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WELCOME TO VINS D'ORRANCE
Born and raised in France, to a family of Calvados producers, Christophe Durand moved to Cape Town in 1995. Beginning as a supplier of premium French wine barrels and very much involved in winemaking, it was only a matter of time until he brought together his knowledge and passion for fines wines into creating his own. After laying his hands on a small and beautiful vineyard in the Simonsberg area, he created his own label, called "Vins d'Orrance". Combining the best of both worlds, his first wine came to life as a beautiful Syrah 2001, called "Cuvee Ameena", dedicated to his oldest daughter. After much success with the Syrah, it was time to create another. In 2004, after sourcing some stunning grapes from the Constantia valley, Christophe made his first Chardonnay "Cuvee Anais", named after his baby girl. Christophe believes strongly in true tradition, and his philosophy is to interact as little as possible with the grapes. All pickings are done manually in light boxes and brought to the cellar where a meticulous selection is carried out. Alcoholic fermentation occurs with the temperature closely monitored. For the whites - all bunches are pressed, left for 24 hours to settle nicely, then racked straight into 225 litre Burgundian barrels where the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation will occur. For the reds - partially de-stemmed with alcoholic fermentation occuring in open-topped fermenters during a period of two weeks with punch down twice a day. Ageing is done 100% in barrels, 11 months for the whites and 18 months for the reds. All whites are kept on clean lees with regular battonage and soft filtration before bottling. The reds are also kept on primary lees, with no filtration, with only a white egg fining done two months before bottling. Christophe is not looking for the perfect wine, but wants to make the best wine that his vineyard selection can give him, showing the true essence of the terroir.
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