=====================

VIDEO CONTENTS INDEX:

00:00 – ABOUT SPICE ROUTE & CHARLES BACK

00:55 – THE ECONOMICS OF OLD VINES

02:21 – WHAT IS A HECTARE PRICE?

02:55 – 1965 WAS AN EXCITING YEAR!

03:47 – WHY DOES THE SPICE ROUTE AMOS BLOCK SAUVIGNON BLANC TASTE DIFFERENT?

04:29 – BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FLAVOUR NOTES?

05:17 – MOUTHFEEL AS EXPLAINED VIA COW’S MILK

05:57 – THE EMPTY GLASS SMELL TEST

=====================

The Amos Block of Sauvignon Blanc, planted in 1965, is the oldest block of Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa. The Spice Route team have been rehabilitating the block for sometime, to the point where its yields are high enough to support a vague level of financial viability.

One of the side effects of being planted back in the 60s is that this block of Sauvignon defies the modern logic of picking regions like Constantia, Elim, Elgin or Walker Bay, and finds itself instead in the heart of the Swartland. Which renders it not only a historical novelty, but a geographical one, too.

Of additional intrigue is the fact that this block of vines also produces fruit which goes into an incredible local rendition of a fino style sherry, called the Amos Block Perpetual Reserve.

👃🏼 Fresh peaches, fynbos, and that slightly salty note you get from dried apricots.

👄 A wine more about texture than overt fruit basket references. Palate carries sweeter peach fruit and tropical melon upfront, lifted by tarter apricot elements. The palate is relatively full, with an almost cordial like feel to it.  There is a little spice and citrus pith towards the end.

🔬The Vines are dryland farmed, and harvested at 21.4 balling, before being destalked, and then pressed into tank. Juice was settled for 48 hours, and then cold fermented in stainless steel. The super simple winemaking gives room for the rather unusual terroir-cultivar combo to express itself more fully.