Iron Syrah

In order to accentuate the IRON terroir, the grapes were foot-stomped as 100% whole- clusters into open top 500L barrels where hand punch-downs took place to encourage natural and very gentle extraction. The fermentation cycles completed with indigenous yeast and microbes and after a further four weeks of maceration, the wines were racked and pressed to these original vessels for its maturation period.

Grown on the IRON soils of the rolling red hills surrounding Malmesbury, this organic vineyard is well-established on the clay and gravel-rich Koffieklip soils that are good at holding water. The soil-bed becomes generous during primary growth in the spring, but then around veraison time the clay in the soils stops releasing moisture and the vine compensates during this quick ripening phase by making the smallest grapes we have. This factor, combined with the lush canopy and medium-thick skins of the berries play a very important role in the natural construct of a Syrah with round tannins, an incredibly complex palate and deep fragrance. The grapes were hand-harvested on 8th February 2022 while the morning was still cool and yielded 4.5 tons/ha, which translated to 22HL/ha.

This wine was aged for 12 months in French oak 500L barrels, of which 50% was new, followed by another 10 months in 2000L Foudre and eight months of aging in bottle before its release.