Contents	June 2009
DE TOREN FUSION V 2008 FINALLY BLENDED	The 2008 Vintage of Fusion V has just finally been blended after a marathon 4 week tasting process. We invite our customers, trade representatives, professional taster and journalists to a set of tasting where Albie Koch presents 10 possible blend combinations to the panels. Read more...
WEIRD THINGS HAPPENING AT DE TOREN	Weather patterns are changing drastically. We are getting a much cooler climate and many thunder storms. Recently we have had severe, uncommon thunder storms. Read more...
FUSION V 2005. WHAT A GREAT VINTAGE!	Following on the great 92 point rating by Wine Spectator an even more exciting rating came through from Switzerland. Weinwisser is the pre eminent wine specialist magazine run by Rene Gabriel. Read more...
GREAT RATINGS FOR DE TOREN Z from around the WORLD	DECANTER United Kingdom The 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards attracted more entries this year than any other wine competition in the world, cementing its position as the world's biggest wine competition. Read more...
WINEMAKERS REPORT 2009 SEASON	This season was, as ever, an interesting one with new and unique challenges. Read more...
VITICULTURIST REPORT 2009 SEASON	Although our 2009 winter rains came late we were blessed with 684mm for the season. Due to the late arrival of the rains budburst was delayed until late September. Read more...
GLITTERATI and SPORTERATI at DE TOREN	We have had our fair share of famous people coming for tastings at De Toren. Read more...
THE SECRETS OF OUR SUCCESS (Part 3)	In our last newsletter we discussed Free Energy. Now we turn our attention to water! Read more...
SPOTTED IN BERLIN	Vaughn Johnson owner of Vaughn Johnson’s Wine shop, a specialist wine retailer in the Waterfront in Cape Town travels the world searching for fine wines. Read more...

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DE TOREN FUSION V 2008 FINALLY BLENDED

The 2008 Vintage of Fusion V has just finally been blended after a marathon 4 week tasting process. We invite our customers, trade representatives, professional taster and journalists to a set of tastings where Albie Koch presents 10 possible blend combinations to the panels. The panels are required to rank their 3 best wines and point out the worst wine in the lineup. What is very interesting is that whether the tasters are experienced or inexperienced does not matter. We have proved without doubt that we end up always with a unanimous result.

This year the first tasting was held at The Round House Restaurant in Camps Bay and was followed by a lunch where chef P.J. paired a four course meal with Z 2006, Fusion V 2002 and Fusion V 2004. The magic of the meal was that the pairing of slow roasted Springbok Heart with Fusion V 2002. The best wine of the lineup was blend no 7 of CS 55%, CF 15%, Merlot 10%, Malbec 15% and Petit Verdot5%. This wine and the top 4 wines were included in the new lineup at the Westcliff Hotel in Johannesburg.

At The Westcliff, wine 11 turned out to be the winner, which was one of the new blends that emerged after the discussion at The Round House. (56% CS, 20% CF, Merlot 7% and Petit Verdot 5%) The discussion at Westcliff indicated that a high % that Merlot was negatively affecting the blend. The top 4 wines from this tasting were put forward for the final tasting in the Wine Loft at Maze restaurant at the new One and Only Hotel in Cape Town.

At this tasting wine no 8 came out tops by 1 point and was the same wine as the best wine in the first line up, closely followed by wine no 4 which is the wine that was best in Westcliff tasting. Still not happy with the permutations we presented the top 3 wines of the 18 possible blends to George Miliotes (Master Sommelier of the Darden Group of Restaurants, U S A) Robert Bradshaw, CEO and Andre Shearer President of Cape Classics U S A, our importers to the USA. They again chose the wine that came out tops at the Westcliff, despite our efforts to further improve the blend.

To summarise, we achieved what we believe is the ultimate blend for 2008 and the wine will be blended as follows: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon; 20% Cabernet franc; 7% Merlot, 12% Malbec and 5% Petit Verdot. This blend was wine no 11 of the Westcliff tasting and wine no 4 of the One and Only tasting and well done Carrie Adams of Norman Goodfellas who predicted at the Westcliff tasting that wine 11 would be triumphant.

