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. Drink 2022-35' – Tim Atkin, 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, GregSherwoodMW.com, 96/100

'An expressive nose of white pepper, melted chocolate, sliced plums and pitted cherries. Full-bodied with very fine tannins. Vibrant and expressive on the palate with succulent red and black fruit. Cherries and blackberries. Bright acidity lifts everything up and is further pushed by the vibrant spice. Clove, coriander and white pepper. Drink or hold.' - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com, 95/100

'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.' - Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com, 17/20

'Porseleinberg, the Swartland property owned by Boekenhoutskloof, has just released the 2016 vintage of its Syrah and it’s probably the least esoteric vintage to date. Aromatically, there’s a hint of reduction, more a point of interest than anything else, before red and black fruit, olive tapenade, spice and fynbos. The palate displays great depth of fruit, fresh acidity and lovely ripe fruit tannins – it’s definitely not as grippy as the 2015 and hence more immediately approachable. It gives great pleasure now but it will also be fascinating to see how it’s shaping 10 years down the line.' - Christian Eedes, WineMag.co.za, 93/100