2022 Mother Rock 'Force Celeste' Rosé of Cinsault Swartland

Winemaker Notes: Light salmon pink in color. The nose evokes strawberries, raspberries, potting soil, and cinnamon. The palate is bright, with significantly more acid than last vintage, but balanced by roundness and good length.

The ‘Mother Rock’ series of wines is all about showcasing the nuance and greatness of the Swartland through a very minimalist touch of Johan Meyer, AKA Stompie. ‘Force Celeste’ comes from the Latin ‘caelestis’ meaning ‘heavenly sky.’ It refers to the greater force out there that gives unique variation from year to year. The 2022 vintage comes from an older block than past vintages; the Cinsault was planted in 1976 on ferricrete in the Malmesbury reginon of the Swartland. The bunches were hand-picked in mid-January and left fully intact to be lightly whole-bunch pressed to stainless steel and an old 500L French oak puncheon. Fermentation commenced without any additions and with full gross lees in barrel. After four weeks, the wine was dry, and it was racked to old French oak for 12 months of aging. The barrels were then racked to tank and the wine was bottled without fining or filtration and just a small addition of sulfur.

Johan Meyer, AKA “Stompie”, has made a name for himself in the ever-emerging South African wine industry in a very short time. While his namesake Signature wines reflect his love of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Stompie is not one to limit himself and thus created the Mother Rock Wines wines in collaboration with his UK importer Ben Henshaw of Indigo Wines. After seeing the market quickly drink up the initial Force Celeste wines (formerly known as Force Majure), they expanded the offerings to include a label called Mother Rock, focused on discovering exceptional parcels of sustainably-farmed vines grown on a variety of soil types. The identity of these two brands is rooted deep in the South African wine industry with Chenin Blanc at the root of the whites and field blends of the reds. These are terroir-focused wines made to offer drinkability and enjoyment, and it doesn’t hurt that the labels are beautiful. Much like his eponymous wines, he has long-term contracts with some of the best growers in the Southern Cape determined to farm their sites organically. In the winery there is no SO2 added before or during fermentation but it’s a natural element that comes from the vines and you will always end up with some SO2 in the wines. That being said the wines are lightly sulfured before bottling for preservation and stability. Ultimately Mother Rock is about showcasing the best and purest expression of South Africa’s diverse terroir.