The Story:
Our accountant has been part of Arra Vineyards for many years, and he has become a major part of who we are. Putting his years of involvement on the farm into practice, and working hand in hand with our winemaker, he created this unique blend according to his taste.
Coenie van Schalkwyk started as the accountant in 2012 and it was in his nature to be involved in all aspects of the business to totally understand and succeed in his role at the time. “I fell in love with the industry when I realized how complex it is and knew my role as accountant was about to change. On a farm like Arra Vineyards that has a small team, it was very easy to be involved with the whole process of grape to glass and finally last year I was given the opportunity to bottle my own blend.”
The Blend:
Blending three different cultivars to make sure they complement each other was one thing, but the whole idea of this blend was to create a smooth red blend. When you get home after work and pour your first glass of wine, you should know you deserve this glass of wine. I love blending with Viognier, so the 2019 Accountant’s blend is 83% Shiraz, 12% Mourvèdre and 5% Viognier. Both the Shiraz and Mourvèdre was aged for 18 months, and the Viognier was in barrel for 8 months. We made 5 blends of these three cultivars but with different volumes of each cultivar. Two of the blends had me excited so we hosted a blind tasting evening and immediately knew which one had to go to bottle. This blend was recently awarded by the Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge with a double gold!
The Label:
The label of each vintage will be different, but the label of the 2019 vintage is extremely personal to me. If you look closely to the E of the blend on the front of the label, you will see the E is in highbuild. This was done in memory of my best friend, Elrine Viljoen that passed away in August due to covid. This memory was not only for myself, but also to everyone that lost someone. Every time I open a bottle, I share a memory.
The pride colours on the label is my symbol of showing who I am. Proud, visible and living the truth.
Retail price: R720 for a case of six bottles. (Minimum order of two cases for free delivery nationwide)
To buy online, visit https://arravineyards.com/our-wines/