NELSON ESTATE NOBLE LATE HARVEST

Tasting notes:

The Nelson Estate Noble Late Harvest semillon is a rich golden colour. The nose is a refreshing blend of rich tropical fruits, stone fruits with a slight honeyed characteristic.

The palate is rich but very refreshing. The acidity is crisp and well judged, nicely cutting through the sweet fruit flavours of pineapple, and white peach. There is an underlying minerality and the finish is long and crisp with a delicate touch of coffee cake in the background. 

About the wine:

The semillon grapes in the Nelson Estate Noble Late Harvest wine are carefully slected and hand harvested berry by berry when they have shriveled perfectly due to the Noble rot.

After de-stemming, the grapes are allowed a short spell of skin contact before high pressure pressing. The resultant juice is allowed to settle for a couple of days before transferring, with roughly 30% of its lees, into new French, American and Hungarian oak barrels to undergo a slow, natural fermentation.

After fermentation, the wine then sits on its lees for a further 9 months months maturation in the barrel before bottling.

About the producer:

It is well documented that during the religious wars of the 17th Centurey, many of the French Protestants, including some famous winemakers from the Loire, fled to Holland where they were prevailed upon by the Dutch East India Company to emigrate to the Cape in order to improve its fledgling wine industry.

Old mud and stone buildings on the estate and an ancient underground cellar suggest that the farm that is now the Nelson Creek Estate was one of the first in the Paarl region to be selected for winemaking by these early pioneers.

In pursuit of a childhood dream, Alan Nelson acquired these farms in 1987 out of a bankrupt estate. Since then, they have been lovingly restored by the Nelson family and their team of dedicated workers. Between 1987 and 1994 approximately 50 hectares of old vines were replaced under the watchful eye of the best viticulture consultants in the Cape with noble cultivars, including Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot; Shiraz; Pinotage; Sauvignon Blanc; Chardonnay and Semillon.

Between 1993 and 1995, a state of the art wine cellar was constructed with the help of Elsenburg oenologist Eugene van Zyl. Wine production commenced in earnest in 1995. The very next year, the Estate won an award for the Best Chardonnay in South Africa and was in the same year crowned as the Champion Private Wine Producer in the Boland region. Since then the Estate has never looked back. The Estate has become internationally known as Nelson's Creek, named after the Nelson family and the small stream that winds its way through the Estate. It inspired and is depicted on the unique two-part label.