Schist Syrah

Safeguarded from the high-summer Swartland sun in February, the SCHIST Syrah was picked during the cool morning air and the 100% whole bunches were immediately foot-crushed into 500L barrels. Only natural microbes took the wine through its fermentations and only hand plunging were performed for completely gentle extraction - just enough to keep the cap wet. After four weeks it was racked and pressed back to the same open top barrels. This completed the tannin development and allowed its dark perfume to flourish.

These very special and characterful grapes grown on the schisty slopes of Kasteelberg or “Castle Mountain”, showcase our estate, Roundstone and its tremendous ability to define Syrah grown on SCHIST soils. These rocky soils limit vine size and so the clusters and individual grapes in turn remain smaller with a higher skin to juice ratio, offering denser, more brooding tannins. The grapes were hand-harvested between 14th and 15th February 2022 with a yield of 4.3 tons/ha, which translated to 26HL/ha.

The SCHIST Syrah spent 12 months in 50% new and 50% 4th fill 500L French oak barrels and then another 10 months in 2000L Foudre before being bottled unfiltered.