Panel: Casper Steenkamp – Collector of Fusion V, Emil, Albie, Ernest Manuel our viticulturist, Fiona McDonald Independent Journalist and Professional Taster, Nico Redelinghuys - Cape Classics Shaun Cairns - Liquidity Hein De Jager - Liquidity

One and Only tasting – From left Kim Maxwell Food and Wine writer, Melani Loch - has all the vintages of Fusion V in her private Cellar, Andre Becker Sommelier One and Only, Emil, Emil Jnr from Liquidity, Albie, Kent Scheermeyer F & B Manager One and Only, Jörg Pfunster, professional sommelier and wine trainer, Charles Williams Assistant winemaker De Toren

WESTCLIFF From Left Carrie Adams Norman Goodfellas, Sonette den Dulk, Emil, Jörg Pfunster-Professional Sommelier and wine trainer, Richard Live Out Loud Magazine, Albie, Hanro Erasmus Executive Chef, Victor Asevedo - Liquidity

WEIRD THINGS HAPPENING AT DE TOREN

Weather patterns are changing drastically. We are getting a much cooler climate and many thunder storms. Recently we have had severe, uncommon thunder storms. Most Capetonians are not used to thunder and they crawl in under their beds and recently many hours were spent under the bed this season! On the left just see how thunder bolts rained down between Table Mountain and Lions Head.

We have also had some wonderful international visitors. (See article below)

One wonders if these visitors had anything to do with visitors from outer space. Magderi (wife of our famed winemaker) woke up early one morning and found some alien visitors just leaving and she caught them flying past De Toren’s tower! They did not leave a business card for our database.

Lightning striking Cape Town on 23 April

UFO just leaving and flying past De Toren's well known tower

FUSION V 2005. WHAT A GREAT VINTAGE!

Following on the great 92 point rating by Wine Spectator an even more exciting rating came through from Switzerland. Weinwisser is the pre eminent wine specialist magazine run by Rene Gabriel.

They evaluated 76 of South Africa’s best. Of these only 3 wines achieved the Magical score of 19/20. One a cabernet Sauvignon and the other a shiraz cabernet blend and the 2005 Fusion V.

Hold on to this one if you have it in your cellar.

WEINWISSER DESCRIPTION

2005 Fusion V De Toren, Stellenbosch
Cab Sauv etc...
Eye catching dark intense colour with lots of crimson jerks. Intense fruit bouquet with subtle terroir relish, bread crumb; noble and multi layered. Indeed nearly royally in its formulation. On the palate very decent with mild harmonic tannins. Beautifully balanced. World class (CHF 52) www.kapweine.ch 19/20 drink-2014

GREAT RATINGS FOR DE TOREN Z from around the WORLD

DECANTER United Kingdom
The 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards attracted more entries this year than any other wine competition in the world, cementing its position as the world's biggest wine competition. In total 10,285 wines were entered, more than double the amount when the competition launched six years ago. The number of companies submitting wines increased by 23% to 2,240.

DE TOREN PRIVATE CELLAR "Z" 2007 SILVER MEDAL

STEPHEN TANZER RATING MAR/APR 09
2006 De Toren Z Stellenbosch 90 POINTS

($30; a five-variety Bordeaux blend) Good deep red. Crushed blackberry, plum and spice cake on the nose. Rich, dense and chewy, with good cedary lift to the dark chocolate and graphite flavors. An accessible merlot-driven blend in a New Wave style but with solid structure and a nicely restrained sweetness. Finishes firm and long. A bit less wild than the last vintage I tasted. 90

ORDER SOME OF THE LAST DE TOREN "Z"

SWITZERLAND WEINWISSER

2005 Z De Toren, Stellenbosch
Merlot etc...
Dark ruby with purple glance. Intense bouquet of elder which mixes with black currant.
On the palate black berries, nearly showing a Pauillac fruit. Subtle tannins leading to green pepper in an aromatic ending, slightly bitter.
17/20 drink -2012

WEIN GOURMET GERMANY

Author Ingo Swoboda had visions of the season after a hearty meal - but what to drink? Red, it was obvious, and not too expensive. Soon a light went on, it was found under "S" for South Africa

2006 DETOREN Z
De Toren Private Cellar
Just below the ?20 mark, this Cuvee is a worthwhile investment in sustainable wine enjoyment.

