Darling Cellars Lady Ann Darling 2017

2018 Tim Atkin SA Special Report - 93 points

This wine has layers of fruit complexity supported with integrated wood. Typical aromas are green characters of green fig with tropical arrays of white pears, pineapple and minerality. The wine has a full mid palate with complex fruit following through and results in a wine with a great length and fruit acidity. The palate is well structured.

50% Sauvignon Blanc, 50% Semillon

Pairs well with kingklip, prawns and white wine sauce, seafood risotto, pork or chicken satay, scallops, sashimi, salads with goats' cheese, spring vegetables such as asparagus and peas.

The grapes were harvested from dryland farmed vineyards in Darling, where the vines are not trellised and planted as bush vines on a combination of laterite soils 15 km from the Atlantic Ocean. These grapes ripen as nature intended without human intervention, we do monitor vineyards for optimal picking times, adopting a combination of sampling and tasting to optimize the richer tropical (thiol) notes. Both Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon vineyards are situated high up in the mountains receiving the direct South-Western cold Atlantic winds, where the average temperature is about 8-10 °C cooler than our other vineyards, which helps the grapes retain their fruit flavours much better.

Crush and destalk, barrel fermented in new 500l French oak barrels. Left on the lees for 2 months to add complexity. Barrel matured on fine lees for 9 months.

THE STORY BEHIND THE LABEL This wine is named after Lady Ann Darling, the wife of Sir Charles Henry Darling, governor of the Cape Colony in 1851 after which the picturesque town of Darling was named. We pay tribute to the ‘often forgotten woman-behind-the-man’.