Painted Wolf Swartland Syrah

This Syrah is drinking well now but will improve in the bottle till 2022 and beyond.

Grapes are from our good friend and pack member, Billy ‘Guillermo’ Hughes. Billy and his late wife Penny, were amongst the first investors in our dream, trading grapes for a share in Painted Wolf. Billy is an uncompromising exponent of organic and naturally farmed grapes with a keen interest in biodynamics. From 2013, his Kasteelsig vineyard has been organically certified. Our friend Jenny Metelerkamp who lived with us at Lloyd’s camp, Botswana produced the fine Painted Wolf ink drawing for our logo and the pack labels.

In the vineyard. Our partner Billy Hughes grows organic grapes at Kasteelsig vineyard in the Swartland region. The grapes are dry farmed. Soil in the vineyard is primarily Glenrosa, a composite soil of decomposed shale with a little granite. Vines are 14 years old and the yield in 2015 was around 6 tons to the hectare. About the harvest the grapes were handpicked

In the cellar. The grapes were handpicked over a few days into small baskets and taken to our cellar where they were destalked and gently crushed. We fermented the Syrah in small open bins where it was hand punched four times a day. We prefer the native yeast from the vineyard. The wine matured in French and Hungarian oak for a total of 20 months.