Winemaker Notes
This is always the most structured Syrah in the Single Terroir range and this vintage is packed with dark fruit and has a broad but focused palate with lovely tannic grip. The finish is fresh, long and supple.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
You can smell the schist: perfumed but sparky, packed with petrichor and potpourri. Rounded and generous, this builds to a crescendo, the succulent tannins, ripe fruit and keen acidity coming together with a flourish. Very long, deeply inlaid with oak spice. Freshness and power combined. Aged for 12 months in larger barrels and foudres, 25% new. Drinking Window 2020 - 2030
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Not yet released, the black-fruited 2017 Schist Syrah is compact and dense with notes of blackberry, dark cherry and dusty spiced plum with a complex structure and tight, rocky core. In its youth, the wine is bold and elegant with a chewy tannic line through the mid-palate, ending with a long, textural finish and dense tannic grip that will loosen in time. This wine is as focused as it is delicious. Make no mistake, this is world-class Syrah that has power, longevity and finesse.
Barrel Sample: 93
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Literally meaning "the black land," Swartland takes its name from the endangered, indigenous "renosterbos" (translating to rhino bush), which used to be plentiful enough to turn the entire landscape a dark color certain during times of year. The district, attracting some of the most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers, excels in robust and full-bodied reds as well as quality fortified wines.