DMZ Syrah – DeMorgenzon Stellenbosch

DMZ SYRAH 2016

TASTING NOTES

Deep, purple core. Rich, berry fruit nose with lots of ripe, red plum and whiffs of white pepper. Some floral notes in the background, including violets, lavender and spring blossoms. Full in the mouth with tremendous youthful vigour. Layers of berry fruit with developing spices of pepper, cinnamon, clove and vanilla. Gentle oak integration shows and supports the elegance and roundness at this early age.

Winemaker: Carl van der Merwe
Varietal blend: 100% Syrah
Appellation: Stellenbosch
Alcohol content 13.63%
TA 5.0g/l
pH 3.60
RS 2.7g/l

VINEYARDS

These vineyards are situated on the farm DeMorgenzon in the Stellenboschkloof. Soils are mostly weathered granite which gives the resultant wines a natural exuberance and youthful vigour. Planted in 2004 the trellised vineyard is managed to ensure natural high acidity and full flavour concentration. The yield was 8 tons per hectare.

VINTAGE

Conditions in 2016 were hot and dry resulting in a rapid harvest. Care had to be taken to harvest as quickly as possible, in an effort to preserve the grape’s natural acid and freshness. Due to the dry conditions, the crop quality was excellent, although yields were lower than usual, averaging at around 6 tons per hectare. The grapes were handpicked and selected in the early morning at between 21º and 22º Balling.

VINIFICATION AND MATURATION

The Syrah was manually harvested and destalked into stainless steel fermentation tanks. A small percentage of bunches were fermented without destalking. Natural fermentation followed with a slight extended maceration on the skins to stabilize the colour and give the wine palate length. Fermentation temperatures were managed between 22°C and 27°C with a combination of punch downs and gentle pump overs to extract colour and flavour from the skins. After fermentation the wine was pressed off the skins and malolactic fermentation was completed in barrel. The wine spent a further 12 months in small French oak barrels, 3000L Fourdré barrels and cement tanks (total 10% new wood).