Zandvliet Harvest Shiraz And Stud Double

Zandvliet Harvest Shiraz And Stud Double

Zandvliet, SA Shiraz Icon, wins Gold at International Syrah Competition as Zandvliet-bred Pocket Power wins SA Horse of the Year

Not only do the lime-rich soils of Robertson produce international award-winning wines; they also provide the ideal environment for breeding top-flight thoroughbred racehorses.

Zandvliet Wine Estate and Stud, situated in the Robertson Wine Valley, won a Gold Medal at the inaugural 2007 Syrah du Monde wine competition held in the Côte-Rôtie, France, with the maiden vintage of their pinnacle wine, the Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 ‘Hill of Enon’ Small-Berry Pick. This award followed hard on the hooves of Zandvliet-bred Pocket Power winning the Horse of the Year Trophy at the annual South African Equus Awards, South Africa’s premier horseracing awards.

The Syrah du Monde is an international competition to select the best syrah in the world – ‘…. a homage to the fabulous diversity of Syrah/Shiraz wines from all over the world’. The judging (45% of judges were from outside France) was held at Ampuis Castle, one of the jewels of the Renaissance, overlooking the Rhône River and surrounded by vineyards in the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation. South African wines won seven Gold Medals, second only to France, who won 13, with Australia a distant fifth, winning only two Golds. No award was made in the highest category, Grand Gold.

Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 ‘Hill of Enon’ Small-Berry Pick

Zandvliet’s ‘Hill of Enon’ is situated in the Kalkveld (lime- or chalk-fields), the Estate’s designated premium vineyards, producing grapes with high natural acidity. The name of the Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 ‘Hill of Enon’ Small-Berry Pick is inspired by a geological peculiarity that began its evolution more than 120-million years ago*. These vineyards all wrap around the cool southern slopes of the Hill of Enon, which is peppered with small chalky-white mounds that have much higher concentrations of limestone (see photo below) than the surrounding soils. This unusual soil combination includes clay and pebble deposits. Add the cold winters and mild summers to the mix and you have a pretty unique micro-environment. It is the Hill of Enon’s terroir that gives this Syrah du Monde Gold Medallist its rare quality and distinction.

The ‘Small Berry Pick’ component of the name also has an interesting story. Zandvliet viticulturist and co-owner Dan de Wet noticed, after a few years of harvesting the Kalkveld, that small clusters of these precious vines were ripening so early that they were unusable (sunburnt and raisiny) by the time the majority of the grapes were harvested. From the 2003 harvest onwards, these grapes were hand-harvested when they were ripe, about 10-to-15 days earlier than the rest. The berries were much smaller than the others (hence the name), the juice was denser and darker, and had luscious dark-fruit flavours. The lower pH and higher acidity were obtained at the same balling (sugar level) as the other grapes.

To vinify the small volume of grapes (2-3 tonnes per hectare), winemaker Johan van Wyk had to convert part of the cellar into a ‘garagiste-type’ operation, subsequently fermenting the juice in new Mendocino oak barrels - from the northern-most Californian wine region. Racking and ageing took place in these barrels for almost 18 months, followed by two years of bottle ageing. Paul de Wet (Dan’s elder brother), co-owner and cellarmaster, is thrilled with the wine, ‘We’ve all enjoyed this project and have been greatly rewarded for our efforts. This is the first of five vintages to date of the ‘Small Berry Pick’, and we are most excited with its progress.’ The John Platter guide lauded this wine as ‘…blooming into a Rhône-like beauty…;oak vanilla set off fragrant allspice features, textured grip in mouth, concentrated mineral finish’.

The award-winning maiden Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 ‘Hill of Enon’ Small Berry Pick will be released early in 2008 and will be available off the farm and nationally at select wine merchants, retailing for approximately R290 incl VAT.

Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 ‘Three Champions’

To commemorate the recent achievements of both cellar and stud, Zandvliet is bottling, in magnums, a special limited-release of its Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 under the ‘Three Champions’ label (in celebration of the three ‘Met’ winners bred on the farm, including Pocket Power in 2007). The grapes for this wine were grown on the sloping ground around the Hill of Enon, rich in limestone, which makes up the distinctive terroir known as the farm’s eponymous kalkveld.

The limited release Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2003 ‘Three Champions’ magnums will also be released at the beginning of 2008. Beautifully packaged in gift boxes, the magnums will only be available for purchase from the farm, at R248 incl VAT.

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