Scali

Region: Agter Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa

The Winery: Scali
The Winemaker: Willie & Tania De Waal

Willie and Tania De Waal are the fifth generation of the De Waal family to own the wine farm Schoone Oord. They started by making 50 litres of wine in 1993 and each year produced a little more until they made their first barrique of Pinotage in 1997. By 2002 total production of Scali wine was 22 barriques of Pinotage and 22 Syrah.
The name Scali, is an amalgamation of the farm’s name Schoone Oord, together with the vine and the soil that gives life to everything around them.
The cellar was built in 1912 with conglomerate rock which when decomposed forms the gravel in the vineyard sites. The cellar consists of 10, 2500-litre French oak, open top fermentation tanks.
The grapes for Scali are grown on three vineyard sites, where only a selected parcel of each vineyard is used. Low yields, small berries with dark colour and fenolic ripeness on a balanced vine are the key elements in the vineyard. Meticulous attention is given to fruit quality and vine balance. Grapes are hand harvested early in the morning into well-vented crates and cooled over night to 5 degrees C.
After fermentation the wine is pressed in a 220-litre basket press and put into barriques.

Wines available:

PINOTAGE

Cultivar: 100% Pinotage
Vintage: 1999
Recently notched up a 94 score in UK Wine

Wine Analysis:

Alcohol: 13.7%
Total Acid: 5.7g/l
PH: 3.83
Residual sugar: 2.2g/l

Winemaking Process:
After fermentation, the wine is pressed in a 220 litre basket press. The Scali Pinotage is aged for 12 months in 50% new and 50% second and third fill barriques. French oak is used with 15-20% American Oak. All wines are bottled on the estate and then bottle-aged for a further 12 months before being released.
The ’99 Pinotage was recently described by UK wine writer Anthony Rose, as ‘elegantly Burgundian.’