100% Shiraz

Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa

– Soil Type:
– Special Vintage Info: Selected from a single vineyard, known as the ‘Skooltjie’ (school) bush vine. 21 year old, double-row bush vines on Oakleaf soils, facing South-South-West. Great effort is made during harvesting. Selected pockets of vines are harvested separately over 3 harvesting dates.

– How grapes were handled: Grapes are harvested by hand by experienced pickers, which is where the critical initial selection is made.
– Fermentation / Yeast Type / Vessel: The grapes are de-stemmed and lightly crushed into open top fermenters. The juice was allowed to start natural fermentation art low temperatures and, after a day, inoculated with a selected stain of yeast.
– Fermentation Management: Fermentation was done at 28 o C and kept on the skins for 10 days. A combination of pump-overs and punch downs were done.
– Reasons for this choice:
– Ageing – barrels / size / time: The wine spent 17 months in barrels, of which 40% were new French oak.

– Residual Sugar (g/l): 2.5 g/l
– Alcohol: 14.5%
– pH: 3.59
– Total Acidity 5.60 g/l

Dark plum and black berry aromas with hints of spice, violets, smoke, iodine and iron. Big and bold with smooth tannins and dark, spicy black fruit on the palate,. The acidity adds some freshness on the finish. Careful cellaring will allow this wine to age gracefully for at least 8-19 years from vintage.