Appellation Series, Swartland Syrah 2018

The Appellation Series Syrah concept came about during the assemblage of The Chocolate Block, where a surplus of quality Syrah barriques were earmarked for this wine. Grapes for this wine are sourced from young vineyards growing on our Swartland farms, namely Porseleinberg and Goldmine- both of which are planted predominantly to Syrah. This wine plays a crucial role by utilising fruit from the younger vines and allowing suitable ageing of the vineyards for The Chocolate Block and Boekenhoutskloof wines. 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 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.

A combination of partially destemmed and whole-bunch (50%) clusters ferment spontaneously in concrete tanks with minimal sulphur additions and no acidification. A soft délestage is performed 2-3 times per day. Once maceration is complete, the skins are basket pressed and gravity-fed into traditional 2 500L Austrian oak foudres and 225l French Oak barriques for further ageing of up to 12 months.

• Alcohol: 14.37% vol
• RS: 2.3g/l
• TA: 5.4g/l
• pH: 3.75
• W.O. Swartland