Silverthorn - The Jewel Box 2019

Grape Varieties:

Chardonnay (70%), Pinot Noir (30%)

Wine Inspiration:

“Come quickly, I am drinking the stars.”

Our love for Africa, discovery, and sparkling wine’s close association with the stars inspired the creation of “Jewel Box”. The Southern Cross, or Crux, is the best known constellation in the Southern Hemisphere’s skies, giving early explorers their bearings when traveling the southern oceans. Hidden within Crux is a fascinating deep-sky object known as Kappa crucis. Regarded as one of the finest open clusters in the Milky Way galaxy, it was discovered in South Africa in 1751. Kappa crucis took its nickname “Jewel box” from noted English astronomer, Sir John Herschel, who referred to it as a “casket of variously coloured precious stones.” The Jewel Box cluster consists of approximately 100 vibrant stars made up of a mixture of brilliant reds and blues, yellows and whites.

Method & Maturation:

Jewel Box is a wine with emphasis on richness, opulence and complexity. The inspiration for this style would be two of my all-time favourite Champagnes namely, Krug and Bollinger. The grapes were hand harvested towards the end of January 2019 and gently whole bunch pressed to recover a maximum

of only 500 litres per ton. Fermentation of the Chardonnay was split between stainless steel and old French oak barrels while the Pinot Noir was only fermented in stainless steel. This creates the basis of complex building blocks which are critical when it comes to the final blending. A further technique of using a reserve portion of Chardonnay which has spent 12 months in old French barrels also adds a very interesting blending component. The final blend consists of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir. The wine spends a minimum of 48 months on the lees in order to develop the optimum complexity.

Only 3 000 bottles were produced.