Scions of Sinai, Atlantikas Pinotage, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Scion refers to the top life bearing parts of a plant/vine or can also mean ‘the descendant of’. Sinai refers to ‘Sinai Hill’ – a granite hill in the region of lower Helderberg, to the south of Stellenbosch.

Bernhard is as low intervention as can be, he wants the wine to be a true expression of itself and so there is no manipulation, he says - “I’m not trying to be weird or funky – for me what’s most important is to have that line between vineyard and glass as uncompromised as possible,”

The harvest of this bush vine Pinotage takes place in two parts over 4 days. 54% are whole bunch fermented in an open vessel, 36% are destemmed and left on the skins to macerate for 3 hours before being pressed and fermented in tank, the remaining 10% is destemmed and fermented in an open top vessel. Once fermentation is completed in all 3 blends they are gently pressed and blended before going through a malolactic fermentation and ageing on the lees for 8 months before bottling.