Jack & Knox | Green on Green
Semillon
This is a story of making wine with nature’s own protections, to lose as little as possible between vineyard and bottle.
The Green on Green project started, as in many successful ventures, with some innocent enquiries about unknown and unappreciated vineyards. This was the first contribution of Bruce Jack, the Cape’s original rebel winemaker, unable to accept the mediocrity of many of South Africa’s less fashionable white wines and raging about lost opportunities. His enquiries caught the ear of Graham Knox, Cape winewriter and entrepreneur who had spent most of the past decade looking for that great goal, the perfect spot for a particular variety.
Semillon, so often the under achiever among noble varieties, was once dominant in Cape vineyards, but had been replaced almost everywhere by the flexible, practical, ‘easy’ varieties. Fascinated by the ‘difficult to explain’, Graham’s attention had been caught in the mid ‘90’s by a Semillon vineyard in Wellington, Cape, seemingly overlooked for harvesting.
Twisted stems, curling and yellowing leaves sheltered a ripe crop of sugar-sweet grapes. The racy flavour of the succulent berries belied the stressed appearance. This was a vineyard under the protection of nature and Graham followed the fortunes of the juice and wine it produced in large commercial cellars when the picking team eventually got around to the job.
Graham introduced Bruce to the potential of the ‘Green on Green’ vineyard and the pair fashioned a quixotic venture to find out why Semillon had been the choice of the ancient artisanal winemakers, pre-stainless steel, pre-enzymes and fancy yeast strains.
Nature’s part in the plan involved the concentration of grape flavour and the protection of juice and wine from damage in the winery during the normal course of winemaking.
The Vineyard
From fruit set, the weaker vines had part of their crop cut away, to assist in the concentration of flavour, berry by berry.
There are 3 variations in soil in this small Wellington block. So grapes were harvested in 3 bursts, 8 days apart.
As the truck bearing the last of the lug boxes turned out of the vineyard into the main road headed for the winery, the farmer was finally allowed to switch on the water supply and the vineyard had the first drenching downpour for months.
The Cellar
The crushed grapes, (skins and juice) fell into a chilled tank without anything added. Skins remained in the juice for 22 hours.
After pressing, the juice was drained off into a tank under inert gas. Every drop of juice was squeezed from the skins. Free-run and pressed juice were to be fermented separately with the pressings alone acidified.
Both free-run and pressed juice were chilled to 0°c and left to settle without additives. The free-run juice took a week while the pressings took a further 3 days.
Once clarified, the liquid went into barrel. One third of the barrels were then inoculated with yeast, cask by cask. The majority of the barrels took their chance with whatever yeast was in the cellar atmosphere, or remained from the vineyard in the settled juice.
The barrels, 4/5 full, remained in the underground cellar at 12°c for over 6 weeks while fermentation meandered through to its sugarless finish. Then the barrels surfaced to the ambient temperature above ground cellar for malolactic fermentation. About 1/3rd of the barrels refused to convert the malolactic acid while the rest completed the process in about 3 weeks.
Though the juice had been thoroughly settled, 5% of the thick solids from the bottom of the tank were added back to every barrel before fermentation started.
Half of the wine was fermented in American oak with the rest in French oak. About 40% of the wood used was new. No lees were removed from the barrels during fermentation and maturation.
The only addition of sulphur involved 30 ppm to the juice after pressing, before settling, and half of this was precipitated and removed when the liquid was drained off the solids to go to barrels. The minute fraction of sulphur that remained is bound to the molecules. This wine has been protected from harm by unlimited contact with oxygen by using full containers, inert gas, low temperatures and the natural protective action of the wine lees.
Name
The wine’s ‘green’ theme has many origins. Semillon, it its haliyon days in the Cape, was known (and remained so until recently) as Groendruif (Green Grape).
The vineyard is located on the lower foothills of the Cape’s only Green Mountain (Groenberg). And every step of every process has followed a pattern of natural protection.
Consequently, the wine has a remarkable naturally green colour. And the flavour contains, in addition to citrus, honey and mushrooms, the most deliciously herbacious notes.
Green on Green
A celebration of the very best that our grandfathers knew… and that for one generation was filed away. And now, rediscovered.
Green on Green Semillon 2004 – Western Cape:
Tasting Notes:
The melon, lemon and honey nose is supported by a rich, fat, spicy mid-palate, followed by tight, herbacious and citrus flavours on the finish.
Components:
· Wellington Semillon 2004 (88%)
· Swartberg Sauvignon Blanc 2004 (6%)
· Swartberg Chenin Blanc 2004 (6%)
Vinification:
Grapes were hand picked on the 27th of February at 22.5ºB, after which it was stored in our cold room over night.Crushed & pressed to tank, very oxidative, before barrel down
Barrels used: 1/3 new American Oak, 1/3 2nd fill American Oak, and the rest older American & French Oak. 100% Wild ferments in barrel. 5L Sauvignon Blanc lees were added to ea barrel to increase solids. Barrels stirred once a week for extended lees contact.
Wine matured in barrels for 4 months and tasted at regular intervals after which the best ones were selected.
Barrels were racked to tank and blended with 6% Sauvignon Blanc- & 6% Chenin Blanc from Swartberg, followed by protein & tartrate stabilization. Wine was cross flow filtered before bottling in September.
Analysis:
2004 Alc: 13.60, RS: 2.68, pH: 3.40, TA: 5.83
2002: Alc. 14.5%, TA 6.3, RS 2.3, pH 3.17
2001: Alc. 13.5%, TA 4.9, RS 2.3, pH 3.34
