CWG Protege
Timed Online Auction, 11 September - 7 October 2024
The Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Online Auction
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About this Item
A 3 litre bottle of Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2013
Our Syrah has been sourced from a single vineyard in Wellington since 1998. The vineyard was planted in 1993 on a southeast-facing slope to maximize the cooling effect of the prevailing easterly wind. The site yields an unmistakable character of delicate violet notes and an underlying spiciness from the decomposed granite soils. For this vintage, we used Syrah planted at Porseleinberg. The Porseleinberg site produces components with wonderful freshness, spice, and structure that will take the longevity of the Boekenhoutskloof Syrah to even greater heights.
In 2013 the fruit was harvested over an entire month starting at Porseleinberg on February 8th (reaching phenolic ripeness 14 days earlier than the vineyards in Wellington). The complexity of this wine benefits from the diversity in grape composition from the nine different picks. This vintage will be remembered for being particularly late and slow. Prolonged winter conditions continued until September, followed by a cool spring, which delayed bud burst. Ideal weather conditions during the harvest season, moderate day temperatures, and cool nights had a positive impact on fruit quality and establishing good colour and flavour.
The fruit was kept in the cold room overnight before being sorted and crushed into concrete fermenters. 20%-30% whole bunches were put into the bottom of the tank of some batches to emulate the effect of carbonic maceration. After four days of cold soaking, the fruit was allowed to naturally ferment for two-and-a-half weeks with the temperature peaking at 28°C. During fermentation, the wine underwent délestage two to three times per day, but pigéage was rarely done. A post-fermentation maceration took place for seven days before the wine was pressed into second-fill Saury barrels where it underwent malolactic fermentation. After 18 months in barrel, the wine had a light egg white fining before spending a further eight months in oak. Half of the blend was matured in two older 2 500 litre French oak foudre for the final 8 months. 1035 cases were bottled.
This wine is packed in a wooden box.