Processus 2024 Maria Gomes Fernao Pires Worcester, South Africa

750ml bottle

12.5% abv

Bright and textural, with notes of golden apple, citrus oil, pineapple, and wild herbs. Lees aging adds a creamy, savory depth to the crisp, mineral palate, finishing dry and lively with gentle oak. Full & fantastic.

100% Maria Gomes/Fernão Pires

The duality of being known as Fernão Pires as well as Maria Gomes allowed for personification of this label, opening a new door of understanding for a wine that has lived many lives. Due to Portuguese influence during the days of colonization, one of Portugal's most planted grapes found an unlikely home in South Africa. The vineyard that Processus sources this wine from is nearly 40 years old and tended by a farmer with four generations of heart, knowledge, and care. Like Colombar, Fernão Pires is too-often blended into a choir of ‘other-white’. Therefore, Processus believes it is time this unassuming grape has its shining moment.

Grapes are destemmed and crushed into an open-top fermenter. Cold soaked 48 hours, then brought outside to warm under the warm African sun and initiate spontaneous fermentation. 2/3 way through fermentation, juice is drawn from skin and transferred to oak. Skins, pressed and a small amount of press wine added to the same barrel.

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100% Women-Owned

Processus is more than a wine label, it’s the journey of becoming. It was founded in 2020 by curator, Beata America and winemaker, Megan van der Merwe with the aim to bring a greater respect to the fundamental means for our existence (the environment), and the ecosystems that exist within each space.

The life and business partners bring a holistic and intentional approach to all that they touch with wine being their artistic medium for sharing these concepts with the world. Processus currently produces two white wines which aim to encapsulate the place, people, and culture of South Africa, while paying homage to the stories of minority grape varieties that have buried narratives.

Beata is, along with running Processus, a full-time curator at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town. Although an artist since birth, before joining the professional art world, she graduated with a diploma in Classical Music. Beata shared how she discovered an intersection between wine and art that guides her in all thought towards Processus: “It was only when I started working in a contemporary art museum, that my understanding of art was stretched in completely different ways. Thinking about art as process making- as abstract and elastic. This pushed a new way of thinking with Processus, I’m forced to think of wine as an object, and I was never challenged with that before. I’ve always thought, how can we consume and understand wine in an exhibition space? Imagine a Processus tasting room as different exhibitions for each variety and at the end of it taste the wine. Culminating all senses.”

Clearly, her taste and vision for art in all forms runs deep and translates into the most thoughtful approach to Processus. Every detail has meaning and if we can learn to look for this in all that we do, we can appreciate so much more about our experience in this world. Beata sees storied intersections in all objects and believes wine is no exception. Her goal is to acknowledge the artistic value of winemaking and to help consumers shift their thinking from it purely being a product of consumption to an art object that is, at its core, ephemeral.

Megan is an artist with a scientific mind. She’s currently the winemaker and viticulturist at Beau Constantia, one of South Africa’s top producers. She has also produced wine in Paso Robles (Saxum), and in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône Valley. Because of this dual hemisphere approach of winemaking, she has produced 7 vintages in just 4 years. This type of experience, while ridiculously tiring, is invaluable to learning A LOT and fast. She’s now firmly in the category as one of South Africa’s rising star winemakers due to such hard work and dedication.

To Megan, wine is, like art, a vehicle for expression and preservation, and that both come with a tremendous amount of responsibility. Overwhelmed by the abundance of her environment and humbled by the opportunity to preserve small parcels of historic vines within South Africa, she aims for her wines to possess an authentic identity and to emphasize the place and its people.

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Worcester is a significant wine-producing district 60 miles west of Cape Town in the Breede River Valley. Known for its substantial volume contribution to the country’s wine production, Worcester accounts for approximately a quarter of all the wines produced in South Africa. This is because the district is home to many cooperative estates.

Worcester has a historical significance dating back to the late 17th Century when it served as a hunting ground due to the abundance of wildlife. European livestock farming eventually led to the establishment of the town in the 1830s, making it the commercial heart of the district. German settlers arrived in the mid-19th Century and played a vital role in cultivating the land, including bringing about vineyards and orchards.

The district of Worcester comprises several wards, including Nuy, Scherpenheuval, Stettyn, and the elevated Hex River Valley. Aside from wine production, the Hex River Valley is renowned for its substantial cultivation of table grapes, producing nearly 90,000 tons annually. South Africa is a major producer for table grapes for the rest of the world. Worcester is also recognized for its brandy production, with the KWV based here, which serves as the largest brandy distillery in the southern hemisphere.

In Worcester, a wide range of grape varieties are cultivated, with notable emphasis on Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Colombar for whites; with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinotage for reds.

The location of Worcester offers natural protection from extreme weather conditions due to the surrounding mountain ranges. The Hex River and Langeberg Mountains form the northern border, while the Boland and Riviersonderend Mountains create a southern boundary, separating Worcester from other notable wine regions such as Stellenbosch and Walker Bay.

Worcester experiences a hot climate, with average summer temperatures often exceeding 85°F. The area benefits from cooling south-easterly breezes that originate from the Indian Ocean, located approximately 60 miles away. These breezes provide relief and moisture to the vineyards. Although irrigation is necessary due to low rainfall, the nearby Brandvlei Dam ensures an ample water supply for the widely used drip irrigation method.

The soils in Worcester exhibit significant variations, resulting in diverse wine styles. The gently rolling valley floor is ideal for most of the grape cultivation, while vineyards planted on the surrounding mountain slopes produce higher-quality wines. The well-drained soils contribute to lower grape yields and enhanced fruit concentration, resulting in wines with complex flavors and rich profiles.