Fruit from the Helderberg and Vlottenburg wards combine to deliver supreme balance and intensity. Aromatics of iron filings – electric and lively – bright cassis, rich dark plums, dried herbs (rosemary, bay leaf) and cedar spice all flow into an unashamedly lush palate. Big, fat red cherries, juicy blackcurrants, and the flesh of ripe plums are cocooned by the sensation of crushed velvet. The tannins are complementary in their contrast, firm and muscly, but somehow weightless; a feat achieved through gentle oaking (60 per cent new French barrique for 11 months and then 11 months in 2000-litre conical Austrian oak vats). Striking graphite-toned acidity highlights the impressive fruit intensity, uncoiling black cherries right to the finish. Power and freshness in equal measures.

Corlien’s notes: The wine immediately demands attention. Concentrated fruit with graphite, sweet baking spice and curry spice with savoury biscuits in the background. It has so many flavour layers it just keeps coming like gentle waves.  I love the touch of red roses that gives the wine a little perfume lift. It’s textured, complex and intense.
The only wine that spends 1 year in small barrels and a second year in foudré, and therefore released one year later than all the other Damascene wines. An outstanding wine that all collectors should have. 

ANALYSIS: ALC 13.56 % | pH 3.58 | TA 5.5 g/L | RS 1.1 g/L