Product Description
Like many other South African wine estate’s, Alto started out as part of a larger farm known as Groenrivier (Green River) which was first granted by Simon van der Stel in 1693. Although vines were planted from an early date in the farm’s history, they were not an important part of the farm’s produce until the 1920s. In 1919, the then owner of Groenrivier, Hennie Malan, divided the farm vertically in order to sell half of the land to his brother-in-law. The development of Malan’s share was a co-operative venture between himself and his son, Manie. In the next few years they set about converting this partial wilderness into a wine farm, to which they gave the Latin name, Alto. The name is a reference both to the altitude of the vineyards and their own aspirations. They built a homestead in 1919 and a cellar in 1920 and both stand relatively unchanged at the modern Alto Wine Estate. Our estate’s sound reputation for producing world-class red wines can be ascribed, in part, to its excellent terroir. Located in the Stellenbosch Winelands, it is no coincidence that the area is known, locally, as the Golden Triangle – The Latin name for Alto is a reference to the altitudes of our vineyards and the estate’s own aspirations of excellence. Since 1920, only four winemakers have crafted our portfolio of internationally acclaimed red wines.
Dark ruby in colour. The bouquet shows powerful berry fruit aromas give way to cigar boxes and dark chocolate followed by vanilla and oak spices. The palate is full-bodied with appealing blackberry flavours followed by tobacco, chocolate, toast and vanilla. A good tannic structure adds complexity and long maturation potential.
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