BLANKBOTTLE 'Orbitofrontal Cortex' - Western Cape 2025 Bottle VGN

Description

Named after the part of the brain responsible for making decisions based on emotions, Orbitofrontal Cortex is Pieter Walser’s "conscious" blend. Unlike many winemakers who follow a set recipe or a traditional ratio, Pieter creates this wine by tasting through his various white wine parcels and selecting only the components that trigger the strongest positive response.

The 2025 vintage is a complex white blend, often featuring Chenin Blanc and Fernão Pires sourced from across the Western Cape. Because the selection process is purely intuitive, the result is a wine with remarkable depth and layers of flavour. It is a highly textured white with bright acidity and a clean, balanced finish. It is an intriguing wine that encourages the drinker to focus on the sensory experience with lime and rose petals, green apple, orange zest, backed with toasted almond characters, multi-layered and charmingly complex

Viticulture
The creation of Pieter’s conscious mind and assembled from his favourite parcel from the cellar. It began following an unusual scientific experiment, where electrodes were attached to Pieter’s head and body as he tasted through wines from the cellar. The resulting wine, determined by his un-conscious mind, was named ‘Limbic’ after the part of the brain used to process emotion. At the same time Pieter put together another version using the same components. The results were very different but since 2015 only ‘Orbitofrontal Cortex’ has continued to be made using fruit from 17 Western Cape sites.

Winemaking
The combination of fruit from 17 Western Cape sites, including Grenache Blanc (Piekenierskloof), Clairette Blanche and Fernão Pires (Swartland), plus Semillon (Elgin) and Verdelho (Voor Paardeberg), brought together in this defining blend created from Pieter's conscious brain. His favourite barrels, tank selections and varietals from a range of different sites across the winelands, then aged 10 months in old French oak.

Food matching
This versatile white pairs well with roast chicken, pork, grilled seafood or creamy dishes, with soft cheeses also enhancing its texture and depth.