Diemersdal Estate achieved a top 12 place for the Diemersdal Shiraz and Diemersdal Syrah Reserve, both made from the 2023 vintage.
Juandré Bruwer, Diemersdal winemaker, says the two Shiraz SA Top 12 awards further underscores the fact that the Durbanville region is more than capable of making red wines matching the reputation it has garnered over the past two decades for white wines, especially Sauvignon Blanc. “A cool, temperate maritime climate, deep Hutton soils and the requisite number of sunlight hours per year are ideal for ripening a range of red varieties for the making of excellent wines, as Diemersdal has shown with our award-winning Shiraz, Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon wines over the past few years.”
The Shiraz Top 12 Diemersdal Shiraz as well as the Diemersdal Syrah were made from grapes grown on the Durbanville estate, planted on north-facing slopes. Like all Diemersdal’s vineyard, Shiraz is farmed dryland with the only irrigation coming from the 650mm of rain the farm experiences on average each year.
“Both the Diemersdal Shiraz and Syrah are fermented in open-top fermenters with the cap being punched down manually twice a day during the 10-day fermentation cycle,” says Bruwer. “The major difference is that the wine under the Syrah label underwent 100% whole-bunch fermentation and pressing, with the Shiraz comprising 20% whole-bunch.”
The Shiraz wine underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel, while the Syrah went straight to barrel where this process commenced. The Syrah was aged for 12 months in 225l French oak barrels of which 20% were new, while the Shiraz was on French oak for 14 months.
Bruwer says the unique cool-climate Durbanville terroir as well as precision viticulture plays a major role in enabling Diemersdal to make to vastly different Shiraz wines from the same grape variety growing on the same farm. “The cool temperatures in summer allow for long, slow ripening leading to immense fruit concentration,” says Bruwer. “In the vineyard we also take great care to open up the canopies allowing the fruit maximum exposure to the sun and eliminating any chance of the grapes gaining a green, pyrazine note. However, after veraison we allow a slight canopy shade to descend over the bunches so as to permit the evocative Shiraz peppery notes to emerge. “The result in both wines is classic Shiraz and Syrah which allow the consumer to experience a different set of elegance and nuance in each distinctive wine.”