Blueprint Syrah

Ideal with rich and smoky pork ribs or belly.

Ideal winter conditions with sufficient rain and cold units up until the end of August 2021. Excellent budbreak about 7 days later than usual resulting in nice even growth. Early spring was cool and dry and then became cooler and wetter with 123mm in October. This provided vigorous canopies and high fungal disease pressure which was well managed by our growers. A very hot and dry January was quite a shock to many vineyards, but our vines in deep soils managed this period well. February was cooler with a little relieving rain. Slightly higher yields, but all in good balance and picked in perfect condition. Harvest date: 25/2/22 - 17/3/22 @ 22,5 to 24,6 balling

20 months maturation in old barrels. Bottled by hand unfined (vegan) and unfiltered.

Handpicking into 20 kg crates. Destemming and lightly crushed directly into small open top fermentation tanks. 15% whole bunches included. Spontaneous fermentation @ max. 30deg. with the cap of skins punched down manually twice a day for an average of 16 days. Wine drained directly to barrels together with single pressing from the traditional hand basket press. Malolactic fermentation in the barrel.

A small family winery at the end of the Upper Blaauwklippen Road in the mountains above Stellenbosch South Africa. Established in 1992 by architect David Trafford & artist wife Rita with the focus on high end red wines of great intensity & longevity using minimal intervention production methods.