Product Description
Bamboes Bay (Cape West Coast)
Varieties
Sauvignon Blanc
The Vineyard
The vines are planted on a remote stretch of land just 500 m from the Atlantic Ocean at Bamboes Bay on the rugged Cape West Coast. Yet local farmer Jan van Zyl and his father, Jan Ponk, set out on this great adventure more than 30 years ago.
Inspired by the wines of Marlborough in New Zealand, which have the same cold winters and cool summer evenings as Bamboes Bay, the dream was to make distinctive, fine wines, different to anything else you would find in South Africa.
Arid conditions aside, being the closest vineyards to the sea in South Africa, the vines also have
to brave persistent sea breezes. A cool blanket of mist continually deposits vast amounts of salt
onto the leaves and grapes, which prevents vineyard diseases and adds to the vivid minerality in
the wines.
Bamboes Bay is the smallest demarcated Wine of Origin ward in South Africa, adding to the exclusivity and uniqueness of this sophisticated Sauvignon Blanc. The 2020 harvest was characterised by near-perfect conditions.
The Harvest
Moderate day and night temperatures with cooling mists created slow, even ripening and small
berries with concentrated flavour and lively acidity.
The Cellar
The winemaking process at Fryer’s Cove is based on minimal intervention, and the patience and restraint of this approach
show in this terroir-driven Sauvignon Blanc. It is wild fermented in clay pots and 225 L French Oak barrels, then aged for 8
months in 5th fill French oak barrels. The Bamboes Bay Hollebaksstrandfontein Sauvignon Blanc was bottled on 10
November 2020. While it might prove impossible to resist, this age-worthy wine will continue to develop more depth and
nuances with bottle maturation for up to 7 years from vintage.
The cellar is in an old crayfish factory which has a jetty over the ocean. Icy seawater is pumped
into the cellar and through the tanks to cool the wine during fermentation. From this mindset of
ingenuity and minimalism flows authentic wines that are forged of the earth, tempered by the
sea.
Alcohol: 13.36% vol.
pH: 3.56
Total acidity: 5.5 g/L
Residual sugar: 2.3 g/L
Aging Potential
Due to the style, character and quality of Fryer’s Cove Bamboes Bay range, we believe that this limited production wine must be at least a year and half in bottle before release, only then does it show it’s real potential, continuing on for a further 5 to 7 years to reach its peak.
