Stark-Condé Stellenbosch Syrah 2023
R345,00
This Syrah is made primarily from a unique vineyard on the estate which is scattered with large river stones. The resulting old-world style Syrah is elegant and floral, and is a contrast to the bold ripe style of the warmer growing regions. A small amount of Viognier and Roussanne grapes are co-fermented to add aromatics and a finely textured tannin.
This wine is primarily built around a very stoney vineyard that just seems to produce better and better quality as the vines age. Typically of our vineyards, it makes an elegant, floral wine rather that a big in-your-face style.
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Specifications
In the cellar
Grapes were crushed into small open fermentation bats. Natural yeast fermentation. About 20% of the wine was whole-bunch fermented with its stems. Regular, vigorous punch-downs were given every 4 hours for the first half of fermentation, then every 8 hours thereafter. At dryness (7 - 10 days), it was racked directly to barrel for malo-lactic fermentation and subsequent barrel maturation. A mix of coopers were used, all French oak, about 20% new. After 18 months of barrel fermentation, the wine was bottled with no fining and filtration.
In the vineyard
This is a blend from 3 different vineyard blocks at different elevations on our Jonkershoek Valley farm. The higher elevation vineyards have a finely textured decomposed granite soil and tend to produce a more elegant wine with softer tannins, while the lower vineyard is very rocky and gives a denser, fruitier, more tannic wine. The grapes for this wine were hand- harvested in late February.
Although this is a blend of three vineyard blocks, the primary vineyard is our "block 1", an incredibly stoney vineyard that most visitors cannot believe will actually support plant life. This special vineyard gives an intense grippiness and serves as the backbone of this wine.
Ageing
18 months
Cultivar
89% Syrah; 7% Mourvedre; 2% Petit Verdot; % Roussanne
