Now that the dust has settled from our 2022 harvest, we can take a look at how it all went and more importantly what you can all expect to see rolling through the doors next summer and beyond!
Firstly, we must give a huge thank you to everyone that came and helped us out with this year's harvest, we had an absolute blast as always and as far as all things Motley Cru go… everything seemed to go exceptionally smoothly. 2022 is shaping up to be a fantastic vintage and one we’re incredibly excited about. If only we could fast forward to June next year just to taste the newly bottled wines! The brilliant summer we had this year has led to us doubling our yield from last year… meaning even more exciting wines for you to try. So what are we making?
Well, you’ll be glad to hear that fan favourites - our “Grape Escape” still white blend and “Pigéage”, our still rosé blend will be returning with a couple of interesting little tweaks here and there.
New for this year we’ll also be creating a standalone wine from our Solaris grapes. The Solaris is what shines through in our rosé alongside our Pinotin and the flavours coming through from this year's crop were too good not to show off on their own!
We’ve got 2 brand spanking new sparkling wines coming as well, both white, as we’ve still got last year's traditional sparkling rosé to come yet as well. This year we’ve decided to produce a second “Cheeky Fizz”. Our first Cheeky Fizz - pink, fun and bubbly with an explosion of red berries and floral notes on the pallet turned out to be a huge hit, especially amongst the family. It seems our cellar is constantly several bottles less each week and we all know who the main culprit is… JAYNE... Shhhhh, better not say it out loud. This time we’ll be utilising a combination of our Bacchus and Reichensteiner grapes - the same winning combination used in our “Grape Escape” so we can’t wait to see how this one turnsWe’ll also be producing something rather special… A Blanc de Noir.
Halloween may be over but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped brewing magic at Kenton Park Estate. White wine made from black grapes. Witchcraft? Maybe, but it's not as unusual as you may believe.
Champagne is traditionally made using two black grapes. We make our equivalent of the famous blend known in the UK as “Classic Cuveé” and it got us thinking of what other mischief we could get up to. We’ve had some fantastic heat this year and it's given us some beautiful produce to play with.
The heat has ripened our Pinot Noir beautifully, raising the sugar levels and building body. Although it felt like South Africa at times this summer with our Safari Huts we aren’t quite there yet with the consistent heat required to make a perfect still red wine.
So, in celebration of a cracking summer, we’re taking that sunshine and bottling it as a Blanc de Noir, A sparkling white wine made from our Pinot Noir grapes. We delicately press the grapes to drain the juice but leave the pigment in the skins, separating them quickly so the skin's pigment doesn’t leach too much into the juice. The result is a clear and bright white wine with the gorgeous flavours of our Pinot noir bursting through to be enjoyed on the deck with a deli feast platter… Mmmmm, we’re salivating already!
And if you thought that wasn’t enough, well we’ve got another little surprise up our sleeves, a little passion project that we’ve been wanting to make for quite some time now. You’ll have all no doubt heard of port and likely cracked opened a bottle on a special occasion or round the log fire at Christmas but there’s probably a smaller group of you that will have heard of and tried white port. White port is a little harder to come by.
Whereas the port you’re more used to drinking is a fantastic after-dinner sipper, white port is an exquisite aperitif! It’s crisp, delicate, refreshing and lip-smackingly good in a P&T (port and tonic) - G&T’s… move over there’s a new kid on the block. We really can’t wait for this one, it will be an extremely limited edition with less than 500 bottles available so keep your eyes peeled for when it’s ready.
So to sum up, in 2022, you were amazing and we’re now left waiting, extremely impatiently it must be said, to savour the delights you’ve cooked up for us!
Until next time, cheers!
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