CULTIVARS
Grenache noir 49%, Carignan 40%, Muscat d’ Alexandrie 11%

NOTES FROM THE WINEMAKER
The 2024 release of our BLUSH is a celebration of a bit of a gear change in the journey of this Opstal favorite. This Rose wine is made in the Saignee method, or put differently, by ‘bleeding off’ juice from a red wine ferment. In the case of this 2024 release we did it with the Grenache, Carignan, and also a little bit with the Cinsault ferment where we took some juice out of the red wine ferments after a few hours of skin contact. In this time some tannins were extracted which is the main difference in that we have a BLUSH now where we have great tension and presence on the palate to go with the bright and attractive aromas present on the nose and upon entry when taking your first sip. The color is still an attractive light color because of the Grenache especially not having huge amount of color enzymes in it’s skin. After blending these different pink juices together we also added some Muscat juice during fermentation as a sexy band mate to really make this wine sing.

HISTORY OF THE BLUSH
The Opstal BLUSH was first made in 2006 by 6th generation vintner, Stanley Louw when there was an oversupply of red wine in the market. He used Syrah and Viognier to make a elegant and dry Rose, inspired by those from the south of France. This was always a co-harvest where the white and red fruit arrived at the cellar and was pressed and fermented together. Even though we’ve now moved to the ‘bleeding off’ method with the Blush we still do a co-harvest in the case of the Sixpence Cinsault Rose where some Colombard is added. Now Stanley has 2 pinks to change from…

ANALYSIS
Alcohol % (V/V) 13.26
Residual Sugar (g/l) 2.1
Total Acidity (g/l) 5.8
pH 3.30