Syrah Ceres Plateau 2022

Located on the Ceres Plateau, northeast of Cape Town, the Damascene vineyard benefits from a cool, windy mountain climate, a rarity in South Africa. The Syrah vines are planted in poor soils of schist and decomposed sandstone at a high altitude, which promotes slow ripening and great aromatic finesse. The influence of the surrounding terrain, the cool nights, and the abundant sunshine help preserve the grapes' natural acidity, resulting in wines with a taut, precise, and elegant profile.

This wine reveals notes of black fruit , crisp red fruit , and violet , enhanced by spicy touches of black pepper and garrigue , as well as delicate woody nuances of smoke and cedar . The palate is elegant, with a silky texture, fresh acidity , and fine tannins , carried by a saline and persistent finish that underscores the high-altitude freshness of the Ceres Plateau.

The first grape vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really take off until the arrival of French Protestants in the 1680s with their skills and knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s. Today, South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the Southern Hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often share more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles. South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards are also found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, heavily influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.