De Waal Top of the Hill Pinotage 2015

The grapes for this wine was harvested on 17 February 2015 with 2 tonnes yield per hectare. The wine was fermented and macerated for a period of 14 days and matured for 18 months in 225-litre French barriques (100% new). The Top-of-the-Hill Pinotage wines consistently receive 4½ and 5 stars in John Platter’s Wine Guide, it was awarded the WINE magazine Pinotage Champion and it has received Double Gold medals at the Veritas Awards on numerous occasions. It has received the Pinotage Top 10 award 6 times. Chosen by European Gourmet journalist, Francesca Negri, in her Italian book in 2016 “1001 Wines to Enjoy once in a Lifetime”.

This Top of the Hill vineyard is producing less and less grapes as it becomes older. Fortunately, the wine made from these grapes are more complex and of higher quality than from younger vineyards. The location of vineyard, being 0.5 ha in size, is on warmer north facing slopes of the estate planted in gravel and loam soil type. The vines are 72 years old and the method of trellising is bush vines.

This wine can be enjoyed now, however, it can be matured for a further fifteen to twenty years if stored in the ideal conditions.

Pinotage

A fantastic food pairing to venison (Springbok and Kudu), an oxtail Pot and matured gruyere cheese.

De Waal Wines, situated on Uiterwyk Estate in the cool Stellenbosch Kloof Valley, has been a De Waal family concern since 1864. The experience waiting for the visitor is authentic and understated with personal attention from hands-on management. Owned by Pieter de Waal, this historic family legacy boasts nine generations of passionate winemakers, entirely focused on delighting their patrons by offering exceptional wines. The wines combine elegant Old World finesse and abundant New World fruit. De Waal's mature vineyards offer grapes that produce deep, rich wines fondly recalled for their consistent quality and enjoyment. De Waal is renowned for the classic style of its Pinotage wines, the only indigenous South African grape variety. CT de Waal, a family member, was the first person to make wine from Pinotage grapes in 1941. At the time when the two De Waal brothers, Danie and Koffie ("Coffee") planted the Top of the Hill vineyard in 1950, Pinotage was still a brand new variety. CT de Waal, their cousin, made the first Pinotage wine only 9 years earlier. Being such a new variety then, the two De Waal brothers were hesitant to replace their prized Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz vines with Pinotage. Therefore, they decided to plant only one hectare on an open piece of land, on top of a small hill next to a wild fig tree. The fig tree was planted by Danie de Waal as protection for vineyard workers against rain in winter. What they didn't know, was that their choice of location was exactly what Pinotage needs to make great wines: medium to poor soil, quite sandy and fairly deep with a clay layer at the bottom.