Brookdale Estate Mason Road Syrah 2023
£14.25
The wine
Silky and smooth, with rich red fruits entwined with notes of mulberry, olive tapenade and floral hints, together with blood orange freshness and wonderful balance.
Syrah suits Paarl's warmth, and Mason Road is the approachable expression: whole-bunch fermentation for aromatic lift, restrained oak, and a savoury rather than sweet register. The Cape has largely moved from calling the grape Shiraz to Syrah, which signals the shift in style as much as anything.
The producer
Brookdale Estate
View all Brookdale Estate winesBrookdale Estate lies in Paarl, one of the historic wine districts of the Cape, and was bought by Tim Rudd in 2011. The property had grown vines for decades but had never been made into a serious estate, and the work since has been about rediscovering what the land could do.
Paarl is warmer than the cool coastal regions to the south, and the estate has leaned into that rather than fighting it, planting and working Rhone varieties which suit the heat, alongside Chenin Blanc. South Africa's old Chenin vineyards are its most valuable asset, dry-farmed bush vines that crop very little, and Brookdale's are among the older plantings in the district.
Winemaker Kiara Scott was the first black woman to hold the role at a Cape estate of this standing, and the wines have been widely praised since she took over. The Sixteen field blend, planted with sixteen varieties interspersed in a single vineyard and picked together, is the most unusual thing they make.
