ABOUT
Francois named the first vintage of Grenache after the birth of his son in 2017. It remains a vineyard that Francois has known well over the years seeing as the first red wine he had made under the Blackwater label was from this site. The Na-Bot Vineyard in Botrivier is owned by the Rupert family of La Motte in Franschhoek. The vineyard has been organically farmed for nearly ten years now and the shale and clay rich soils provide great water retention allowing very little, if any irrigation, to be needed.

The fruit was hand-harvested and primarily destemmed with half of the fruit being left intact. The whole-clusters were intermixed throughout the small parcel ferments and fermentation occurred in open-top stainless-steel tanks without any additions. Sporadic hand punchdowns were used along with daily pumpovers for a gentle but complete extraction of the alluring Grenache fruit. The juice remained on the skins for three weeks prior to being gently pressed to old French 500L barrels for maturation. A small addition of sulfur was added in the spring as the only disturbance to the barrels. After 16 months of aging the wine was naturally settled in tank and bottled without fining or filtration and just another very small addition of sulfur.

DATA
Grapes: 100% Grenache
Vineyard: La Motte's Na-Bot Vineyard
Vine Age: 15-years-old
Soil Type: Bokkevald shale intermixed with heavy red clay
Viticulture: Practicing organic
Fermentation: Native – open-top stainless-steel (50% whole-cluster)
Skin Contact: 3 weeks
Aging: 16 months in old French 500L barrels
Alcohol: 13.7%
pH: 3.55
Total Acidity: 5.3 g/L
Total SO2: 40 ppm
Total Production: 108 cases
UPC: 6009879826272

TASTING NOTE
This has an almost Pinot Noir-like appearance and bouquet. Tobacco, blackberry, and red cherry emerge on the nose, followed by a deeper, more complex palate, adding cassis and subtle forest floor to the mix. The wine glides away slowly, with a quite elegant and lightly gripping finish.