Production
Fruit from trellised blocks on the Agter-Paarl’s soils of sandy loams threaded with granite seams. Petite Sirah, also known as Durif, comes from Syrah pollen crossed with Peloursin in France in the 1880s, and named with immeasurable modesty by the inventor himself, François Durif. The “petite” refers to the tight bunches of small, dark berries whose high skin-to-juice ratio naturally gives a dark wine of structure. In Paarl’s warm, dry climate we achieve colour and therefore structure with ease so we choose 100% carbonic maceration and whole berry, no stems, to express the sense of place rather than just the cultivar.
Tasting notes
An impressively deep plum red in colour. The ripe, imposing nose has dark cherry and kirsch with bitter chocolate, graphite and tarry notes. Richly flavoured and packed with juicy black fruit characters, warm and inviting with brown spice, cocoa bean and finely grained, textural tannins on the fresh, sappy finish. Muscular and gutsy but not without subtlety.
Food match
This wine deserves a wonderfully juicy, premium and rare steak!