Already a complex aroma is engaging after the first taste.
The real fun begins with the second sip.

Now the wine fills the full spectrum of the palate of spicy accents that play with the juicy fruit extracts.
This leads to a pleasant, not too bitter and not too soft tannin structure, and a harmonious shape of a full bodied wine.
A strong expression of red wine in its best form.
? 19.90, D C Gesellschaft fur Wein Imports

ORDER SOME OF THE LAST DE TOREN "Z"

Viticulturist Harvest Report 2009

Weather Conditions:
Although our 2009 winter rains came late we were blessed with 684mm for the season. Due to the late arrival of the rains budburst was delayed until late September. We had a cool spring and early summer with temperatures staying below 21°C. These cool conditions delayed ripening but fruit integrity was preserved and phenolic ripeness happened slowly and steadily. In late February it became warmer and this accelerated ripeness and we had to monitor soil and plant moisture to perfection to ensure top quality grapes.

Harvest
Due to wet and windy conditions during a significant part of the flowering and setting period the fruit set was weaker. This resulted in a natural light crop set and hardly any fruit had to be dropped to obtain optimal fruit bearing ratios’. The phenolic ripeness tests (Glories) showed excellent analyses. The cool ripening period resulted in well-ripened grapes with good acids, pH and sugar levels. Due to high soil moisture content until late December the vineyard grew vigorously and canopy management was crucial. Nevertheless the aerial images revealed at harvest time that the vineyards’ canopy was optimal throughout, ensuring an even ripening of all the berries.


Light Fruit Set in Malbec	Optimum Canopy Development

Pest and Diseases
The optimal weather throughout the 2009 growing seasons ensured a disease free season as far as downy and powdery mildew was concerned. Due to the cool weather till early in summer we had some snail problems on certain parts of the farm.

Overall Impression on the 2009 Vintage
With the near perfect growing and ripening weather conditions with maximum hours for photosynthesis we once again had a high quality vintage. Moderate day temperatures and cool nights ensured good colours, low sugars and complex flavours.

2009 WINEMAKERS REPORT.

This season was, as ever, an interesting one with new and unique challenges. After receiving very late winter rains in October (>141 mm compared to an historical average of 41mm rainfall for this month in the Western Cape) budburst and all phenological stages of the vines were delayed and vigour was stimulated until very late in the season. This abundance of water reserves in the soil and resulting high vigor made canopy management a much more intensive affair, compared to previous years, but the season also blessed us with a cool microclimate with only one slight “heat wave” which lasted for two days. This uniform, cool microclimate meant that grapes could mature to phenological ripeness without reaching very high sugars. All five our cultivars were harvested at relatively low pH’s and with high total acidities. The grapes were phenolic ripe at sugars of around 24 - 25 °B (°Brix) that will result in alcohol levels of around 13.7 % v/v. From a winemaking perspective one could not have asked for better grapes as the acids, phenols and sugars have ripened to an optimum point with makes the integration of these substances much easier to vinify a complex, integrated wine.

The sorting system also received a “facelift” with the introduction of two new components, an incline conveyer and an extra vibrating table with an 8mm grid surface. The conveyer, having various speed settings allows us to choose the correct speed at which to sort the grapes, making the whole sorting process more uniform. From the conveyer grapes drops onto the extra new vibrating table and all insects, centipedes, as well as stalks and little raisons which fell through the grids is removed. As some of the vineyard insects have quite distinguished scents, one can expect that removing them will only benefit the sensorial attributes of the wines.

Green and raison berries automatically removed

To add to that small aborted berries, which did not set correctly at the fruit set stage, and as such did not develop further than the size of pin heads also gets removed by this table. Removal of aborted berries reduces green/ harsh, unripe tannins in the wine and a reduction in unripe characters. The conveyer and extra vibrating table also elongated the sorting process, allowing another 4-6 persons to do whole bunch selection, in addition to the 6-8 person, who has done this selection in the past. This resulted in easier whole berry sorting by another 6-7 persons, after the grapes have been gently destemmed.

