2018 Tokara Director's Reserve Red

This wine is a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot, 8% Merlot, 4% Cabernet-Franc and 4% Malbec. The grapes originated from TOKARA’s premium vineyards on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain outside of Stellenbosch.

Displaying an appealing red claret colour with an intense centre and a ruby rim. The nose showcases complex aromas of ripe red and black fruits with hints of dried cranberry, baking spice and graphite. The wine enters the palate with incredible purity and focus. Flavours are those of dark cherries, blackberries and ripe plum skin. Sumptuous and full there is a hint of spice on the mid-palate which leads to fine, firm tannins on the finish.

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Viticulture

Only grapes from the best blocks and from the best parts of these blocks were used. The average yield is between 5 and 10 t/ha. The grapes were hand-picked at optimal ripeness between the 14th of February and the 28th of March.

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Vinification

The grapes were de-stemmed, before first passing across a mechanical sorting table and then a further hand sorting table before being crushed directly into tanks for fermentation using gravity feed and no pumps. There is a period of cold maceration for up to 5 days before the fermentation starts spontaneously (without the use of selected yeast strains). The grapes were fermented in stainless steel and wooden upright (foudre) fermenters. Pump-overs, délestage and punching down of the cap were implemented twice a day for extraction until fermentation was complete. The tanks were given maceration post fermentation if the quality and tannin profile of the wine warranted it. The wine was put to barrel for malolactic fermentation after which it was racked, sulphured and put back to barrel for further maturation. The wine spent a total of twenty-two months in 54% new French oak - the rest being older French oak barriques. During maturation the wines received four racking’s, all done barrel to barrel. The wine was bottled in January 2020 without fining and a light filtration.

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Recommendation

Grilled ribeye steak served with Béarnaise sauce, and potato Dauphinoise.