NGERINGA UNCULTURED 2016 Unsulphured Syrah

For years our philosophy has been to work with in the winery, adding sulphur to the wines as late as possible in the winemaking process, usually just before bottling to allow a natural evolution of the wines during elevage in barrel.

This is our first bottling of a small batch of wine that has seen no sulphur added during the winemaking process or before bottling. It is also our earliest bottling of a red wine ever to ensure that there is still some dissolved CO2 from the fermentation to assist in preserving the wine from oxidation.

The charm of this wine is in its up-front fruit character and it is intended to be enjoyed sooner than later. Enjoy now with food, on its own, or however you see fit.

VINTAGE NOTES

2016 was a dry, hot vintage from the outset with only periodic respite. Promising rains in July and August of 2015 gave way quickly to an extremely dry spring and above-average temperatures, with essentially none of the seasonal rains we rely upon from October through much of January. On the bright side, despite conditions at flowering, we had a better-than-ever fruit set that was consistent across all varieties. And then, just as vintage was becoming visible on the horizon, the miracle came: a perfectly-timed, drenching rainstorm hit South Australia on January 21 & 22, refreshing the vines in a way irrigation just cannot match. A second significant rain event in the first few days of February ensured that the vintage was saved. The harvest was very early, beginning in the middle of February, but not nearly as early as it would have been and the fruit was thoroughly revived. The result was higher-than-average yields, good acidity, moderate concentration and balanced, approachable wines. Winegrowing is rarely for the faint of heart!

TASTING NOTES

Unlike all our other red wines that are matured in oak, this early bottled syrah if full of lifted primary red berry fruit, violets, blueberries and liquorice that want to jump out of the glass. The pallet has a little spritz of carbon dioxide gas a remnant of primary fermentation, and is full of rich, red berries, plums and darker fruit. The texture is soft on the pallet and this is a wine that is approachable now because of gentle extraction of tannins from the grape skins during the fermentation process.

WINEMAKING NOTES

This wine is a blend of two separate Syrah components: 50% from our Summit Vineyard which was 100% carbonic maceration, and 50% from our Iluma Vineyard, which was all de-stemmed and left on skins for only a short period of time. This wine was left for 6 months over winter in stainless steel and bottled without any additions of sulphur and no filtration.