Battle of Bosworth ‘Best of Vintage’

"Best of Vintage is as the name suggests, the very best (red) wine from the vintage, which gets to spend extra time in the best oak barrels. The process begins when Joch tastes every barrel of current red wine when it is time to start bottling them all. Every barrel is tasted and assessed. Any outstanding barrels are set aside for Best of Vintage. 2021 sees the emergence of Malbec into the Best of Vintage frame. Previously all of our Malbec was sold as grapes to a larger winery, but this vintage Joch decided to keep some back for our own purposes. Malbec is a lesser-known variety in our region (and in Bordeaux where it comes from). It's a super blending wine, bringing deep colour and tannins to the mix. Each parcel of grapes is open fermented on their skins in small 2-tonne vessels, are pumped over twice daily (to extract colour flavour and tannin from the grapes and skins) and finishes fermenting in fine oak barrels (French oak generally). Maturation continues in the barrel. The 2021 Best of Vintage wine spent about 12 months in oak before blending and bottling."