Syrah

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

After destalking and minimal crushing of the berries, they were left to cold soak for 48 hours. Fermentation with selected Rhône yeast strains was temperature controlled at 22-26°C. Pump overs were effected twice daily.

Winter of 2017 was one of the driest in the Western Cape in the last century, fortunately our winter rains were within average range. We received very late cold fronts with icy rain in mid-September. This storm did extreme damage to our young shoots, so while we received water for irrigation the price paid was the loss of half of our potential crop almost overnight. In late November we had a further blow with a hail storm which caused more vineyard damage and the final harvest crop was on a very a very low 3,7 ton/ha. The conditions during the rest of the growing season were moderate with cool, dry weather and the small crop was handled with care to make the most of it. The result was a small, concentrated vintage, comparable to 2015.

The wine was barrel matured for 18 months in 30% new French oak barrels with only selected barrels chosen for the final blend.