Cheviot Syrah 2006
Delicate yet expressive; both mouthfeel & basket-pressed tannins fine & silky. Balanced freshness lightens 14% Alc, lengthens spicy, oak-enriched flavours.
Beef, lamb and game dishes. Hard cheese. Pizza and pasta dishes.
variety : Shiraz [ 100% Shiraz ]
winemaker : Elmari Swart
wine of origin : Helderberg
analysis : alc : 14.16 % vol rs : 1.5 g/l ta : 6.55 g/l
type : Red style : Dry
pack : Bottle closure : Cork
AWARDS
Platter 4 star, 2008 (as barrel sample)
Platter 4 star, 2009 (as bottled wine)
in the vineyard : The vineyard, from which our grapes are sourced, lies at around 200 m above sea level, facing north-east. The soils in this area are mainly granite-derived and would suggest a high growth-vigour, but due to the strong South-Easter winds and detail vineyard management, the vines achieve a balanced growth. Suring the ripening period, we visit the vineyard every few days to monitor the development of the berries and the ripeness level.
about the harvest: This vintage was the 2nd vintage from our Helderberg grape grower. The vintage starter slower and we decided to harvest a little later to see the effect it would have on the grapes. Thus we received slightly riper grapes with higher sugar content. This resulted in a higher final alcohol volume.
in the cellar : Fermentation
Hand harvested grapes were delivered to the cellar in Stellenbosch. Grapes are crushed and destemmed using a small destemmer, directly into open-top fermenters. About 10% of the berries remained whole. Cold maceration for 24 hours. Fermentation is inoculated with cultured yeast, specifically selected to ferment under cool conditions. Punch down twice daily during fermentation, fermentation temperature around 28°C.
Cooling is done with frozen water bottles. Pressing is done with wooden basket press of approx 750L capacity. After pressing, the free run and press wine blended and wines are transferred to containers for malolactic fermentation.
Malolactic
Transfer to tank for Malolactic. 100% malolactic with cultured bacteria. Clean wine racked into barrel after about 3 months. Oaking Wood maturation for 12 months. 50% French wood, 25% American, 25% Hungarian of which 50% was new wood Various coopers