Wine Neethlingshof, “The Caracal”, 2019

Collection of “The Short Story Collection” – a small winery Nitlingskhof chronicle. Included in her rich, rich wines are made from hand-picked grapes and produced in limited editions. Each wine collection tells about a certain aspect of the philosophy of the estate or its history.

Red wine “Caracal” created in honor of the return to the region of the African steppe lynx – Caracal. Two years ago, the company launched a special program Neethlingshof to conserve and restore native habitat area of the animal, in particular – unique ecosystems surrounding the estate granite hills. Also, now caracal (in the local language – rooikat) bred in the estate Neethlingshof.
Blend of red wine “Caracal” consists of four varieties of grapes grown in distinct terroirs, at different heights and with different age. To improve the quality of grapes yield of all sites is limited to an average of 5 tons per hectare. Aged in barrels of French (90%) and American oak for 16 months, the wine is full-bodied taste with a good tannic structure, which will be stored “Caracal” 10 years.

In the heart of the valley of the Cape in South Africa is Nitlingskhof winery, which many rightly considered the leader of South Africa’s wine production, and as evidence of this – the title of “Best winery of South Africa”, which was received at the prestigious international contest Wine & Spirit Competition 2002 in London. Neethlingshof Estate Winery was founded more than 300 years ago one of the first settlers from Germany. Then it was called “De Wolvendans” (“Dance of the Wolves”). Soon, by the end of the 1820s the farm acquired Johannes Henoch Neethling, at the same time the name was changed to Neethlingshof.

Currently, the estate covers an area of 273 Neethlingshof hectares, most of which are reserved for the vineyards. Temperate climate areas very close to the Mediterranean. Sufficient accumulation of sugar in the grapes help abundance of sunshine and long summer. Cool sea breezes that mitigate the impact of the summer heat of the vineyards, and wet mild winters (average temperature 0-10 degrees Celsius) create ideal conditions for winemaking in the region. Wine can not be obtained “overripe” too “a jam” or too sweet.