Damascene

The Damascene cellar is a physical extension of our aspirations to communicate place through wine. As such, each vessel and process in the cellar must be as gentle as possible to ensure the narrative is not obscured by invasive winemaking techniques.

This means that, for our red wines, no berries are crushed in the cellar. Whole berry fermentation is essential to preserve aromatics and elegance in a wine.We also use a roving satellite tank to fill the fermentation vessels, which does away with the need for pumping of grapes from the fruit reception area into tanks. In our conical concrete tanks, we have custom-designed set plates to facilitate a submerged cap fermentation for some cultivars; eradicating the need for punch downs or pump overs in these instances.

Our red wines are, for the most part, matured in 2000-litre Austrian foudre, with a small portion being matured in 225-litre French oak barrels. Our white wines are all whole-bunch pressed via pneumatic press, using a delicate champagne press programme. They are then fermented and matured in 1000-litre oval Austrian oak foudres.

Number of bottles produced: 43.000
In charge of winemaking: Jean Smit
In charge of vineyard management: Jean Smit
Name of Company contact: Jean Smit

Email: jean@demasenevineyards.com
Telephone: +27 82 334 8100
Website: https://www.damascenevineyards.com
Address:
Demascene Vineyards
Habibi Farm,
Glen Fruin Rd
Elgin, 7180
South Africa