"I'd go so far as to say that this is one of the most exciting new wineries I've come across in the past decade" (Tim Atkin MW, April 2006)
"A new South African Star" (Jancis Robinson MW, November 2006)
“TMV has a Syrah-Mourvèdre blend offering lilting violet, sanguine and black currant notes with a gorgeous mouthfeel” (James Molesworth Wine Spectator, March 2007)
“TMV, walk it out….” (DJ UNK)
Last year at Cape Wine 2006 in Cape Town, good friend Richard Kelley, M.W. insisted that I visit an up and coming producer that he represents. We met with winemakers Chris Mullineux and Andrea Kozlowski of Tulbagh Mountain Vineyard. Richard boasted that TMV was doing all the right things in the vineyard and the winery. He was right. The wines showed extremely well. The kicker was when they said that their vineyard was farmed organically. We tend to be closet hippies at the Wine Warehouse. Organic is the future. You can easily spot our organic or biodynamically farmed wines by looking for the ladybug tag under the wine’s price tag. There are quite a few ladybug tags roaming in your local Wine Warehouse.
Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards philosophy consists of uncompromising quality and minimal intervention in both the vineyard and the cellar. Their aim is to create exceptional wine in small quantities that gains character from the environment of the vineyard, the soil, the climate and the growing conditions or its ‘terroir.’ TMV’s estate vines are grown strictly to organic principals because they believe that is the only way that vines can truly reflect the character of the soil. Only yeasts naturally occurring in the vineyard and winery are used in fermentation. Naturally occurring yeasts tend to ferment out slower and offer unique flavors that commercial yeasts may not. Slower ferments tend to equate to a richer impression on the palate.
TMV’s estate vineyard is isolated and therefore ideal for organic farming. An almost constant dry wind keeps disease pressure low. The vineyard is between 400m and 500m elevation and being high up on the mountainside it is cooler than the valley floor. This is an important factor as temperature drops 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit for every 100 meters of elevation. In a warm, inland valley the elevation is a nice mitigation to warm temperatures. The cooling influence allows for greater phenolic (compounds in the skins) ripeness while sugar levels are still moderate.
Organic farming helps to keep these soils healthy and balanced. No herbicides, insecticides or fungicides are used in the vineyard. Cover crops are used in lieu of synthetic fertilizers. Biodiversity is encouraged in order to achieve a natural balance of microbial soil life and insect life. Many herbs and other plants are planted to attract beneficial insects. ‘Minimal intervention’ is practiced with only organically certified applications.
Why does wine express terroir more completely under organic viticulture? Vines need nutrients for growth. Nutrients exist in soil, rock and air, but vines themselves cannot break down rock or assimilate nutrients from mineral or gaseous forms – they need some form of help. In natural, living soils this help comes from microbes that release acids, breaking down rock and soils, and thus releasing nutrients. In conventional farming soils are essentially dead from all the pesticides, fungicides and herbicides used. Nutrients have to be added in the form of fertilizers, and vines easily and rapidly take up these simple salts to use as their basis for growth. Nutrients from soil microbes are derived from, and are a reflection of the soils the vines grow in.
Low intervention cellar techniques are used and all additives used in the winemaking process are allowed under organic standards. No acid or chemicals are used in the vinification process and only minimal amount of natural sulfur.
The cellar is located within the actual vineyard and was designed to allow small batch fermentation and hand pigeage (punching down), as well as the greatest possible gravity flow. The maturation cellar is split into three separate humidity and temperature controlled areas. The wine is matured over a 2 year period in 100% French oak barrels. No filtration or fining takes place.
Experimentation is one of the keys to being a winery on the ‘cutting edge.’ New and innovative “Oeuf” or egg-shaped tanks from Burgundy are now being experimented with at TMV because their shape allows currents to be created inside, which ensure good mixing and suspension of yeast in the must as it ferments. The cement is a good insulator. Towards the end of fermentation temperatures are maintained and the yeasts are able to finish fermentation without the need of any aid. Some biodynamic growers believe that the egg shape has creative forces which make for more complex wine. Whoa…. dude!
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James Molesworth of The Wine Spectator recently visited Tulbagh Mountain Vineyard. His impression of the vineyard is as follows: ‘The TMV vineyards are on pre-schist soils made from blonde-colored decomposed granite and shale, and are a dead ringer for some spots on Côte-Rôtie.’
TMV Viktoria 200482% Syrah, 11% Cinsault; 7% Cabernet Sauvignon. Hand picked grapes from vines producing less than three tons per acre are cooled, where after they are crushed and destemmed into tank, and 5% whole bunches are added to the Syrah and Cinsault. 30% of the cinsault juice is bled off to concentrate flavor. The Syrah and Cinsault musts are pigeaged, and the cabernet is given remontage (pumped over) once a day. This wine spent 17 months in French oak and was bottled unfiltered.
Tulbagh Mountain Vineyard ‘Viktoria’ 2004, Retail $19.99 Warehouse $16.99
Tulbagh Mountain Vineyard Syrah/Mourvedre 200485% Syrah 15% Mourvedre. Produced from yields of a mere .8 tons per acre, hand picked grapes are cooled in their cold room, then they are crushed and destemmed into tank, and 5% whole bunches are added. The must is pigeaged once a day. After about 4 days, fermentation begins, and the wine is pigeaged two to three times a day. Fermentation generally lasts from 7 to 10 days. After fermentation, a couple of weeks skin contact is given, and the wine is then drained and pressed to barrel. The wine was racked once at blending (after a year in barrel), and bottled after 22 months in barrel.
Nice Syrah-driven notes of black cherry and mineral, with good smoke, game, tobacco, olive and mineral hints. The rich, smoky finish shows power and purity, with fine length. Drink now through 2008. 1,175 cases made. – 90 points Wine Spectator
Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards Syrah-Mourvedre 2004, Retail $29.99 Warehouse $24.99
Head to the mountains; Tulbagh Mountain that is.
