The Oldenburg Syrah 2014 is one of them. Grown in mainly Vilafonté soil, which is a very old evolved soil, devoid of any real nourishment, and ideal for the growth of smaller vines, low yielding and producing fruit is intense flavour.
The grapes come from 13-year-old Oldenburg vines, planted in 2004 which were hand harvested and bunch sorted, with further berry sorting taking place in the cellar. Phillip Costandius, winemaking General Manager, allowed the wine to ferment and mature for 20 months in a selection of 300 litre French [85%] and American [15%] oak barrels of which 40% were new barrels. The wine was blended with 87% of the 2014 Syrah, 8.7% of the Syrah 2015 and the balance Grenache Noir 2015 [4.3%]. The art of blending on show here, Philip is a master here. The wine was then prepared for bottling.
It looks like
Bottled in a Burgundy shaped bottle under natural cork closure with the classical black Oldenburg livery with silver printing and the variety printed in red. In the glass, rich bloodplum which pales out to ruby garnet at the edges.
It smells like
A generosity of red and black fruits. Undertow of brown spices and fynbos herbaceousness and oak.
It tastes like
The richness of the fruit on the noise is echoed on the palate from entry right through to the long and satisfying aftertaste. Cashmere clad tannins, a lovely acidity, the oak and the fruit are all in harmony
It’s good with
A sublime wine like this is the perfect post-prandial bottle with a bar of good Belgian chocolate. But it is made for food. Either for a full flavoured vegetarian dish made up of aubergine, mushroom and tomato or Ina Paarman’s Orange Duck. Click here for her recipe.
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