Mountainside Syrah (Stellenbosch)

Two mature, trellised, mountainside vineyards, planted with a variety of clones produce this Syrah. Overlooking False Bay, the vines enjoy the cooling influence of the famous Cape Doctor (the prevailing South Easterly wind during summertime). The rocky, gravelly nature of the soil promotes the production of balanced, finely textured wines which show restrained fruit and interesting spice and fynbos notes. Over the winter, rainfall figures came close to the long- term average for Stellenbosch, which came as a relief to many. The cool daytime conditions (and especially nights!) of December and January meant that our earlier varieties ripened with lovely acidity and great freshness, all at lower alcohol levels.

Grapes were hand harvested, crushed and destemmed into large stainless-steel fermenters where cold soaking was employed for several days on the skins to promote fruitiness, colour and flavour. Cool, spontaneous fermentation and a quick removal from skins after its completion was chosen as opposed warm fermentation and extended post fermentation skin contact which would have led to over extraction. Pump-overs were limited to one or two a day depending on the phase of fermentation and this has resulted in the extraction of soft tannins and a lithe texture. Half of the wine was matured in older French oak barrels (3rd, 4th and 5th fill) for 5 months and assembled with the tank matured half before bottling.