=====================

00:00 – BRUCE JACK WINS BEST SHIRAZ OF THE YEAR

00:28 – THE ETHOS BEHIND THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE WINE RANGE

01:40 – WHAT’S IN THE BOTTLE?

01:53 – WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?

03:00 – WHERE WERE THE GRAPES GROWN?

=====================

The Ghost in the Machine Syrah 2020 was the Investec trophy Wine Show winner of the Best Shiraz Trophy for 2022. It scored an almost absurd 98 points, which, according to the logic of arithmetic makes it indiscernible from perfect, as far as the mere mortal is concerned.
Now while I’m not sure that it’s “indiscernible from perfect” it definitely falls into the SpontEx category. Which is reserved for wines that elicit involuntary “spontaneous expletives” of joy and awe. It’s always best not to serve these wines when you’re having Nana over to dinner. No one wants to hear their grandmother cussing, even if it is the result of pure ecstasy. In fact *especially* if it is the result of pure ecstasy.

The wine sold out almost immediately after the award announcement was made, but we were supremely privileged to have snuck in just before the rush. Needless to say, if you’re not a subscriber, you’ll have to settle for flavour notes via my best efforts at creative expression, alongside a few technical notes on how the wine was made:

—

👃🏼 The nose is an absolute trip. Fresh blackberries, crushed violet petals, dried lavender, tilled earth, cocoa dust, cedar spice, with fascinating greener hints of fresh cut cucumber, and plum fruit.

👄 The palate is lithe and light-footed, with cherry red seams of juicy acidity running through it all. In fact, it’s exactly like watching Catherine Zeta Jones in that scene from Entrapment. Tannins walk a tight rope between being fine, but sufficiently grippy to hold everything in place. The core of the wine carries vivid blackberry fruit, sewn together by tart raspberry acidity and red cherry candy. The finish is as fascinating as any other part of the wine, with a sort of blood orange citrus snap that lingers along with a hint of oak spice.

—

🔬85% Shiraz, 15% Grenache, all sourced from the Overberg and Walker Bay. The Shiraz is destemmed, while the Grenache enjoys some whole-bunch carbonic maceration. The shirqaz was cold macerated for roughly a week, before being slowly warmed and spontaneous fermentation was allowed to progress. Fermentation took about a month, before a traditional basket press was used to press the juice off into barrel where malolactic conversion took place. The wine was matured for roughly 20 months in oak.