We’ve Been Drinking Bellpost C’est La Vie 2010
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ellpost is a combination of two farm names, Bellevue and Buitepos. The cellar is situated between Vredendal and Lutzville on the West Coast, about 300kms north of Cape Town. The vineyards, cellar and wine business are run by the Thiart family. Father Lollies and brother Nico are responsible for the vineyards, brother Koos for the winemaking and rugby playing brother Danie started doing the marketing, when he was with the Blue Bulls. The vineyards, of which the maiden vintage was 2005, are planted on soils ranging from loam in the river bed to red Karoo on the outskirts. The different cultivars are planted on the sites best suited according to slope and soil types. All the vineyards are trellised to accommodate the canopies during the growing season. Grapes are harvested by hand in lug boxes and transported in them to the cellar. Most of the grapes produced on the farm are sold to larger cellars, however a small portion of the total production is kept back to produce wines under the Bellpost label. Only the finest bunches are picked for the production of
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their own wines, seeing only a maximum of 15,000 bottles produced annually. The white grapes are whole bunch pressed. The Chardonnay and Viognier for the white blend, C’est la Vie, is fermented in barrels and the Nouvelle for the blend is tank fermented. The fermentation temperature is kept between 15 and 17oC. After fermentation the white wines are proteinand coldstabilized prior to bottling. C’est la Vie is a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Nouvelle. The grapes are whole bunch pressed. The wine spent 8 months in the barrel before being blended. Aromas of ripe yellow apple and citrus blossom waft to the nose with white peach and lemon flavours accompany a stylish nutty finish on the super creamy palate.
Price: R80 www.bellpost.co.za Available from: Liquor City, Norman Goodfellows and TOPS @ Spar