De Toren - Z, Stellenbosch - 2016 (750ml)

Wine Composition

51% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot

Winemakers Comments

This soft, approachable ruby-hued beauty is a true testament to vines lovingly reared and winemaking raised to an art form. A Right Bank-style Bordeaux blend, De Toren Z comprises a symphonic blend of five Bordeaux varietals. You’ll find it tantalizingly soft on the tongue, with a hint of aniseed, liquorice, raspberry and cranberries lending a fresh acidity to its polished finish… plus, of course, all the finesse that makes Bordeaux-style wines so prized among the world’s most enthusiastic wine lovers.

Awards

Tim Atkins | 93 points

Wine Spectator | 91 points

Technical Analysis

Alcohol Percentage

14.5%

TA

5.5 g/l

pH

3.53

RS

2.9 g/l

Maturation

Aged in a climatized barrel room (16 degrees Celsius at 80% humidity) for 12 months in 225L French and American Oak. Malbec had the benefit of American Oak. 

To release all the flavors please decant at least one hour before consumption. It is recommended to serve this wine at optimal temperature (15-18 degrees Celsius).

Winemaker

Name: Martin Fourie

Winery

The truth is in the vine. The guiding philosophy that elevated this boutique estate into one of South Africa’s most respected premium wine producers. De Toren began with a view. Enchanted by the estate’s panoramic vistas stretching from the Helderberg, over False Bay and across to Table Mountain and recognising the untapped potential of this unique site, the foundation for De Toren’s innovative approach to crafting world-class Bordeaux-style wines, was laid. Working closely with academics from the Stellenbosch University, an extensive soil analysis of the property embarked. A dozen sampling holes were dug on each hectare of the farm, treble the wine industry’s standard practice. Across the estate’s 25 hectares, 15 separate soil types were identified and ultimately 25 clones across the five classic Bordeaux varieties were planted. Here this philosophy of craftsmanship and exceptional care was born and was applied to everything we have done ever since.De Toren believes that complexity can be found through design. The estate’s vineyards were designed from the ground up to produce world-class wines and enormous attention was given to where and how each vineyard was planted. The design of our iconic Left- and Right-Bordeaux styled blends were planned and decided upon after which the vines were planted to match the make-up of these wines. Crafting a blended wine is like painting, with each texture, aroma and flavour being a different colour. The De Toren palette is made up of a selection of soils, rootstocks, vines, cultivars and barrels. We utilised 25 different clones across the five noble Bordeaux varieties which includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot which were matched to 10 different rootstocks, before being planted across fifteen different soil types. Each variety, clone and rootstock were matched to the optimal soil type to gain as much complexity from the vineyard as possible.