Vino pH 'PhD' Pet-Nat 2021
Vino pH 'PhD' Pet-Nat 2021
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This is the second release from the pH ladies.
A wink to cider and a nod to bubbly Muscat. Flavors featuring apricots, pears, white flowering blossoms balanced with elegant minerality.
PRODUCER
Vino PH
VINTAGE
2021
TYPE
Sparkling Wine / Pet Nat
GRAPE
Bukkettraube
REGION
Swartland, South Africa
ABV
11.5%
FARMING
Sustainable – dry-farmed / Practicing organic
DETAILS
DETAILS
This is the second release from the pH ladies. Pauline had worked alongside Adi
Badenhorst for a few years and had a good knowledge of this little parcel of 40+-year-old
vine Bukketraube from the adjacent farm to Adi’s Kalmoesfontein. Pauline and Hanneke
enlisted the help of Adi (D in the PhD) for cellar space, a little winemaking assistance, and of
course a drinking buddy during the painful disgorgement times. What is Bukketraube? Well
it was established in the late 19th century in Franken, Germany as a cross between Silvaner
and Schiava (Trollinger). It is no longer grown in Germany due to its susceptibility to
powdery mildew. South Africa has more of this grape planted than any other country (217
acres) with the vast majority being in Malmesbury and the Paardeberg. It is muscat-like
and makes for a genius pét-nat!
The fruit was hand-harvested and fully destemmed. The grapes were placed in two 29hL
concrete tanks where fermentation started without any additions on the skins. After five
days the grapes were pressed to temperature controlled stainless-steel tanks where the
fermentation continued for another five days. When the wine was approaching dryness it
was bottled to finish fermenting in bottle. Pauline, Hanneke, and Adi took turns riddling the
bottles over five months and the bottles were disgorged in the early spring, with a small
addition of wine and sulfur was added post-disgorgement.
ABOUT THE WINEMAKER
Vino pH is an adventure in wine by a dynamic French & South African Girl Team, Pauline Roux (p) & Hanneke Krüger (H), two young, passionate women winemakers driven by a curiosity and energy for life. The are friends foremost, but make a pretty mean team when it comes to making things happen and creating magic. They met being workout and running friends, while working together in the Paardeberg while Pauline was at Lammershoek and Hanneke at Adi Badenhort’s cellar. Hanneke asked Pauline to join her in Italy later that year to work harvest on a project that Adi was running in Abruzzo. It was there they realized they could not only run and party, but also work together.
When they returned home, the two put their heads together and created Vino pH. They both see wine in the same way, a product of science but also of the soul. They are driven and very disciplined when it comes to winemaking, passionate about wine and sharing the same work and life ethic. Curious and experimental, they apply their minds to puzzling tasks and like to understand the why and how, but ultimately rely on their feminine intuition and feelings.
They have sought out small sites that are organically farmed and started off in the first vintage with old vine Palomino in Piekenierskloof and then two vintages later found a rare parcel of Bukketraube adjacent to Adi’s farm on the Paardeberg. All of the parcels are hand harvested and fermented without any additions. The wines only see a kiss of sulfur at bottling and nothing taken away. The resulting wines are honest, idiosyncratic and seriously good to drink.
The future is bright as Pauline & Hanneke expect to grow their little start-up and have high expectations!