2018 Laibach Cabernet Sauvignon

A new release of a wine we produce since 1997. We proudly present our new Cabernet Sauvignon. Like you all know Stellenbosch is “King Cab” country. Most of our Cab is blended into our very popular Ladybird blend, but we do bottle a tiny bit on its own. It is probably one of the Winelands’s hidden secrets, but our Cab offers great value for money. Again the 2018 vintage a perfect example of this value. An excellent expression of this varietal.
We have four blocks of Cabernet on the farm. Most blocks are planted with clone 46 which is a great clone for structure. All blocks are of a different age which helps with blending and adds complexity to our final wine. We farm the whole farm organically since 2000 and most of our Cab blocks are still with no irrigation. Age of vines is between 4 and 26 year old with an average yield in a good year around 30 hl per hectare.
We pick by hand in early March and are usually finished with picking around the 15th of March. We destem and then slowly sort by hand on a vibrating table before crushing and then pumping the “mash” to small 5 ton open top fermentation tanks for fermentation. We do natural fermentation especially in years with lower alcohol levels. Fermentation is fast and warm and we use “punch down” and pump overs for extraction of colour and tannin. No fixed recipe at Laibach, we adjust with every vintage. After a soft press the wine is allowed to do natural malolactic fermentation and we wait at least 3 months before we Sulphur and remove the sediment. The wine is then moved to French oak for a 12 – 14 months ageing. We select 18 barrels for this wine with around 25% new. The wine is bottled with a light filtration and no animal products are used.
Deep dark colour. Aromas of cassis, wild berry and a hint of tomato puree. Oodles of classic Simonsberg – Stellenbosch Cab flavour jumping out of the glass here. On the palate, soft juicy tannins with just a hint of sweet integrated barrel toast. The palate is medium bodied and the wine has a lovely, lingering juicy aftertaste. Still some good freshness and a wine that is already drinkable but which will age gracefully the next 5 – 7 years.