Every now and then you come across a vineyard that sparks inspiration to do something completely different than what you’ve been ‘trained’ to do and have been comfortable making. This is exactly what happened during the particular mission when Trizanne came across the Sondagskloof Ward, close to Stanford. She was already producing a Swartland Syrah, which brought a full and fruit-driven style as well as the cool-climate, oceanic influenced, peppery Elim Syrah so adding another horse to the stable seemed like the right move. Sondagkloof has the cool-climate influence from the nearby sea coupled with a rocky, hillside planting bringing intensity to the fruit through free-draining soils. The resulting wine is a bit of the best of experimentation and site for Trizanne.
The grapes were hand picked and destemmed, but left largely intact, then fermented without any additions outdoors in two small, open-top stainless steel tanks. Punchdowns occurred 2-3 times a day to get a fair bit of needed extraction until the wine went dry and then it was left a little over a week post-fermentation on the skins. The lots were then basket-pressed straight to old French 300L barrels where the wine naturally went through malolactic fermentation and matured for 16 months with only one small sulfur addition halfway throughout its resting period. It was then bottled in July 2019 without fining or filtration and a small hit of sulfur.