At De Toren Private Cellar no pressure is put on the grapes and wine. In fact, it's the only cellar in South Africa where a hoisting tower is utilised to appropriate the full benefit of gravity in transporting the wine between tanks -- thus avoiding the rough handling caused by even the best designed wine pumps.

Mechanical pumps (nowhere to be seen in this cellar!) are frowned upon by owner and winemaker alike -- almost as if to suggest that these are "vulgar instruments of torture," confirming their propensity for cotton ball treatment of Fusion V.

Here's how they do it:

1. The sugar, acidity and pH levels of the grapes are tested on a weekly basis throughout the ripening period to ensure that the grapes are picked at the best possible time. To bolster wine quality the grapes are tasted and inspected for ripeness closer to harvesting. The ripening process is retarded through selected irrigation. This enables the grapes to gather the full fruit potential. The grapes are then hand-picked into plastic crates, which ensure that the grapes arrive at the cellar unscathed.

2. On the sorting tables, the grapes are examined and unwanted berries and foreign items like leaves and insects are removed by hand.

3. The grapes are taken by conveyor belt with a constant, feed to the destemmer that works so gently that the grapes are NOT squeezed. It only breaks the skin of the berries.

4. The grapes are transported (not pumped) in a bin by forklift and poured into stainless steel fermenting tank (filled with nitrogen gas to prevent excessive contact with oxygen) where it is cold-soaked for 24 hours. To improve the flavour extraction, only sulphur and enzymes are added during the first 24 hours.

5. On day two pure yeast is added. The fermentation temperature in the tank is monitored and kept between 28 and 30 degrees Celsius, resulting in optimal fermentation. During primary fermentation, which may last five to seven days, the must is <I>punched down<I> at regular intervals to ensure good skin contact with the juice and to extract all the flavours, tannins and colour from the skins. The must (sugar) is converted to wine, which contains the alcohol while the carbon dioxide escapes into the air.

6. After primary fermentation the free-flowing wine is drawn by gravity to the tank in the hoisting tower that's been dropped to the bottom of the shaft, six metres below the cellar floor.

7. The skins (the must) that remained in the fermentation tank are scooped up and carried to a gentle, hydraulically controlled basket press where just the right pressure is applied to extract the desired portion of tannins from the skins (The skins hold the last 10 percent of the liquid content of the grapes).

8. The basket press wine (more tannin-structured, arresting and forceful in taste) is drawn by gravity to the tank at the bottom of the hoisting tower, where the free-flowing wine (softer and gentler on the tongue) is waiting. The tank is hoisted to a height of six metres above the cellar floor, from where the wine is drawn to a tank for secondary fermentation, which may last 7 to 21 days.

9. The wine is then transported (by gravity, of course!) to small barrels (225 litre capacity) made of new French and American Oak for a maturation period of at least 12 months. These barrels are stored in an air-conditioned cellar where a cool 16 degrees Celsius is maintained.

10. The blending of the five varietals may occur before or after maturation. The final blending (the exact proportions of the blend) is determined after various sampled blends are tasted.