Steenberg - Magna Carta, Constantia - 2017 (750ml)

Wine Composition

60% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillon

Winemakers Comments

Our 2017 Magna Carta strongly reflects the Steenberg terroir and the warmer, drier growing season by displaying aromas and concentrated flavours of freshly cut orange, lemon cheesecake, summer melon, persimmon, honey, and white stone fruit.

The focus continues onto the palate where one finds an elegantly structured wine showing ground spice and fruit richness tempered by a zesty acidity that forms the wine’s backbone. It is nuanced and ever-evolving in the glass and shows beautifully now, but will gain complexity with cellaring. 

Awards

Tim Atkin | 94 points

Decanter World Wine Awards | 90 points

Technical Analysis

Alcohol Percentage

14.52%

TA

6.3 g/l

pH

3.27

RS

3.7 g/l

Cellar Techniques

The two varieties are harvested and vinified separately according to their unique style before blending. The Sauvignon Blanc portion is made from old vines harvested during the early morning at sugar levels of 23.5°-24B. Eighteen hour skin contact before pressing extracts mineral and green tones from the Sauvignon Blanc. The Semillon grapes are left to hang on the vine as long as possible to achieve full ripeness. The clean juice is fermented in 500l and 600l French oak barrels. The wine was left in barrel for a further 6 weeks with regular batonage – a total of two months in barrel from start of fermentation, through malo-lactic fermentation, to blending. After blending, the wine went back into barrel, a combination of 500l and 600l French oak barrels used, 30% new, 20% 2nd fill, 20% 3rd fill, 20% 4th fill, 10% 5th fill. The wine spent a further 7 months in barrel before fining and bottling at the end of November 2015 and has been maturing in bottle ever since.

Winemaker

JD Pretorius

Winery

Steenberg holds the distinction of being the oldest farm in the picturesque Constantia Valley, which is generally considered to be South Africa’s premier wine growing region. With its cool, sea-facing slopes and majestic granite ridges, this vineyard has developed a worldwide reputation for producing excellent Cape wines. The estate boasts a state of the art modern winery, producing some of the country’s finest award winning wines.