Porseleinberg Syrah 2016 Bottle size: 750ml

'If ever a South African wine tasted of specific place it is Porseleinberg, the Cape’s answer to Cornas in terms of its dense, compact structure, but with a personality that is all its own: wild, savoury and unruly with tannins that can be demanding in their youth. Fermented with 100% whole bunches and aged in a combination of concrete eggs and foudres, it’s ripe, but not overly so, with notes of garrigue and tangerine and a stony, compact finish.' - Tim Atkin MW, SA Special Report 2018, 96/100

'No spring, just straight from a very dry winter into a dry summer with very dry conditions with rivers drying up in January. 1-2 t/ha yields. Nose shows a youthful sweetness of red berries, red plum sweet garrigue and dried violet flowers. The palate delivers massive weight and concentration of sweet black cherry and cassis fruit with layers of liquorice, tar, blackberry compote and subtle salty toffee and vanilla spice on the finish. An exotic, opulent but pretty vintage drinking very well now.' - Greg Sherwood MW, Winemag.co.za, 96/100

'Very dark crimson. Very intense nose. Sweet and gentle and you’d never guess this was from a drought year. So different from the 2011. Why? ‘We were just farming the site better’, according to winemaker Callie Louw. It wasn’t completely dry-farmed in 2016 – ‘We started with irrigation when the river ran dry in January.’ Throbbing with fruit and an undertow of liquorice.' (Tasted in 2023) - Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com, 17/20