgin has cool daytime climate and cold nights during the growing season, it is perfectly suited to produce a Cape version of the famous German “Mosel” style.
The grapes are sourced from two vineyards. One is on a south-east facing slope in the Kogelberg Biosphere rich in plant diversity besides vineyards and the other site is on a higher, western slope close to the Groenlandberg spur section of the Hottentots Holland range that encircles the Elgin Valley.
Clusters were handpicked at 19.8o Balling into lug baskets and hand sorted. After pressing, the must was settled for two days and decanted off the solids where it was inoculated with a commercial yeast strain suited to this variety. The wine fermented cold (14°C) for 26 days until it reached the residual sugar required for sweetness to balance the acidity. The final wine was fined and lightly filtered to bottle.