What Is Méthode Cap Classique?

Le Lude’s custom-built winery is one of the few cellars in South Africa exclusively used for making Cap Classique.

Grapes from specially selected blocks are hand-picked during cool early-morning temperatures to ensure optimum freshness. The bunches are pressed whole, a critical part of the process of creating a great sparkling wine, with only the first pressing of juice – our cuvee – used in the making of the base wines. These base wines, the building blocks of the final product, are regularly tasted by discerning palates before the components are blended for the process of bottle fermentation.

Once bottled, the bottles ferment and mature horizontally in cool, dark cellars for a minimum of twelve months. It is here that the wines undergo a mystical process, sugar is converted to alcohol creating the millions of tiny bubbles, while the lees upon which the wine lies gives flavour, complexity and deliciousness.

After riddling and disgorging, Cap Classique wines are left to mature on the cork for some time to ensure integration and balance. This commitment to quality is evident in your glass every time a Le Lude Cap Classique cork is popped.