FIVE STARS in the John Platter Wine Guide for Fusion V

It has been seven years of ***** star ratings in the S A Wine Guide for  De Toren Fusion V. This year (2009) we cracked the nod with a full house - Five Stars *****  for our De Toren Fusion V 2006.

We did a pre-release offering to our loyal clients and those who responded now have the wine in their cellars, as well as those who purchased our wines at Winex.

Good for those loyal supporters who acquired a case as this wine will sell out within weeks.

The De Toren Fusion V has always been on strict allocations and it will become even more difficult to lay your hands on a bottle now.

Restaurants are also on strict allocations and unfortunately we will not be able to list the wine in any new restaurants this year.

Albie and I presented the 2006 vintage to our export markets in July of this year and I have just returned from Washington and New York doing the same. Our export markets ensured an all time record turnover for the month of October.

The wine should be in the stores worldwide now. If you did not purchase direct from the farm, get into retail stores now! Once the Platter Ratings hit the press the stocks are going to dry up quickly!

No other ratings are available yet for the 2006 vintage. 

De Toren Z 2005 shines at the IWSC in London

De Toren Z was awarded “Best in Class” Status at the INTERNATIONAL WINES AND SPIRITS COMPETITION in London recently. Together with this came a silver medal in probably the world’s toughest wine competition.

Below are the Judges Tasting Notes:
“Opaque with bright purple rim. Very attractive floral lead on the nose. Followed by intense dark berry fruit, hints of honey, vanilla and cinnamon. Rich and mouth filling with great concentration of ripe berry flavours. Super smooth flow across the palate with ever increasing complexity. Supple but plentiful tannins and great oak support. Great balance. Incredibly long finish. Attractive now but allow four to six years to develop some of it's potential”

The De Toren Z was also awarded 4 stars in the John Platter Wine Guide 2009.

Make sure you get a case or two for Xmas.

Click here to order

Secret behind our consistent quality (1)

From this issue of FusionNews we will give you an insight into the implementation of biodynamics and some other reasons why we achieve the great quality and consistency of our wines.

• Our philosophy is plain and simple: by optimizing all the aspects of our terroir and through a gentle winemaking process we enhance in the bottle everything nature gives us.
   

• With our unique location on the Polkadraai Hills at an elevation of 600ft, overlooking False Bay with Table Mountain in the backdrop the scene is set to produce top quality wines.
   

• Every vintage we start with a clean slate (there is no recipe) and all aspects of our terroir are analyzed, studied and understood and decisions would be made on a daily basis to optimize the quality of our fruit. Dr. Albrecht, a Professor of Soils and Chairman of the Department of Soils at the University of Missouri; College of Agriculture said: “Study nature not books” and we do this to the letter.
   

• With a biological approach, being the intermediation of “chemical” and “organic” farming we ensure sustainable farming for many years to come.
   

• The basis of our quality starts with our soil. On the estate we are blessed with 14 soil types and each of them are studied and managed to optimize conditions for each cultivar of vineyards. Our sustainable farming methods ensure that our soils remain in good balance and the +-650 kg/ ha living organisms remain in good health. We introduced the Albrecht system to manage the soil in its entirety. We analyze the complex system of our soil and try to get the physical, chemical and biological factors in perfect balance. By doing this we ensure that the vineyard can optimize all the nutritional values of the soil and transfer this via the berries to our wines.
   

• An organic rich soil is a healthy soil so therefore we sustain these levels by ploughing back the cover crop residues into the soil and supplement the soil with compost. To ensure that all microbes are present that commercial farming might have taken out we inoculate our soil with compost extract. The microbes feed on the organic matter and this kick starts the biological process and the end result is good aerated soil with easy extractable nutrients for the vines to consume.
   

• With the help of Prof Barbara Von Wechmar, a microbiologist at the Stellenbosch University we produce our own compost from our grape skins and plant rests. Prof Von Wechmar also plays a big role in ensuring the top quality of our compost extract we inoculate our soils with. All compost is analyzed to ensure top quality and well structured matter. The results of these analyses would determine the compost volume to be applied to each soil type and cultivar 
   

• Our soils, being the basis of our vineyards are studied intensely when new plantings are done. With the establishing of new vines extensive tests are executed to determine the potential of the soil and how these soils would react during each season of a vintage. Mechanical, chemical and magnetic analysis is done to determine water holding capacity and drought resistance of all the soil types. According to these analyses rootstocks are chosen and with the help of Dr Hoffman from the University of Stellenbosch irrigation layouts are planned.


 

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The 34th Nederburg Auction

At the 34th Nederburg Auction held recently in Paarl, overall income decreased to R4.79 million from last year's R5.13 million, making it the third consecutive year that sales have fallen. Foreign buyers were responsible for 23 percent of the sales, equal to last year’s figure, with Juric Imports from Zambia, Southern Rhino from Taiwan and Casa Flora from Brazil amongst the Top Ten buyers.

With the average price for red wine being R1 359 per nine-litre case, a single case of three bottles of Zonnebloem Cabernet Sauvignon 1964 fetched the highest price of R7 000 (R3 111 per bottle). Other reds that fetched top prices were De Toren Fusion V 2002 and Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 1992.

The De Toren Fusion V 2002 that was rated 5 stars in Decanter Magazine achieved one of the top prices of of R 400.00 per bottle
(R 4 800.00) per case, considerably above the average of R 1 359.00 per case.

If you have a bottle or two in your cellar try in now or pop down to Makro they purchased quite a few cases.

Dinner in New York

The Heights Casino might sound like a casino but it is an exclusive tennis club at 75 Montague Street, Brooklyn, New York.

It was there that I had the privilege of presenting the De Toren wines to an illustrious group of individuals from all walks of life. Among them Mr. & Mrs. Desai from Desai Capital Management on the right and the bubbly Elizabeth Scholtz, (in blue) an ex South African wine farm owner and Director of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

The chef prepared traditional South African dishes like Game Pie, Biryani (Cape Malays' sweet and spicy mix of Asian, European and Mediterranean) and lamb stew.

For starters we had Spicy Prawns served with a Sauvignon Blanc and desert was trifle and melk tert (milk tart) served with a noble late harvest Kanu Kiaoro.

It was amazing how the “Z” matched with the spicy Biryani and the Fusion V with Game Pie and the lamb.

What was even more interesting was that roughly 50% of the guests preferred the taste of Fusion V and the other 50% (mainly the ladies) preferred the De Toren Z 2006.

The evening was a great success and the wine store across the road Montague Wines & Spirits sold out of Fusion V and Z immediately after dinner.