Steepside Syrah

Please note: Award stickers are applied at the producer's discretion and may not be present on all bottles.

All grapes used in producing this wine come from our Steepside 2 Syrah block (1.3Ha). Small parcels of grapes are specifically selected according to ripeness, harvested by hand and vinified separately. Fermentation is carried out by yeast which occurs naturally on the grape skins and in the winery. Red wines spend three to four weeks fermenting and macerating on the skins in small open top tanks with one or two gentle ‘punch-downs’ performed per day.

Despite prevailing drought conditions, 2018 was a very good growing season on Keermont. We had a fairly cold winter although it was drier than usual. Spring arrived quite early and the warm weather ensured an even budburst. We had some good rain showers during the season which allowed for the vines to grow sufficiently. These factors led to the formation of a healthy crop which ripened evenly. We had very notable diurnal temperature variation during this season (warm days and cool nights) which is responsible for good tannin, colour, and flavour development. Harvest started at the beginning of February and ran very smoothly. We processed 87 tons (13 varieties) in the Keermont winery over the period of seven weeks.

This wine spent 20 months maturing in seasoned 225L and 500L French oak barrels before being bottled by hand.