Shiraz

A generous wine that is packed with flavour, both on the bouquet and palate. Upfront aromas of plums and dark chocolate, with ripe black berries are beautifully balanced with a hint of black pepper. A plush mouthfeel with bold tannins underpinned by oak, gives the wine appeal both on its own or with food, where it would be a great accompaniment to a roast leg of lamb or venison dishes. With careful cellaring this wine could be enjoyed now or over the next 8 years.

The fruit for this wine was sourced from our own vineyards with a few selected parcels from other Stellenbosch blocks. An exceptionally warm and dry spring led to increased root activity, resulting in vigorous and even growth at the start of the season. The end of October brought a timely rain spell that contributed to better flowering and berry set than preceding vintages. Increased vigour meant our viticulture team had to pay careful attention to canopy management making sure the fruit stays healthy and to ensure even ripening throughout the season. The harvest itself started earlier than previous years and was also quite compressed with several red varieties ripening earlier than usual. The grapes were healthy at harvest and had an intense concentration of flavours, promising great wines.

All the vineyard blocks were harvested and vinified separately. After hand picking, grapes were sorted and transferred to tank “whole berry” i.e., without crushing. During fermentation the juice was pumped over regularly for optimum colour and flavour extraction. After fermentation the wine was pressed and transferred to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The wine was matured for 22 months in a combination first (30%), second (30%) and third fill (40%) French oak barrels before the various components were blended and prepared for bottling.