Testalonga El Bandito I Wish I Was a Ninja Colombard 2022

ABOUT THE WINE

Testalonga’s take on Pet Nat is a fresh and thirst-quenching expression of Colombard, one of the signature grapes of South Africa.

The grapes are sourced from organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards in Swartland, planted in 1998. After hand-picking, the wine undergoes a natural fermentation with wild yeasts and is bottled before fermentation is finished to create Pet Nat’s signature single-fermentation fizz.

Disgorged after 10 months, and bottled unfiltered, unfined, and with minimal sulphites.

VINIFICATION:

Hand-harvested then fermented in fibreglass tanks at a temperature of 8 degrees. It was racked 9 times during fermentation to remove the sediment. At a sugar of 55g/l it was bottled under crown cap where it was left to finish fermentation and build up a natural pressure of carbon dioxide. After 10 months the bottles were riddled and disgorged and topped with the same wine (from other decanted bottles) and crown capped again. No SO2 was ever added to the wine and neither was any settling or fining agent.