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Vergelegen's winemaking philosophy is simple : there must be harmony between the old and the new.  

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 1996

Our second Cabernet Sauvignon. We feel it has a distinctive style and await future vintages with interest to confirm whether this is the character of Vergelegen Cabernet. It has a beautiful ripe cherry colour and lovely sweet brambly fruit that, with the toasty wood, gives an impression of chocolate. Soft and medium bodied.
Fruity and soft enough to be delicious with ragout of rabbit and oyster mushrooms. It should not overpower flavourful salads and though it will complement beef and pork beware of very strong sauces.

AWARDS

  SA Airways Winelist Awards 1999 :

Origin

 

From Vergelegen's high-lying Cabernet vineyards surrounding the winery. The soils are deep, stony and well-drained and temperatures remain moderate. In 1996 these vineyards were five and six years old and bore around 4 tons/ha. The Merlot v

Vinification

 

We set out to express the individual character of each vineyard and therefore vary winemaking techniques accordingly. Picking dates are determined by tasting the grapes and in 1996 the grapes were picked in March / April.  Generally all the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet franc was crushed and destalked and fermented at around 28?C while the Merlot was destalked and only partially crushed and fermented cooler. Where possible malo-lactic fermentation was completed in barrels. The separate batches spent between nine and ten months in barrels, receiving one racking off the lees with aeration during that time. Most barrels were second fill and older French Oak. The components were blended at the end of 1996 and returned to barrel for a further two months before the wine was fined with egg white, given a coarse filtration and bottled.

Composition

 

85 % Cabernet Sauvignon
9 % Merlot
6 % Cabernet franc  

Analysis

 

13.8 % Alc
1.9 g/l RS
5.9 g/l TA

Maturation

 

Ready now, certainly even better next year and should peak at around five years.