Lomond Wines Estate Syrah 2022
£15.25
The wine
An elegant and beautifully balanced Syrah with expressive aromas of spice and violet layered with blackberry undertones. Well-structured, silky tannins envelop the abundant dark fruit flavours, laced with a touch of white pepper.
Syrah on the Cape South Coast leans firmly towards the northern Rhône: pepper, violet and savoury red fruit rather than sweet jam. That pepper comes from rotundone, an aromatic compound that develops in cool growing conditions and is largely destroyed by heat, which is why the same grape tastes so different further inland.
The producer
Lomond Wines
View all Lomond Wines winesLomond was established in 1999 on the Agulhas Plain near the southernmost tip of Africa, eight kilometres from the fishing village of Gansbaai and within sight of the sea. It takes its name from the Ben Lomond mountain in the Uilenkraal valley above it.
Cape Agulhas is the true southern tip of the continent and the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, which makes this among the coolest and windiest viticulture in South Africa. Sea air moves across the vineyards constantly, slowing ripening and giving Sauvignon Blanc an intensity and a distinct saline, oyster-shell character that inland regions cannot produce.
The estate sits within a conservation area of fynbos, the extraordinarily biodiverse shrubland unique to this corner of the world, and several wines are named after the plants that grow among the vines: pincushion protea, conebush. Cellar master Anné van Heerden works single blocks separately across the property rather than blending the estate into one house style.
