Simonsig Merindol Syrah 2006

Deep Persian carpet red with almost black centre. Sweet complex layers of savoury aromas giving impressions of a spice bazaar. Sweet vanilla, mocha and cinnamon notes combine with crushed black pepper and fynbos to exhibit great complexity of flavour. Densely packed black berry fruit ad liquorice follow persistently through the mid palate to the lengthy finish. Impressively concentrated with well balanced tannins showing lots of promise to evolve beautifully with careful cellaring.


variety : Shiraz [ 100% Shiraz ]
winemaker : Johan Malan
wine of origin : Stellenbosch
analysis : alc : 13.8 % vol  rs : 2.1 g/l  pH : 3.6  ta : 5.2 g/l  
type : Red  style : Dry  body : Full   wooded
pack : Bottle  closure : Cork  

AWARDS
2007
2009 Veritas - Silver Medal
2006
2009 Veritas - Silver Medal
2008 Veritas - Silver Medal
2005
Veritas 2007 - Silver Medal
2008 Platter's Guide - 4.5 stars
2008 Michelangelo International Wine Awards - Gold Medal
2009 Syrah du Monde - Silver Medal
in the vineyard : Over the past decade Simonsig has replanted Shiraz vineyards with the best new virus treated Shiraz clones available. This has led to a dramatic improvement in the quality of the grapes. The vineyards were planted on specially selected sites where Shiraz would achieve optimum quality. In the 2000 vintage the grapes came from a vineyard planted with the highly rated SH 99 clone of Syrah. The soil is deep, red, decomposed granite which has an excellent water retention capacity facilitating deep root systems to extract minerals and nutrients. The Merindol name is taken from the Malan Coat of Arms.

The 2003 vintage was very good in terms of quality and quantity, especially after downy mildew destroyed a large part of the 2002 crop. A cold winter with sufficient rains was followed by a healthy dry growing season. Cool conditions caused slow evenly paced ripening. Excellent healthy ripe grapes were picked at 25 ºBalling and after 15% saignee, spent 18 days on the skins before spending 18 months in 100% New French Oak.

about the harvest: The early growing season was characterised by cool conditions and good rainfall during September, October and November although December was dry. In January the vineyards looked fantastic and held a lot of promise for a superb vintage. The weather pattern changed drastically in mid January when a heat wave caused hot to extremely hot days. This had a significant influence on the tempo of ripening, the size and quality of the vintage. After welcoming rain in February the nights were cool with south westerly winds and temperatures were cool to normal during the day. The February and March rainfall was higher than average and it had a noticeable effect on the late ripening varieties. Thorough selection in the vineyards was necessary to bring in only perfectly healthy grapes.

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OTHER VINTAGES

Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz