Nederburg Heritage Heroes The Motorcycle Marvel

Description

Nederburg The Motorcycle Marvel is a Rhone style red wine blend honouring the legendary Gunter Brozel who served as Nederburg cellarmaster from 1956 to 1989. Brozel played a huge part in building Nederburg’s reputation, created Edelkeur (the first South African Noble Late Harvest) and did this whilst whizzing around on a 1954 250cc BSA motorcycle which features on the front label.

Nederburg has a long wine-making history stretching back over 200 years to 1791 when Phillipus Bernadus Wolvaart was granted ownership of 49 hectares of land, in what is now Paarl, by the Dutch East India Company. He called his new property Nederburgh and immediately set about clearing land and planting vines. By 1808 he had planted over 63,000 vines laying the foundations for what was to become the wine company we know today. Nederburg has changed hands many times through the years but was owned by the large South African wine and spirit company, Distell, for many years. Most recently, in 2023, Distell was taken over by Heineken and integrated into Heineken Beverages, a company created by the merger of Distell and Namibia Breweries. Since 2021 the team at Nederburg has been led by cellar master, and seasoned winemaker, Samuel Viljoen. he is ably assisted by winemakers Zinaschke Steyn, Imellia Prins and Jamie Williams. Nederburg remains one of South Africa’s most awarded wineries and their wines display a hallmark combination of fruit and finesse.

Nederburg The Motorcycle Marvel Rhone-style blend of Grenache, Carignan and Shiraz sometimes with some Mourvedre and/or Cinsault. The Carignan fruit was sourced from old bush vines in Paarl, while the Shiraz grapes came from trellised vines in the Groenekloof area, and the Grenache from old bush vines in Wellington. The Mourvèdre grapes were grown in Philadelphia. Each block was picked at optimum ripeness and separately vinified to add complexity. All the grapes are hand-harvested and hand-sorted at the winery. The grapes were fermented on the skins in open fermenters, followed by extended skin contact for malolactic fermentation. Nederburg The Motorcycle Marvel is then aged for 26 months in 300 and 500 litre second-, third- and fourth-fill French and Eastern European barrels.

The 2017 vintage is a blend of s Carignan (42%), Grenache Rouge (25%), Shiraz (23%), Mourvèdre (7%) and Cinsaut (3%).