Steenberg Semillon 2018

Steenberg, originally known as Swaaneweide (the feeding place of swans), is located about twenty minutes from the Cape Town city centre. In 1682 Catharina Michelse, also known as The Widow Ras (Michelse was the name of her fifth husband) asked Simon van der Stel for a portion of ground at the foot of the Ou Kaapse Weg and he agreed to lease twenty-five morgen to her. After he became the owner of Groot Constantia in 1685, she asked him for a legal title deed and a mandate was granted to her in 1688 to ‘cultivate, to plough and to sow and also to possess the farm below the stone mountain.’
This historic mountainside winery is now owned by Graham Beck. Situated at the southernmost point of the Constantia Wine Route, vineyards have the advantage of being open to cooling breezes from nearby False Bay. Lean decomposed granite soils, with water retention ability contribute to the minerality of the wines.
After a very long and cool ripening season their two blocks of Semillon were harvested at the beginning and middle of March 2018. The grapes were crushed and de-stemmed with no prolonged skin contact. Fermentation
took place in a combination of 35% new, 40% second and 25% third fill French oak barrels. Post-fermentation, the wine spent a further ten months in barrel before being racked into a stainless steel tank, where it was lightly fined and stabilised before bottling in January 2019.