Stellenbosch Syrah

Bolder, warm climate Syrah pairs well with strongly flavoured foods. Slow roasted pork or steak with a blue cheese sauce pair well with full- bodied red wines.

Syrah grapes were sourced from two distinct vineyard sites in the Stellenbosch district. While both vineyards are situated higher than 300-metres above sea level, planted with SH9 and SH22B Syrah clones. With soils dominated by decomposed granite, they each bring their own nuance and complexity to the wine. The vineyard on the Polkadraai Hills was planted on a south-east facing slope in 1996, and contributes most of the perfume and spice. Structure and fruit intensity comes from a vineyard of low-yielding granitic soils in the Bottelary ward, a ‘mother unit’ planted on a north-west aspect in 2001.

All fermentations took place spontaneously with naturally occurring yeast. Malolactic fermentation also occurred spontaneously, with maturation in 1000-litre oak foudres for 11 months. The wine was bottled without fining, to ensure a more complex and authentic expression of Syrah.

To showcase the impact of site in Stellenbosch Syrah, the harvested fruit was separated into numerous smaller fermentation batches, with whole-cluster fraction of each batch ranging from 50 to 100 percent per vessel. Open-top stainless steel fermenters and 1000-litre oak foudres received a combination of pump-overs and pigéage (punch-downs) two or three times per day. The remaining two 1000-litre oak foudres were treated with the ‘submerged cap’ technique to enhance the body and fruit concentration of the wine. A unique element in the final blend came from a portion kept as 100% intact whole clusters, that underwent carefully-controlled carbonic fermentation. These were sealed in a stainless steel tank and stored under pressure for 30 days before pressing. Without pump-overs or pigéage during fermentation, this carbonic macerated component contributes enormous purity of fruit and silky tannins to the final blend.

DAMASCENE is a partnership between Jean Smit and David Curl, former owner of Château Gaby in Canon-Fronsac, Bordeaux. What began as a conversation around making wine from the Pinot Noir planted on Curl’s Elgin estate swiftly revealed the pair’s shared passion for celebrating unsung pockets of South African terroir. Following the maxim of ‘Less cult, more cultivation’, the founding philosophy of DAMASCENE is simple, yet unyielding: that the journey to great wine can only begin in the vineyard. “DAMASCENE is about seeking out memorable vineyards and sites that truly showcase the incredible diversity of terroir we have here in the Western Cape,” says Smit. “I spend countless days on the road, covering thousands of kilometres, visiting vineyards and farmers in search of special parcels of land.”