The inspiration for these Deconstructed Syrahs stems from my belief that the Elgin region boasts credentials that make it world-class. To bolster these regional credentials, I have set out to prove that Elgin has both signature grapes and specific ‘terroirs’ (meso-climates) that reflect intra-regional distinctions. To fully comprehend this, it is necessary to dig deeper into the DNA that makes up our region. To elucidate this, I have decided to make these Syrah wines that have each been selected from a specific vineyard and an individual clone. Importantly, this is an ongoing story that will unfold over the coming years.

WINEMAKING: The grapes were handpicked and manually sorted on a conveyor before the stems were removed. The destemmed berries were dropped uncrushed into small 500kg open-topped fermenters. The grapes underwent a 3-day maceration before spontaneous fermentation began. A gentle delestage program was charted, and the grapes remained on skins for up to 15 days. The wine was then racked to barrel under gravity and the remaining pomace basket pressed. Malolactic proceeded in barrel followed by a light sulphuring after which the wine was racked off malolactic lees and returned to clean barrels for an 11-month maturation. No fining is usually necessary, and the wine was racked and lightly filtered before bottling.

BARREL SELECTION: A small number of artisanal coopers were selected, all from Burgundy and the Rhone, with only French oak chosen. For the Deconstructed Syrah we used 50% new oak.