Thomas Syrah 2023

Description

Bottling date   February 2023
Production  2 barrels bottles
Region  Swartland

Technical Details at Bottling
Alcohol  12.5%
Residual sugar  3.15 g/L
Total acidity  5.1
pH  3.75

Winemaking
Four tonnes of grapes were hand-picked on the xx^th February 2023 after a relatively cool summer. These arrived in Johannesburg 48 hours later via a cold truck (5 degrees Celsius). Grapes were hand sorted, lightly crushed and de-stemmed into 1,000L plastic fermentation tanks. Spontaneous fermentation started within a day. Only natural/wild yeasts were employed and manual punch-downs two or three times daily throughout.

The wine was then pressed by basket press and laid down in French oak barrels, a minimum of three years old. MLF went through at the end of the primary fermentation.  The wine was racked after six months and again prior to bottling 12 months later

Vineyard
This Syrah is from two different blocks of a Swartland farm.  The main block for this vintage of Thomas has a gentle slope with a slight south facing aspect. These are bush vines that were planted in 2009 on “Koffieklip” soil which is predominantly clay meaning that it holds more water, ripens fruit earlier and is often more tannic.

The second block, planted in 1994, is north-easterly facing.  Soils are mainly “Koiingklip’ shale and decomposed granite with low to medium potential and poor water holding capacity.  Dry land farming is employed in both blocks. Yield is approximately 7 tons/Ha.