Solace Syrah

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Grapes were hand harvested into small crates and spent overnight in a cold room. Extensive bunch sorting by hand prior to destemming occured. The grapes were not crushed, with 10% whole bunch for complexity. Fermentation was allowed to start naturally, with gentle punch downs twice a day by hand. Fermentation temperatures peaked at 28°C. The wines were transferred to 500L French oak barrels where malolactic fermentation took place (14% new wood, the rest 3rd, 4th and 5th fill). During the winemaking process, we tried to keep with Rozy's farming philosophy, thus no enzymes, yeast or sulphur was used during the winemaking process. The wine is not fined or filtered, with a small amount of sulphur added before bottling.

The 2021 vintage experienced a typical cold Elgin winter, with snow on the high mountain peaks and high winter rainfall, after 5 years of very dry and unusually warm winter conditions. This enabled good vine dormancy. Bud break took place in ideal warm and sunny conditions. The impact of below than average winter rains in the previous years and windy conditions during October and November resulted in very uneven flowering. As a result, berry set was uneven leading to smaller berries that have good concentration of flavours. Cool weather conditions during December and January slowed down ripening. The 2021 vintage was characterised by late rainfall and increased the risk of disease. Sorting was again crucial this year and the fruit that remained shows wonderful intensity and fruit concentration. The late rain helped nourish the soils and more importantly, helped the vine focus on grape ripening rather than foliage growth, resulting in concentrated berries with low pH and lower sugar levels. The net result of the later vintage and very cool weather conditions in 2021, is that the grapes had high natural acidity, achieved steady phenolic ripeness and plenty of intense and concentrated fruit flavours.