Nudity Syrah

Ideal with a rack of ribs with a little spice or slow roasted pork belly.

This unusual Syrah comes from a single vineyard, rooted in ancient granite soils on the East facing slope of the famed Paardeberg mountain. These vines have been organically farmed for the better part of 133 years and achieved organic certification in 2010. Through years of employing only natural viticultural methods, the proliferation of beneficial insects, microbes and indigenous vegetation in the vineyard has created a natural balance between these and the challenges nature throws our way each season. This completely eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers, fungicide or herbicides while developing the vines’ natural immune system.

The barrels were carefully chosen so that the wine could be matured for a year without the addition of any sulphur. Mostly older barrels (3rd and 4th fill) were selected so that the delicate and intricate nature of the wine would not be obscured by any oaky notes. Malolactic fermentation took place in the barrel and the wine was never racked off its gross lees, which helped to maintain a reductive environment in the barrel, allowing the wine to mature at its own leisurely pace. After assembling the barrels into the final blend, the wine was left to settle for two weeks before bottling, with no fining, filtration, or sulphur addition at all.

Harvesting took place only by hand into 15kg lug boxes in the early morning so that cool, intact grapes could be transported to our cellar, protecting the purity of the fruit. The bunches were then individually hand sorted before being only lightly crushed. Fermentation occurred spontaneously through natural yeast in a large open-top fermenter. No addition of any kind was made during the vinification of this wine, no sulphur, no yeast, no additives of any type, exposing this wine to its most natural of states, to face the world unembellished, exposed and magnificent. This purest, natural and most naked state allowing all the nuances coming from the vineyard to be completely visible, nothing hidden, nothing added.

Founded in 1998 by Alex Dale, Radford Dale set about the Cape in search of exciting vineyard parcels for their chosen specialist varietals. Today, they have two producing wineries. The first is located in Stellenbosch, predominantly focused on sourcing maritime influenced parcels around the Helderberg and Polkadraai. Here, they produce the cult, single vineyard wines of Renaissance Chenin Blanc and Frankenstein Pinotage, and the Radford Dale Vinum range; a set of six wines that consistently overdeliver on style to price. The 2022 vintage marked the maiden release from their own vineyards purchased in Elgin under Radford Dale Organic, with the release of four single varietal Estate wines, the only organic certified vineyards in the region. More recently, they have co-founded South Africa’s first Organic Wine Association. They continue to reintroduce Gamay Noir to the Cape, establishing the first new plantings for some 20 years. It’s a varietal geared up to thrive in warm conditions, and on granite soils. Stylistically, Gamay also embodies Radford Dale’s championing of elegant, refreshing red wines.