Syrah

Grilled New York strip or ribeye steak.

Both vineyards that produce this exceptional Syrah are planted on soils derived from granite. The older of the two vineyards (now 25 years old) is rooted in a particularly rocky variety of decomposed granite known loacally as “Koffie Klip”. The second is on a crunchy less decomposed granite. This imparts to the wine an elegant and refined character while the temperate Summers of Stellenbosch allow the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly, allowing for depth of flavour and great balance.

Malolactic fermentation took place in barrel. Barrel matured for about 19 months, then assembled into one tank, which was settled in our cold cellar for almost 2 months before bottling. No fining and bottled without filtration.

Grapes were picked by hand in the cool of the morning and then hand sorted with particular focus on excluding any raisins or berries which had seen too much sun so that the natural purity of the fruit could be highlighted. From there the grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed and left to “cold soak” for three days at low temperatures. A small portion (20%) of the fruit was fermented as whole bunches in an open top fermenter. This process highlights the spiciness of the variety and brings delicate floral aromas to the final blend. Natural fermentation with no addition of yeast was employed so that the wine express the site and the vintage instead of having a predetermined set aromas and flavours. The wine was pressed soon after the fermentation was completed and transferred to barrel.

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.