Testalonga El Bandito Mangaliza Harslevelu 2017

PERSONAL NOTE:
The wine is borne from my experiences in working close to the Hungarian border in Austria. Here I came into contact with the grape Harslevelü, which is beautifully fragrant and has a great natural oily texture, together with decent acidity. I came back to South Africa and worked with a tiny 0.5 ha vineyard, (which is next to the Sweet Cheeks and Cortez vineyard). Whilst in Hungary I also discovered the Hungarian “Sheep Pig” locally called Mangalitsa, I like pigs and particularly pigs that look like sheep, so I called the wine Mangaliza in homage to the sheep pig. The photo was taken by myself of a field mouse which I rescued from my dogs; it lived to fight another day.
NAME OF ESTATE: TESTALONGA
NAMES OF VIGNERONS: Craig & Carla Hawkins
CELLAR LOCATION Bandit’s Kloof, Eendekuil, Piketberg, Swartland
(MICRO) CLIMATE: Dry Mediterranean
TERROIR: (type of soil, exposition, altitude, Area), Decomposed Granite, South East, 100m above sea level, from the Paardeberg.
VITICULTURE: Bush vines planted in the 1971, they are situated in a very “wet” part of the Paardeberg, at the bottom of the slope, adjacent to the Cortez and Sweet Cheeks vineyard. The vineyards grow very “proud” ie, upright and have very loose open berries which helps with good airflow to reduce disease pressure.
SUSTAINABLE/ORGANIC/BIODYNAMIC: organic
GRAPE: 100% Harslevelü
YIELDS: 20hl/ha
VINIFICATION:
Hand-harvested then fermented after being 100% whole bunch pressed. Pressed into 1x500l and 1 x 225l old French oak casks. No added yeast or acid. Full malolactic fermentation takes place. SO2 added a month before bottling, un-fined, un-filtered.
TECHNICAL:
Alc 11.54%í«í_íëíí«í‰TA 6.02g/lí«í_íëíí«í‰pH 3.30í«í_íëíí«í‰RS 1.16g/lí«í_íëíí«í‰VA 0.45g/lí«í_íëíí«í‰fSO2 10ppmí«í_íëíí«í‰tSO2 24ppm