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The Cape of Good Hope range sources fruit from some incredible vineyards ranging from Platter 5-star Semillon grown at over 500m in the Citrusdal Mountains, to Sauvignon and Chardonndays grown at almost 700m above sea level in the Elandskloof right through the wine of the day – a 2018 Shiraz vinified from grapes grown at an average height of 400m ASL in the Swartland ward of Riebeeksrivier. This range is a wine adventurer’s delight, and is well worth exploring in its entirety.

Of course, 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 until then, I have left my tasting notes and some technical specs. If you are interested in more wines from this range, I have also produced a video on the Riebeeksrivier Chenin Blanc. There is a link to that on the page below.

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👃🏼 A delightfully giving nose of cocoa, vivid blackberry fruit, fresh-cut sugar plum, garnished with sweeter fruit pastilles & vanilla spice.

👄 The palate makes a superbly regal entrance; rich velvety black plum fruit, with those lovely cocoa dusting elements, and then almost immediately, as if to steady the wave of ripe fruit, one is greeted by delightfully fine-but-fim plum skin tannins; beautifully integrated over five years in the cellar. The tail end is pleasantly generous, with lingering blackberry and touches of sweeter blackcurrant pastilles.
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Wine of Origin Swartland | Winemaker Vernon van der Hoven | Farm Manager Johan Nel | Viticulturist Deborah Isaac | 24,000 bottles produced |

The blend is made up of 86% Syrah, 7% Grenache, 4% Carignan, 2% Mourvedre, 1% Viognier. All the fruit comes from vineyards in the Riebeeksrivier ward of the Swartland. The syrah vineyards are made up of clones SH1, SH9 and SH12, and are situated on the slopes of the Kasteelberg Mountains on the Malmesbury side. They’re planted into schist and clay soils on the Southern and Western slopes of the farm, on a fairly steep slope that runs from 350m ASL all the way up to 450m ASL. The block yields roughly 9 tonnes per hectare.

It’s worth noting that 2018 was a vintage that came at the end of a three-year drought (from 2016 – 2018), and the vines showed this clearly with their lower yields and tiny concentrated bunches.

After harvesting, all components were sorted by an optic sorting machine – which is an absolute luxury in the South African winemaking context – but such are the privileges of ebing part of the Anthonij Rupert stable of wines! Wine was fermented in a combination of Italian Concrete tanks and stainless steel tanks. Ageing in 225L French oak barrels for approximately 16-18 months completed the maturation period.