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 If you are a novice wine drinker in India, you probably love the Indian Shiraz, Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon as the red wine and Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier or Riesling as the white wine. This means that the wine has only one of these grape varieties as the ingredient. Many producers use 100% of the same grape although internationally, 85% of a single grape variety may be labeled as a single varietal according to most wine laws.
Thus Burgundy is a single varietal Pinot Noir and Barolo and Barbaresco both use Nebbiolo. And Chablis is made from 100% Chardonnay. Similarly Brunello di Montalcino is made from the local version of Sangiovese grapes that is known as Brunello.
If you love Bordeaux, you know that it can have Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot (Malbec is allowed but rarely used). You are perhaps used to Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blends in India. Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape can have a mind boggling number of 13 grapes including Shiraz, Grenache, and Cinsault etc.
White wines and Rosé are more limited in terms of experimentation and more than 4 -5 grapes may be exception than the rule. But Bosman Family Vineyards has released‘De Bos Walker Bay 47 Varietal Rosé using an astounding 47 grape varieties, possibly the highest number of grape varieties used anywhere in the world to make a Rose.
“The De Bos Walker Bay 47 Varietal Rosé showcases our unique ‘vine to wine’ story in a single wine and reflects the work of Lelienfontein Vine Growers – the progressive vine nursery,” explains Bosman Family Vineyards managing director Petrus Bosman. The nursery in the Walker Bay wine growing region, also owned by the family, grows 47 grape varieties grown as single vineyards-all of which are being used in this Rose.
The main components of the blend are Cinsault, Carignan, Durif, Grenache Noir and Shiraz varieties- including components of Roussanne, Meunier, Tempranillo and Tinta Amarella.
The result of sensitive and focused blending is a wine with a plush, peach-coloured hue reminiscent of coral, claims the company in a Release, along with aromas of wild strawberry and cranberry while on the palate the flavour of fruit lingers long after the glass is empty.
“One important aspect of the De Bos Walker Bay 47 Varietal Rosé is that it was made with the final wine in mind,” says winemaker of Bosman- Corlea Fourie . “It is not a by-product of a red wine process. We harvested grapes four times at pre-determined sugar and acidity levels, and the Rosé was then made from those four selections. The inspiration for the style comes from Rose from Province in South of France.
The multi-varietal Rosé has been made from many of these vines before, but never with this number of cultivars. It was also previously bottled as part of the former Bosman Family Selection range.
Corlea says the harvest for the latest addition was a milder year in terms of temperature. “We saw good fruit complexity at lower sugar levels. The wine therefore developed a wonderfully natural low alcohol of 11%.” The wine thus should be a welcome aperitif as well as a food wine.
For more information, visit www.deboswines.com.
It may be interesting to remind our readers about a red wine developed specially by a Piemontese winery Giribaldi which, by using record 157 grape varieties including the clones of different varieties from its own experimental vineyards released a unique wine named Uno Cento in 2011 to commemorate 150 years of Italy’s reunification. delWine had then reported about the wine in the following article:
UNA Numero Uno Bottle for Italian President
For the 157 grape varieties, you may click:
150 Grapes of Cento Uve Giribaldi
Subhash Arora
Tags: Bosman Family Vineyards |