It can thus be concluded that before our berry reaches the fermentors, it have been sorted by no less than 16 – 21 sorters, according to the cultivar being harvested. This ensures that only the best grapes are used to make wine at De Toren.

The Merlot was harvested nine days later than the previous vintage. The grapes were in excellent condition and our older blocks planted on a westerly slope with east - west row direction shows great potential this year, both in terms of ripe (softer) tannins and colour extractability. This of course fits great into the blending of the Fusion in terms of providing soft, elegant tannins to the wine. Our younger Merlots planted to a southerly slope are blessed with a continuous sea breeze throughout the season, keeping the microclimate of these grapes slightly cooler. The style of wine produced from this vineyard is ever so slightly fruitier and fresh, which is the perfect building block for the De Toren “Z”. It is only the third vintage from this block and although the grapes are already of top quality, it is still improving every year. We believe that the Merlots has especially improved and that makes for great blending options when the 2009 vintage have to be blended.

The Malbec shortly followed the Merlots and again it did not disappoint! The characteristic velvety black/purple colour and fruity, yet sophisticated aromas are already noticeable. These grapes were harvested at sugars of 24-25 ºB. Analyses confirmed that the anthocyanin: tannin

Leaf removal in January

ratio has increased over the past few years, which means that more colour stable anthocyanin- tannin complexes can form. The grapes did contain a lot of aborted green berries, which did not set properly at fruit set, but these were mostly removed with our new vibrating table with the 8mm grid surface. The slightly weaker set meant that the yield was reduced by nature and very little grapes had to be manually removed to get the right yield. Because the berries of Malbec have a rather big juice/skin ratio some 10% of the juice was removed (a practice referred to as Soignée) prior to cold soaking.

Both Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are of the highest quality this year, as our team has become accustomed to. The older Cabernet Sauvignon on a western slope has a strong, yet extremely elegant tannin structure. The extraction of colour and other phenols have steadily increased over the last 4 years since we started monitoring the grapes for phenolic ripeness. The wine is very complex, which can in part be attributed to the different clones in the block.

Moreover, with added malolactic fermentation in first fill barrels, one could not ask for a better foundation to create the Fusion V! The young Cabernet Sauvignon (third vintage) on the southerly slope has a nice fruity character with lightly less tannin structures than the old Cabernets. This is a very good, complimenting attribute to support the Merlot in the “Z”, without overpowering this Merlot based blend. One can only mention again that we were blessed with an amazing season and we waited forever to harvest the Cabernet Sauvignons due to the vintage’ cool temperatures, but the result was Cabernets with loads of character, and even at this late stage the sugars were not that high while the acids still remained high. All said, the Cabernets are highly integrated, complex wines and one cannot help getting VERY, VERY excited because of them.

The Petit Verdot is again a powerful wine, to be treated with respect and understanding and really adds another dimension to the blend.

Grapes received 24 – 48 hours of cold soaking before they were inoculated with selected yeast strains. Fermentation took place at temperatures of between 24-28 °C which resulted in nice, slow and uniform fermentation, allowing for lots of time to have the wine in contact with the skins. As always, the whole berries were fermented and gentle manual punch downs three times a day kept the skins in contact with the wine allowing for extraction of phenolic substances and colour. Post fermentation maceration was applied, that implies that the wine is left in contact with the skins after fermentation has completed. This results in more alcohol stable colour and tannin complexes.

At the moment malolactic fermentation has just completed. The decision was made to complete 50% more malolactic fermentations in first fill barrel for the older Cabernet Sauvignons than the previous year in an attempt to incorporate slightly more body into the Fusion V.

Besides the vinification of Fusion V and the De Toren “Z” we also experimented with alternative winemaking practices. We investigated indigenous yeast fermentations and investigated the sensorial properties of raisons and severely shriveled berries, which at the moment is removed during the sorting process.

All in all the past season was full of challenges, but we could not have asked for a better harvest. The young wines are already showing the potential to become one of De Toren’s best vintages to date. As a winery whose sole purpose is to craft two unique Bordeaux blends, one gets very excited when all the cultivars “put up their hands” in one vintage with not a single one lacking behind. By all indications the Fusion V and “Z” 2009 vintage will be a force to be reckoned with.

