A complex straw wine with delightful soft peach aromas and an earthy richness.
Vineyard: Sweet Carolyn is a Straw wine, consisting primarily of Muscat de Frontignan and a little old vine Chenin Blanc. An enormously labour intensive process, much of this wine is quite literally made in the vineyards.
The process begins by crimping the stems of the Chenin Blanc grapes. This crimping process stops the supply of water to the bunch, causing the berries to dessicate on the vine. Crimping is done before the grapes are fully ripe and still high in natural acidity. The crimping process therefore concentrates both the sugar and the acidity.
The latter grapes, ie the Muscat grapes, are allowed to become over ripe on the vine. This over ripening process promotes the sweet pumpkin and apricot flavours. The grapes are then harvested at the same time and placed on beds of straw in our old wooden sheds. The straw helps disperse moisture and prevent rot. It is important that there is good aeration during the drying phase. This raisining process takes approximately 2 weeks.
Winemaking: Finally we are able to “begin” making the wine. The grapes are destemmed and crushed, but because they are dry, almost no juice is released. In order to extract all the sugar and as much of the juice as possible, the wine is allowed to ferment for at least a week on the skins before being pressed. This pressed juice is sent directly to barrel to complete its fermentation.
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