Tasting Notes
Pre-Arrival Offer - Shippment due in 3 weeks."Produced in the teeth of what Callie Louw calls a "crazy year", with lots of winter rain and one of the hottest Januaries ever, this is the latest in a series of world-class Syrahs from the brilliant Callie Louw. Fermented and aged in foudres and 15% concrete, using the submerged cap technique that has transformed the style here, this has 95% whole bunches, fynbos and Mediterranean herb aromas, sculpted, detailed tannins and layers of plum, blackberry and raspberry and impressive freshness for a wine with a pH of 4.1. A refined wine from a brutal site. 2025-40" 99pts Tim Atkin MW
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There are few more sought-after South African wines synonymous with serious quality than the Syrah from Boekenhoutskloof owned Swartland property, Porseleinberg. Producing just one wine from the inhospitable, rugged, windblown vineyards planted on harsh blue schist soils at the top of the mountain, farmer winemaker Callie intends to make a wine with sense of place and time. As he says - this place is hardcore - with almost no top soil, and perilously sharp rocks protruding from the steep slopes. One of the most distinctive things about the Porseleinberg Syrah is its unusual label, which is created by hand on an Original Heidelberg press, the smallest motorised printer ever produced by this iconic company. Since the 2018 vintage, he has adopted one of the key winemaking techniques he took from his time working at Domaine Jamet - of submerging the cap (the solid mass of grape skin, stems and seeds that naturally float to the top during the fermentation,) a traditional method widely used in Europe in the 19th century, and by California's Ridge Vineyards since the '50s. It's this that has perhaps altered the style of Porseleinberg from the early vintages with their hard-as-nail tannins that took 10 years to come around, to the hauntingly beautiful perfumed style of today.