Sons of Sugarland Syrah 2024

One grape...one clone...one vineyard...one immensely explosive Syrah that is truly a Syrah for Syrah lovers. The SH99 Syrah clone from the ‘Karibib Vineyard’ in the Polkadraai Hills in addition to a bit of sulfur is all that makes up this sublime wine. Reenen shares the 11 rows of Syrah with Lukas Van Loggerenberg (for his ‘Graft’ Syrah), Sam Lambson’s Minimalist Wines, as well as Jean Smit’s Damascene wines. This is the highest parcel of this ocean-facing vineyard that gets rammed by the cool breezes. Reenen’s goal with this wine is to make it as raw as possible but still with a pretty side. In a very short time this has risen to Syrah royalty in South Africa alongside Reenen’s ‘Epilogue’.

The fruit was hand-harvested in one morning and brought back to the winery where the fruit was placed into a concrete fermenter. Fermentation kicked off naturally with the juice on the skins and stems, and continued for 10 days. The lot was pressed to a 15hL concrete egg with gross lees intact and left to age for 10 months. It was bottled without fining or filtration and just a small addition of sulfur.

This wine is hauntingly good. It smells like freshly cracked black pepper and violet, layered over red and black berries. Poise, finesse, and measured power weave through the palate. Spectacular.