Our Wines
The Portfolio
Our portfolio focuses on Pinotage and, increasingly, Chenel as indigenous South African grape varieties. The biography of these new varieties has already been mentioned in the chapter “Viticulture”. Pinotage in particular is not undisputed, is often perceived as immature and bitter or accused of having a burnt rubber taste. In fact, it is not easy to achieve good Pinotage, because especially in warmer growing areas the physiological ripeness is often reached when the sugar content is too high and almost raisinous, and, in general, the concern about the risk of excessive yield losses due to bringing in the grapes late often leads to premature harvesting.
Elsewhere, it is therefore common practice for the production of “modern” Pinotage to gather the berries when they are not yet fully ripe and then macerate them at high temperatures for just a very short time, in order to extract only the colour and then press them immediately.
The must is then fermented, mostly using industrial aromatic yeasts and with the addition of bought-in tannins, the wine is, in the truest sense of the word, “made”, sometimes even chocolaty or tuned towards coffee – but not translating the terroir and not reflecting the particular piece of soil from which the grapes do come from.
Springfontein goes a different way. With our calcareous soils and cool micro-climate, we give the grapes the time on the vine they need, so that stems, skins and pips can prove what they are really made of, even or particularly the Pinotage. With the aim of putting this proof to the test, we distinguish four basic product families amongst our wines, all of them vegan bio from strictly organic viticulture and vinification.
Ulumbaza
Our bottlings of the “Ulumbaza” family aim in the same sensory direction as the “Terroir Selection”, only that these are cuvées. The special thing about them is that they all contain Pinotage. This is true for the Ulumbaza Red anyway, but also for the Ulumbaza Pink, a rosé that we do not create as saignée, so not as a by-product of red wine production, but as an independently macerated wine, usually with Merlot as a partner.
This is equally true for the Ulumbaza White, in which the Pinotage component was obtained naturally as Blanc de Noir without any filtration or use of activated carbon.
Limestone Rocks
Also all of them Pinotage cuvées, the “Limestone Rocks” are rather fleshy and voluminous and bursting with power without missing the minerality that characterizes our terroir. They are created with a maximum of manual work, mature for a long time in barriques before bottling and then, once filled, for many more months in our cellar before we finally release them.
Single Vineyard
Terroir wines in the narrowest sense of the word are finally the Springfontein Crus identified as “Single Vineyard”. Evidently, the grapes here come from a selected, precisely defined and controlled parcel. In order to achieve such a status, such parcel must stand out among the plots of land in its surroundings, be it through extraordinary concentration in the soil, be it through the specific orientation towards the sun, be it through the peculiarities of wind or weather, so that it is really worthwhile to make the greatest effort to work out this very special characteristic by hardest oenological labour.
This is equally true for the Ulumbaza White, in which the Pinotage component was obtained naturally as Blanc de Noir without any filtration or use of activated carbon.
Daredevils’ Drums
Finally, the “Daredevils’ Drums Blushes Inverse”, a pure Blanc de Noir from Pinotage, seems to be a bit out of the ordinary. The secret of how we vinify the must here in a very natural way and without the usual use of activated charcoal, which inevitably would filter out more than just the colorants, should any interested party inquire on-site at Springfontein from one of our wine ambassadors or ambassadresses.
In addition, we often divert small batches, albeit in almost homeopathic quantities, from those wines that are generally intended for cuvée making
with Pinotage. The few brothers and sisters of the Blushes Inverse, which are bottled separately in this way and are single varietal wines themselves, also come under the umbrella of the “Daredevils’ Drums”. And in addition to this, made depending on a vintage’s specific circumstances, you may find the one or the other “Special Reserve” which, however, is mainly reserved for enjoyment “on the spot” – on Springfontein Estate itself.
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