2018 Aslina "Umsasane" Stellenbosch, South Africa
ABOUT THIS WINE
The grapes were handpicked at optimum ripeness. The wine was barrel matured separately for 16 months in French oak barrels. 30% of the wine in first fill barrels, 40% in second fill and the rest in third fills. Wines are filtered, but not fined.
ABOUT THIS PRODUCER
Ntsiki grew up in Mahlabathini, a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal, and matriculated from high school in 1996. Having spent a year as a domestic worker, she was awarded a scholarship to study winemaking at Stellenbosch University in 1999. She graduated in 2003 with a BSc in Agriculture (Viticulture and Oenology) and joined boutique winery Stellekaya as their winemaker the following year.
Ntsiki’s ambition to create her own wines grew following a collaboration with Californian winemaker, Helen Kiplinger, as part of Mika Bulmash’s Wine for the World initiative.It was over dinner and a glass of wine with her new colleagues in the USA that she shared the story of the inspiration behind her ambition. Her beloved grandmother was the guiding light in her life and it became obvious that her new brand should be named Aslina in the matriarch’s honour.
Her winemaking philosophy drew upon earlier experiences of harvest in Tuscany and Bordeaux, where she discovered a close affinity with nature that rekindled her own deep connection with the soil growing up in KwaZulu-Natal. On a later visit to France, she was invited to make a wine for The Winemakers’ Collection, an opportunity afforded to a handful of winemakers from around the world. Finally, she sits on the board of directors for the Pinotage Youth Development Academy, which provides technical training and personal development for young South Africans in the Cape Winelands, preparing them for work in the wine and tourism industries. The programme offers them the unique opportunity to emulate her own considerable success.
Details:
| Grape(s) | Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot |
| Farming | Sustainable |