Tokara Syrah Reserve Collection 2019

TASTING NOTES

This wine is 100% Shiraz from a single block made up of 2 clones. It is terraced into our steepest and most rocky terroir which lends itself perfectly to the variety and produces our most expressive Syrah.

The average yield is around 8t/ha. The grapes were hand- picked on the 26th of February and the 8th March. The grapes are picked at optimum flavour and phenolic ripeness with sugars of between 23.4 and 24.9 degrees brix with acidities around 5.5 g/l.

The grapes are hand-picked in small picking crates and loaded into a cold store where they are chilled down to approximately 6 degrees Celsius overnight. 25% of the grapes were first placed into the tank as whole bunches. The remainder of the grapes were de-stemmed and crushed directly into tank for fermentation without the use of pumps. There was an initial period of cold maceration for 4 days before the fermentation started spontaneously (without the use of selected yeast strains). Pump-overs, dellastage and punching down of the cap were implemented twice a day for extraction until fermentation was completed. The tanks were given maceration post fermentation and malolactic fermentation began spontaneously during this period. The wines were put to barrel to complete malolactic fermentation after which they were racked, sulphured and put back to barrel for a further maturation. There were minimal racking’s during maturation. The wine matured on the fine lees for 10 months after which it is racked to tank at the time of blending. The wine was then returned to barrel for a further 11 months before being racked again prior to bottling. 3,797 bottles were filled unfiltered and without fining in December 2020.

This wine displays a brilliant colour with a purple rim. The nose leads with notes of ripe plum, violet perfume and baking spice. The palate is classy and refined with rich dark fruit and a silky mid-palate. The wine leaves one with an appealing chalky finish and a hint of pepper spice.

Goes great with grilled lamb cutlets with rosemary, venison stew or suckling pig.