Force Celeste Pet-Nat Rose 2022

This is the fourth release of this utterly delicious and time consuming bottling. This vintage again omits Colombard, and is mostly Pinotage with just 30% Chenin Blanc. All the grapes are grown organically in the Malmesbury region where the soils are mostly decomposed granite with Malmesbury shale. Vineyards are planted on south-east facing slopes with about 1,000 feet elevation and roughly 23 miles to the Atlantic Ocean.The fruit was hand-harvested based on taste when they were at 19.0° Baumé in early January and then whole-bunch pressed to old 500L French tonneau to ferment naturally for 10 days. No oxidative handling to ensure freshness. When the sugar levels reached 25 grams/liter (ensuring four bars of pressure) the wine was transferred directly to bottle. Fermentation finished in the bottle and the wine spent five months on the lees prior to being disgorged in late May and released without a sulfur addition.