All fruit was sourced from our own vineyard – located within the coolest, westernmost reaches of the Casablanca Valley. A blend of two different clones of Syrah (95% clone 300 and 5% “Caperana” field selection) from 8 year old vines. Sourced from hillside blocks planted on a red clay mixed with decomposed granite. The blocks used in this blend were cropped at an average of 4.8 tonnes per hectare (1.9 tons per acre). Harvest was carried out by hand between the 6th and 17th of May, 2012. On arrival at the winery all grapes were first subjected to a whole cluster selection. This was followed by destemming (without crushing) and then an individual berry selection before being gravity fed to small open-top tanks. A 7 day cold soak (at 5ºC/41ºF) ensued after which time the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts and fermented during 6 days with temperatures peaking at 32ºC/90ºF. During fermentation the vats were hand-plunged twice daily in order to extract the ideal amount of tannin and colour. Following the completion of fermentation, the must was subjected to an additional 3 days of post-fermentation maceration (to give a total of 16 days skin contact). The newly fermented wine was then drained (by gravity) to a mixture of new (60%) and 2nd use (40%) French oak barrels for 18 months during which time it was racked twice: once in the Spring (upon the completion of malolactic fermentation) and then once again in Autumn shortly before bottling. After bottling the finished wine was carefully aged for three months in our cellar prior to release.