Waterford Rose-Mary

Blanc De Noir is a style of making wine in which a winemaker utilises red wine grapes but ferments them in a white wine style, this is what gives the rose its classic pink colour and subtle fruit qualities. 

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The Wine:

The wine consists of delicate apricot, fresh cherry, white floral and citrus blossom on the aromatics, with hints of fresh oregano. The palate is invitingly fresh with naartjie, apricot and young nectarine flavours following through to a long aftertaste.

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The Vineyard:

To emphasise the light nature of the wine the grapes are harvested earlier in the harvest season during a process called bunch thinning, this bunch thinning process is a practice of removing about ten percent of the potential yield of the vineyard to ensure that the grapes left on the vines receive all the possible nutrients thus uplifting their quality and concentration.

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These earlier harvested grapes have not yet fully developed, their sugar concentration is rather low, the grapes are sour and the skins have not yet developed their full red wine skin quality.

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Winemaking:

The red wine grapes are brought into the cellar after their early harvest and are conveyed straight into the press with their stems on, this process is called whole bunch pressing and is utilised to decrease the skin-to-flesh contact ratio thus decreasing the potential colour that can go onto the wine.

The wine is then fermented in stainless steel tanks, in the redacted style of winemaking it increase the acidity in the wine. This fermentation is not a very aggressive one as the lower sugar levels of the earlier harvested grapes means that the yeast doesn’t have enough food to convert into alcohol.

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Wine Fact:

The Rose-Mary is affectionately named after Jeremy Ord’s late mother, whose personality was always light and refreshing.