2022 - AVA Syrah, Rall, Swartland

Softly herbal and with a dusty black peppercorn essence, the 2022 AVA Syrah displays seductive, sanguine notes of hung sausage before black tea and spicy plum skin appear with wild, savory aromas. Still amazingly tight, the Syrah will need a few more years in the bottle but displays fine-grained tannins that will allow this beautiful Syrah to age gracefully for years. If you can find it, buy the entire case!

The 2022 Syrah Ava is 100% whole bunch fermented and aged in a 3,000 liter foudre and neutral oak. It has a little more reduction than the Rall Syrah, perhaps due to the aging vessel, but there is plenty of pure black, Provençal-tinged fruit here. The palate is medium-bodied with great structure and density, quite saline, with a touch of licorice and menthol on the finish, as if there was a splash of Mourvèdre in the blend (there isn't, BTW). Enormous length, this is a serious Swartland Rhône blend. Outstanding.

From a single vineyard in Swartland. Extreme schist: 'it would literally break a plough'. Vinified in a 4,000-litre foudre. Spontaneous fermentation. Hard to describe this wine that changed every time I lifted the glass to my nose. One moment like chocolate and then like roast beef and then like peonies. It’s a shape-shifter with tannins that feel like the tonewood of a cello and then the grain of an old wood beam. Contrary and contradictory. It pinches then dances, breathes down your neck and pulls at your hand. It tastes of spice souks and florists and the fresh earth sweetness of carrots being lifted from the earth. The wine holds its sweet, deep-red fruit like a ring clasps its gem. (TC)