Allée Bleue Wine South Africa Wins Silver at Decanter World Wine Awards 2012

Allée Bleue Wine South Africa - Shiraz 2010 wins Silver at Decanter 2012

Decanter is an up market magazine on wine and spirits, published in over 90 countries on a monthly basis. The magazine content includes news from the industry, vintage guides and wine recommendations. Decanter organizes the annual Decanter World Wine Awards. Visit Decanter Wikipedia

Wine South Africa & vintage: Shiraz 2010
Origin: Franschhoek
Label: Allée Bleue
Farm location: R45 Franschhoek Valley
Wine maker: Van Zyl Du Toit
Grape varieties: Shiraz
Style of wine: Barrel matured red wine
Vinification: Fermented in tank with temperatures peaking at 28°C.
Extended skin contact was done for 10 days after fermentation
Wood maturation: 70% New French oak with the rest 2nd and 3rd fill barrels.
10% was AWO
Winemaker’s notes: Intense deep red colour. A powerful bouquet of violets, spice and chocolate. The pallet is smooth and silky packed with berry fruit and spice nuances.
Analysis: Alcohol 14.8% vol
Residual Sugar 3.6 gm/l
Total Acidity 6.1gm/l
pH 3.4
Food paring: Ostrich kebabs basted with red currant jelly and freshly ground pink peppercorns and finished with a Shiraz reduction. Medallions of Springbok rubbed with cumin and flash roasted – served with spiced beetroot.

Allée Bleue Wine of South Africa - Best Value 2013 Award for Starlette Pinotage

Wine South Africa makes an incredibly wide variety of wines from a number of different grapes. As we've talked about in other parts of the site and our blogs we believe at Uncorked Ventures that some of the best International wines come right from our own backyard.

Luckily for wine drinkers South Africa produces two such grapes, that are both highly unusual:

Pinotage and Chenin Blanc (Post will follow on this amazing Chenin grape varietal)

Pinotage; Pinotage is a cross between Pinot Noir (a cold weather grape) and a French varietal that most a unfamiliar with, Cinsaut (a warm weather grape). Perhaps no other varietal in the world is as unique as Pinotage, as it seems growers in effect tried to create a grape that would grow perfectly in their unique climate. Pinotage also sometimes gives winemakers fits during the fermentation process, turning bad and being bottled only to yield a smell similar to paint. Your guess is as good as ours at this point about the future of Pinotage, but at Uncorked Ventures we certainly hope that worldwide winemakers are able to have more unique grapes and varietals, not less. Personally, I'd love to find a good producer of Pinotage, just for the conversation that it would create with friends and family. It is on my to-do list at present time.

Allée Bleue has been awarded The Best South African wines less than R80 in their Red Wine category Buy our Pinotage here for R32.00.

Dark chocolate and plums are the first things you encounter in the perfume, which prepare you for the delights to come. Despite its elegant body, there's depth, richness and intensity here that tells you there's a serious base under the eminent drinkability.  It's a balanced wine, nothing's out of place, all the elements work in harmony, which is why it is so appealing. On the other hand, Pinotage is famous for its ageing ability, and this one's pliable oak component makes it a worthy canditate for the further cellaring.

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Why Allée Bleue Wines South Africa can't go without Pruning of the vines

The care and maintenance of your grape vineyard is vital to the long term health of your vines, and ensures that they will continue to produce quality grapes for your South African wine - winemaking. Pruning grapes is the process that will ensure the best quality grapes and subsequently the best tasting South African wine possible.

 

Pruning is simply the process of removing unwanted parts of the plant to ensure that the goals we established for our vineyard are met. By pruning we can control the size and form of the vines, control the size and quality of grape production, and maintain a balance between vegetation and fruit.

Only new growth will produce grapes, so it is important that healthy new canes are produced each year. New growth may be held back if pruning is delayed during the dormant season. You want to plan your pruning to ensure that it is started early enough so that the entire vineyard is pruned properly and on time. Late pruning may cause the occurrence of harmless "bleeding". This modification helps in maintaining the vine's vigor and sufficient fruiting wood. Crop production is affected by either deficiency or excess of good fruiting wood.

 

What would happen if you didn't prune? Good question. You have probably experienced this in other areas of your garden. If you didn't take the time to prune your apple tree for example, the following year there were more apples on the tree than you could eat but they probably were not as sweet or as ripe. If grape vines are left un-pruned they will produce a bumper crop, however, the quality will significantly suffer. By producing so much fruit the vines do not have the energy to bring the grapes to the ripening stage...lots of grapes of poor quality is the result of neglecting vineyard pruning.

In fact, the purpose of pruning grapes is to remove as much as 95% o 98% of the previous year growth. This ensures that the balance of the vineyard is maintained between the correct amount of vegetation and the correct amount of fruit, and ensures the energy of the plant is funneled back into producing healthy, quality grapes for the following year.

It should be evident that pruning grapes is vital to the production of quality grapes. It takes quality grapes to make a quality wine of South Africa, so it goes that pruning directly affects the wine quality we are able to produce. This process will ensure the health of the vineyard and subsequently the best tasting wine possible.

Allée Bleue Wines: Wine of South africa