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

00:00 – DID YOU KNOW…SACRED SITES OF SYRAH

01:04 – AN INTRO TO THE OLD ROAD WINE COMPANY

02:05 – INTO THE ARCHIVES: FRANSCHHOEK’S SOUTHERN RIM

02:51 – WHERE DOES THE PEPPER WIND SYRAH COME FROM?
03:14 – ROTUNDONES AND THE MYTH OF THE PEPPER WIND

04:01 – WHAT DOES THE PEPPER WIND SYRAH TASTE LIKE?

05:05 – HOW WAS THE WINE MADE?

05:44 – SOME ANECDOTAL INSIGHTS FROM SYRAH LEGENDS…

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

The Old Road Wine Company is a Sleeping Giant waiting to explode. With the financial backing of a powerhouse like DGB, a supremely sharp viticultural team, access to some enormously exciting vineyards, and a winemaking with the proficiency and focus of a man like Ryan Puttick, and you’d be a fool to ignore them.

ORWC have – for a few years now – been raking in awards for their Grand-Mere Old Vine Semillon – made with fruit from the famed La Colline Vineyards, but more recently Puttick has shown that he is no one-trick by also earning the Best Shiraz award for his 12Mile Swartland Syrah at the Investec Trophy Wine Show 2023.

And while these two wines are both enormously exciting wines in their own right, there is something supremely special about quality and style of the Wine of Origin Franschhoek PepperWind Syrah, made from elevated Syrah vines planted at 380m ASL in the much sought-after Franschhoek Southern Rim.

Now, obviously, if you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription then you’ll have to hunt this wine down in your own time. But in the interim, I discuss this wine in length during the video, and I have also left my tasting notes and some technical specs to whet your appetite.

👃🏼 Blackberry, sweeter black plum,  white pepper, star anise. On backing vocals there is a hint of salty black Olive and oak.

👄  Concentrated and structured. The wine is big, but with impressively articulate blackberry fruit and brighter pomegranate. These fruit elements are immediately complicated by a really pronounced pepper element, which seems even more prominent on the palate than it was on the nose.

At every point, the savoury olive element underpins the fruit, giving it a delightful sense of power and seriousness – despite showcasing a wall-like wave of fresh blackberries.

| Alc 14.0% | Acid 5.8g | RS 2.8g | pH 3.6 |