Testalonga Queen of Spades Tinta Amarela 2021

PERSONAL NOTE: We came across this vineyard (0.1ha) through good friend Rick Mcgrindle, a farmer from Abbotsdale/Paardeberg region. Thought to be Tempranillo when planted but turning out to be Tinta Amarela, which is a grape I personally love from my experiences of working in Portugal. The Label is a photo taken by one of our friends Bryan short brother (Kevin Short) during his time spent at Burning Man in the USA. I adapted the photo to portray a perception of a “Love/Hate” relationship between the Queen of Spades and the Queen of Hearts.

NAME OF ESTATE/DOMAINE: TESTALONGA                            

NAME OF VIGNERON: Craig Hawkins

VINTAGE: 2021

CELLAR LOCATION Bandits Kloof, Eendekuil, Piketberg, Swartland

(MICRO)CLIMATE: Mediterranean

TERROIR: Decomposed Granite, East facing, 150m above sea level, from the Abbotsdale/Paardeberg region.

VITICULTURE:

Dry land bush vines planted in 1999, organically farmed, no shoot thinning is done, rather leaves are left to provide shade which I find brings more elegance to the wine. Cover cropping with legumous nitrogen fixing plants is done every year. There are only 300 vines so it is tough to manage this on such a small scale but we try our best to fill a barrel every year.

GRAPE: 100% Tinta Amarela

YIELDS: 20hl/ha

VINIFICATION:

Hand-harvested, 100% whole bunch fermented for 15 days in open tank, where it was then pressed and aged in one 500L French barrel. No yeast added, ambient fermentation. 100% malolactic fermentation (mlf bacteria not added). Unfined, light clarifying filtration. SO₂ added after racking in August and then none at bottling. The wine has a great definition to it at that sets apart from our other wines, and we think this comes from the stem tannin that lifts it and the fruit profile with it.

TECHNICAL:

Alc           10.75%
TA            5.4g/l
pH            3.36
RS             1.4g/l
VA            0.45g/l
fSO₂         6ppm
tSO₂         22ppm