Equinox Wines - Find Your Happy Place Red - 2022

South Africa

EQUINOX WINES

Find Your Happy Place Red 2022

$83.00
A red blend made in South Africa, in a natural and digestible style
Size:

Growing up on the southwest coast of South Africa, surfing and enjoying the ocean, Namibian-born winemaker and winemaker MC Stander entered the wine scene almost by chance in 2006. Quickly choosing to s Moving away from large-scale production, MC realized his passion for natural winemaking and organic farming at Joostenberg Wines. In 2018, still drawn to a more minimalist approach to wine, MC founded Equinox Wines . In collaboration with Swartland winemakers, he aims to create wines that are both balanced and natural. Inspired by the Beaujolais region of France, he uses practices such as carbonic fermentation, whole clusters and skin maceration, with the aim of creating fruit-based, digestible wines representative of their terroir.

 

The soils of each plot are mainly decomposed granite with a sandy layer, producing wines with fruit purity and great acidity. All fruit comes from local wine growers who practice biodynamic and organic farming. The grapes are hand-picked at the start of the harvest season to capture their natural acidity and produce wines with lower alcohol content. Each grape variety is fermented separately in small stainless steel vats. All fermentations are carried out in whole clusters using carbonic or semi-carbonic methods. The wines are then transferred to old 225 liter barrels to complete malolactic fermentation and aging. No yeast, acids, settling agents or any other products are used during the winemaking process, except for a small amount of sulfur. This wine reveals notes of wild strawberries , cherry , blackcurrant , cranberries , dried blackberries , aromatic herbs , spices and smoky nuances . The palate is fresh, light, digestible, refined and fragrant. The finish is on red fruits and spices.

Trustpilot

Grape varieties : 40% Pinotage, 24% Grenache Noir, 16% Touriga Nacional, 15% Carignan, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon

Alcohol : 11%

Guard : 1-5 years

To be enjoyed with red tuna tataki, pink duck breast, beef tartare, grilled eggplant fajitas or oven-roasted chicken thighs.

The first vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really begin to take off until the arrival of French Protestants, in the 1680s, with their skills and their knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s.



Today South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the southern hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often have more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles.



South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards can also be found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, strongly influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.



The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.

Main Region: Western Cape

It is by far the best known and most emblematic geographical area of ​​South Africa. It is home to the prestigious regions of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Cape Town can be considered the epicenter of the wine region; the climate is essentially Mediterranean. The Western Cape region is crossed by spectacular mountain ranges which are particularly important for viticulture because they form particularly interesting microclimates for varietal diversity.


The sub-region: The Swartland


Traditionally a cereal-producing region, Swartland, whose name means "Black Land" in Dutch, has become in around fifteen years one of the most emblematic wine-growing regions in South Africa. The topography of the region is very varied and vineyards can be found on mountainsides or on the rolling hills that dot the region. The climate is warm Mediterranean with oceanic influences as we get closer to the Atlantic coast. The warm climate greatly reduces the incidence of disease. The rainfall is 400 mm per year but the region includes many plots of old, non-irrigated vines with very low yields. The floors are mainly composed of slates. There are also pockets of granite particularly around the Paardeberg mountain. Most vineyards are goblet pruned, a pruning which provides strong resistance to heat and drought. The main grape varieties of the region are Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Chenin Blanc.

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