2015 Porseleinberg
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Tasting Notes
This is still a little reductive, and will benefit from additional time in bottle. As this reduction blows off, it reveals a fynbos-accented nose of dark fruit. From a cool vintage, the palate is a tight ball still – intensely mineral and chalky, with impressive purity, but it’s not yet revealing its potential. One to watch. Aged for 12 months in 90% foudre and 10% concrete egg.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Tim Atkin MW
More reviews and scores
The 2015 Porseleinberg Syrah contains whole-bunch fruit matured in 90% foudres and 10% concrete eggs. It has a very well defined bouquet of brambly black fruit and white pepper, and an engaging sense of coolness pervades these aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannin and almost Northern Rhône in style, offering ample freshness yet at the same time a brooding intensity. There is quality and refinement here from start to finish. A superb Syrah from winemaker Callie Louw. but one I feel needs two or three years in bottle. Want serious, world class South African wine? Get in line here.
Sometimes you have to remind yourself how recently this amazing site was planted, making its first wine in 2011. But what a wine this is. If it grown in the Rhône, it would sell for twice the price or more. It’s the Cornas of the Cape: compact, savoury and deeply coloured, with layers of dark, inky fruit, spicy tannins and a combination of freshness and understated power.
About the producer
Porseleinberg is a single-site Syrah from the Swartland that has, since its first vintage in 2010, become one of South Africa’s most celebrated and sought-after wines. Made by cult winemaker Callie Louw from incredibly poor soils on the slopes of the Porseleinberg, the wine is rightfully revered.