The best Syrah vines on Joostenberg are planted in the rockiest soils hence the name “Klippe Kou”, which translated from Afrikaans means “chewing rocks” (literally) or “enduring hardship” (figuratively). Although the vines struggle in the first few years after planting, once the roots are well established these rocky soils produce intensely flavoured grapes and characterful wine.
TASTING NOTES
Raspberry, blackcurrant and pepper on the nose. These characteristics follow on the palate and the wine finishes with refined, chalky tannins. Medium bodied, fresh and delicious.
ANALYSIS
Alc 13.3 %, RS 1.3 g/l, TA 5.2 g/l, pH 3.65
VINEYARD
Joostenberg is situated in the south western part of the Paarl region. The climate is Mediterranean (cold, wet winters and dry summers) and the soils are a combination of decomposed granite and clay shale. Distance to the ocean is approximately 30km.
The vines are farmed organically and every effort is made to follow practices that are respectful of the environment. The main vineyard is dry-farmed and planted in rocky “graniet-skalie” soil. Age of the vines is 20 years.
VINIFICATION
Grapes were hand-picked, 70% were de-stemmed and the remainder left as whole-clusters. Natural fermentation occurred in small, open-topped fermenters.
One of the winemaking aims is to capture the pure essence of the vineyard and therefore the maturation process saw some changes in this vintage. In order to preserve the aromatics and fruit expression of the wine, maturation pre-bottling was decreased to 10 months compared to the usual 18 months. For the same reason, 50% of the blend was matured in concrete tanks for the last 5 months. The balance remained in seasoned 500L barrels.
