2017 Painted Wolf Swartland Syrah

Background

The Vineyards

Our partner Billy Hughes grows organic grapes at Kasteelsig vineyard in the Swartland region. The grapes are dry farmed. Soil in the vineyard is primarily Glenrosa, a composite soil of decomposed shale with a little granite. Vines are 14 years old and the yield in 2015 was around 6 tons to the hectare.

Winemaking

The grapes were handpicked over a few days in late February 2013 into small baskets and taken to our cellar where they were destalked and gently crushed. We fermented the Syrah in small open bins where it was hand punched four times a day. We prefer the native yeast from the vineyard. The wine matured in French and Hungarian oak for a total of 20 months. We filled 10051 bottles.

Awards

• Platter’s Wine Guide 2020: 4 stars