Syrah (Stellenbosch)

Both vineyards that produce this exceptional Syrah are planted on soils derived from granite. The older of the two vineyards (now 27 years old) is rooted in a particularly rocky variety of decomposed granite known loacally as “Koffie Klip”. The second is on a crunchy less decomposed granite. This imparts to the wine an elegant and refined character while the temperate Summers of Stellenbosch allow the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly, allowing for depth of flavour and great balance. The 2017 harvest was effected by the drought but produced smaller grapes with higher concentrations of flavour.

Grapes were picked by hand in the cool of the morning and then hand sorted with particular focus on excluding any raisins or berries which had seen too much sun so that the natural purity of the fruit could be highlighted. From there the grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed and left to “cold soak” for three days at low temperatures. A small portion (30%) of the fruit was fermented as whole bunches in an open top fermenter. This process highlights the spiciness of the variety and brings delicate floral aromas to the final blend. Natural fermentation with no addition of yeast and a submerged cap method was employed so that the wine expresses the site and the vintage instead of having a predetermined set aromas and flavours. The wine was pressed soon after the fermentation was completed and transferred to barrel. Malolactic fermentation took place in barrel. Barrel matured for about 18 months, then assembled into one tank, which was settled in our cold cellar for almost 2 months before bottling. No fining and bottled without filtration.