RELEASED exclusively to their club members when launched a few months earlier but then made available to all wine lovers, Graham Beck Pinot Meunier 2022 is the first and only Cap Classique sparkling wine on the market that's made purely from Pinot Meunier, one of the three grape varieties traditionally used for bottle-fermented bubblies but usually as part of a three-way blend including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. A red cultivar, a mutation of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, it tends to perform a supporting rather than leading role, however cellarmaster Pierre de Klerk is proud of what's been achieved with the latest in the Artisan Collection from this Robertson estate.
The fruit comes from a vineyard in Robertson and another in Elgin and, besides the focus on Pinot Meunier, what also sets the wine apart from other GB fizz is that the second fermentation is according to the Agrafé method, whereby the bottle is sealed with a cork that is secured by means of a metal clasp, the Agrafé, rather than using a crown cap (similar to that used for beer bottles), which is the general practice in sparkling wine production around the world. The Franschhoek estate Le Lude was the first Cap Classique house to bottle-ferment using the artisanal Agrafé method, and now there are two. A similar cork and clasp is used to seal the bottle once fermentation is complete, after maturation on the lees (spent yeast) and after degorgement (removal of the yeast sediment), i.e. a tell-tale sign of the production method after the bottle goes on sale.
For some reason, whereas the new sparkler was launched at R850 per 750ml bottle for Graham Becks wine club members only, on release to the general public it was as a three-pack only: R2550 ex-cellar. Total production: 2200 bottles.
