Rudera Syrah 2004

2002 vintage scored 89/100 in the Wine Spectator of June 30.
2004 and **** in Platter Guides of 2004 and 2005.
2003 vintage scored 88/100 in Wine Spectator February 2006 under ‘New Releases’.
The 2007 Platter Guide rated the 2004 vintage ****.
Wine Spectator scored the Rudera Syrah 2004 89/100 in January 2007.

ageing : 

Drinking well now and will reward two to four years in bottle.

Two different vineyards were used; one on Koffieklip in Koelenhof, and the second a vineyard on shale, in Faure, all in the Stellenbosch appellation.

All these vineyards are trellised on a four-wire perold system. Drip irrigation is available to combine canopy management with stress management. The vines were planted in 1994 and 1997.

Handpicked grapes were brought in late in February at 24,4º brix. The pH was 3.2 with a titratable acid of 7,6 g/l. Sorting was done in the vineyard, followed by bunch selection in the cellar before crush.

Our total production was 6,8 tons per hectare (45hl/ha) and 2116 x 6 x 750ml were made.

Sorting was done in the vineyard, followed by bunch selection in the cellar before crush. The grapes were fermented with an innoculated yeast (WE372) and pumped over three times per day. Two separate fermentations were done - a small amount in new oak for seven days and the rest in tanks at 29ºC, and fermentation lasted six days. Extended skin contact lasted a total of 11 days.

The wine underwent malolactic fermentation in barrel. 20% new French oak barrels, and 80% second and third fill barrels were used. Most of the barrels are from the cooper Vicard. The wine was racked using only gravitation. This was done for the first time after malolactic fermentation, and again in August. The wine matured in barriques for 11 months.

The wine is unfiltered and received only an egg white fining before being bottled.