Wine of the Week – DeMorgenstern DMZ Cabernet Rosé 2012

From high above sea level in the cooler areas of the Western Cape, the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa comes this charmer of a rosé from trellised vineyards where the owners pipe in Baroque music because they believe it will impact the ripening process of the grapes in a positive way. The grapes are handpicked, de-stemmed and lightly crushed and the juice is left in contact with the stems for nearly tree hours, allowing a pink hue to develop. The must is settled overnight and cool fermented to maintain a fresh fruit profile. On the lees for some four months, the wine’s “best components” are chosen and blended, then filtered prior to bottling. In tribute to the Cape’s Dutch roots, the vineyard’s name, DeMorgenstern, means “the morning sun” in Dutch. The first vines were planted in the early 1700s and the estate was sold in 2003 to Wendy and Hylton Applebaum who have transformed it in recent years.