Syrah

Game fish cooked over hot coals. Slow-braised oxtail or venison cooked in red wine and sherry. A charcuterie platter with salami, parma ham, tapenade and pork rillettes. An Italian minestrone soup with grated parmesan cheese. Creamy risotto with wild mushrooms and any aged, hard cheeses such as boerenkaas, mature gouda or two-year old asiago.

Malolactic fermentation is completed in the barrel and further maturation takes place over 15 months. 7% 1st fill and 93% 3rd fill tight- and medium-grain barrels with medium toasting.

Grapes are hand-harvested at 24°B, of which 18% whole clusters are added to the tank, with the rest destemmed and crushed. Cold soaked for two days before being inoculated with yeast, during fermentation colour and flavour extraction takes place with regular pumpovers every six hours and a few manual punchdowns of the grape cap. A maximum temperature of 27°C is reached. On completion of fermentation, a further 14 days of extended skin maceration takes place before pressing and transferring into 225l French oak barrels.

Winemaker David Nieuwoudt created the Ghost Corner brand in 2007, initially starting off with a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc and adding three new wines in 2012: The Bowline, a Sauvignon blanc and Semillon blend; Ghost Corner Pinot Noir; and Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc, a Sauvignon blanc naturally fermented in older barrels. Every year David selects a small quantity of grapes from vineyards in the Elim ward near Cape Agulhas on the southernmost tip of Africa. Ghost Corner takes its name from this treacherous coastline where more than 130 ships have been shipwrecked through the ages. The deep lime-rich soil with plentiful slate and gravel deposits in Elim’s maritime climate gives rise to exceptional white wines.