Boekenhoutskloof, Syrah 2018

Dark fruit dominates an intense, brooding nose with its black currant, black olive, tar and graphite aromas. Luscious, sweet red and dark berries follow through onto an exceptionally complex palate with rich flavours of ripe plums, black cardamom and hints of ground pepper and sweet tobacco.

Grapes for our Boekenhoutskloof Syrah are from selected parcels of the finest Syrah planted on our Swartland farms, namely Porseleinberg and Goldmine. These vineyards grow on the rocky bedrock of decomposed Mica-Schist, a unique terroir expressed by the concentrated and structured wines.

The 2018 vintage was the third consecutive drought year and proved to be the most normal since our maiden
Swartland vintage in 2015. This harvest yielded more consistent tonnages than previous years which was
evident by the healthy, less stressed vines. Day temperatures were notably warmer and night temperatures
colder than usual due to the dry conditions with less than half our average rainfall.

Harvest commenced during the second week of February and looked very promising from the onset with little to no adverse weather conditions. These growing conditions produced very healthy Syrah, resulting in less skin-to-pulp ratio producing wines with slightly lower alcohols and more elegant, perfumed fruit and excellent technical analyses.

• Alcohol: 14.10% vol
• RS: 1.7 g/l
• TA: 5.0 g/l
• pH: 3.73
• Swartland