GLITTERATI and SPORTERATI at DE TOREN

We have had our fair share of famous people coming for tastings at De Toren.

Matt Damon and his wife and baby and entourage visited us on April 15. They came for a guided tour of the cellar and really loved the tasting. The party was so big that we could not fit them all into our tasting room. Having had Fusion V at The Roundhouse Restaurant he just had to visit the estate. Needless to say Matt is now stocking Fusion V in his wine collection in Florida where he lives. On a question how his training was going the “rugby” movie, he said he found it hard and his coach Chester Williams quipped “ Why do you just not play the game to get rugby fit”

One Saturday morning ex Rugby Captain Gary Teichman and his wife and kids paid us an unannounced visit.
They have apparently fallen in love with our wines some time ago in Durban after a recommendation from a restaurant owner.
Gary so enjoyed the visit that he sent his brother in law around some weeks later to get his allocation of one case of Fusion V 2006. For every day drinking he also stocked up on a couple of cases of De Toren Z 2006.

Just as we thought our visitors were all from the rugby fraternity, it was the turn of Dutch Football Superstar Hans Vonk. (Hans Vonk the footballer, not to be confused with Hans Vonk the renowned conductor) Hans Vonk (Goal Keeper), born 30 Jan 1970 in Alberton, SA. Professional soccer player since 1988 for RKC-Waalwijk, S.C. Heerenveen, Ajax-Amsterdam (Holland) and Ajax-Cape Town. Vonk made 27 Eredivisie appearances for Ajax between 2004 and 2006 He also has 43 caps for Bafana Bafana (our national football team). Hans Vonk is back in South Africa and is now involved in the tourism business.

Matt Damon (far right) and part of his team tasting and talking to Albie

Gary Teichman (3rd from right) and his team Celebrating World Champion status

Hans Vonk (on the deck) tackling his opponent (In football?)

THE SECRETS OF OUR SUCCESS (Part 3) Free Energy…………

In our last newsletter we discussed our attempts to achieve optimal balance in our vineyards. Now we turn our attention to Free Energy! There are two free energies known to us.

One of the scarcest commodities in South Africa is our water resources. Therefore irrigation schedules are planned to perfection to obtain full bodied berries and not to waist a drop of water. To have full control over our irrigation and water usage we measure every drop of water that goes through our filters. We even go so far as to recycle the cellars effluent water and use it in our compost manufacturing.
With the soil in perfect balance it absorbs the water like a sponge and the ground water is easily absorbed by the vines. Ground water is measured with Watermark Instrumentation at 30cm intervals up to 1.5m deep. This enables us to put the vines under sufficient stress without overstressing for optimal ripening. This methodology gives us the same result as achieved with Partial Root Drying techniques.
We implemented a further water management tool being the Pressure Bomb. With this equipment we measure the actual water status inside the vines. This enables us to determine exactly what the plants water usage is and we can predict when and how much we have to irrigate to the nearest mm. This exercise has to be done pre-dawn and normally takes place between 3 and 4 in the mornings.

Exact supplementary irrigation can add so much to growing great grapes and enable us, as our record shows, to produce great wines year in and year out, no matter what the climatic condition in any given year.

DECANTING

We did not think that this is the right way to let wine breathe!

We prefer you read the new health warnings on the back of the label!

Cheers!

SPOTTED IN BERLIN

Vaughn Johnson owner of Vaughn Johnson’s Wine shop, a specialist wine retailer in the Waterfront in Cape Town travels the world searching for fine wines.

He recently visited in a store in Berlin and there he found one of his favourite wines: De Toren Fusion V. Vaughn just had to call me to tell me that the owner attended a tasting presented by me in 2004 in Berlin where he was introduced to De Toren Fusion V. He has been stocking our wine ever since.

Vaughn Johnson holding a bottle of Fusion V in the Adlon Wine Shop

De Toren Private Cellar
Website: www.de-toren.com
e-mail us: info@de-toren.com
phone us: +27 (0)21 881 3119
fax us: +27 (0)21 881 3335

De Toren Private Cellar
Polkadraai Road,
Stellenbosch,
South Africa