Sacramental / Altar Wines Sweet Red

The Sevenhill Sweet Red Altar Wine is made as naturally as possible with minimal winemaking intervention in accordance with Canon Law. It is a blend of grape varieties grown on the Sevenhill property including Grenache Ruby Cabernet and Pedro Ximenes. Fruit for this wine is usually picked towards the end of vintage at around 16 Baumé. Care is taken to ensure that the fruit is in good condition and the flavours are intense fresh and bright. Each batch is crushed and pressed to a fermenter; yeast is then added to start fermentation. After a few days of fermentation the required residual Baumé will be reached and a neutral high alcohol Spirit is added to stop the ferment and to preserve the wine. The wine is then lightly filtered before going to storage in old oak vessels ranging is volume between 225 litres and 4,800 litres. Before bottling the wine is again lightly filtered and minimal sulphur dioxide is added to keep the wine fresh.