Banele has been producing Syrah under his Tembela label now for five years. His vineyard sources have changed slightly each year, though since 2022, the esteemed Karibib Vineyard has made up most of the site blend. This is the same site that wines like Lukas van Loggerenberg’s ‘Graft’ Syrah and Reenen Borman’s ‘Sons of Sugarland’ Syrah come from – which means this wine is in very, very good company. The sandy, decomposed granite soils of the Polkadraai Hills bring an inherent minerality and freshness to the wine.  The remaining 20% of the grapes come from Jakkalsfontein on the Paardeberg (Swartland). The 2024 vintage was a great year for Syrah, with good color extraction. This is the darkest Syrah Banele has made to date. As for the watercolor label, Banele wanted a simple painting that commemorated his mother, not just by her name, but by her image. Tembela is in the foreground with a basket on her head, and after much back and forth with the artist, Banele decided to add a second woman in the background to symbolize connections to community and place.

The grapes were harvested on separate days and brought back to the Savage Wines cellar where Banele vinifies his wines in Salt River. This year, 80% of the clusters were left in tact and the remainder were destemmed. About two punchdowns per day were made during fermentation in open-top fermenters, and when that was finished after about 10 days, the wine was transferred to old 500L barrels and left to mature for 10 months. It was then bottled after passing through a sheet filer and getting just a touch of sulfur. No fining.