STARK CONDE - Syrah 2015
Stark-Condé is located in Stellenbosch in the Jonkershoek Valley, in South Africa. Back in 1989 when Hans & Midori Schroder purchased “Oude Nektar” farm, South African history books were being revised as the end of Apartheid was imminent. Raised in Stellenbosch, Hans left the country in the 1960s to attend university in Japan, where he met Midori. The couple made Tokyo their home for the next 25 years where they raised 3 daughters. Fulfilling a dream of returning to Stellenbosch, Hans bought the 240-hectare farm in Jonkershoek and dedicated the next decade to growing quality grapes. Eventually joined by daughter Marie and her husband José, together they launched Stark-Condé Wines in 1998. The grapes are grown using organic farming practices.
This wine is made from Syrah, with a small amount of Viognier and Roussanne grapes co-fermented to add aromatics and a finely textured tannin. This is a blend of three vineyard blocks, with the primary vineyard being “Block 1”, very stoney. The hand-harvested grapes are carefully sorted and crushed into small open fermentation vats. The must was cold-soaked for a couple of days before being inoculated with a mix of domestic and imported Rhône yeasts. About 10% of the wine was whole-bunch fermented with its stems. Regular, vigorous punchdowns were given every 4 hours for the first half of the fermentation, then every 8 hours after. The wine is then aged in 300-litres French oak; mostly second fill with 20% new. After 20 months of barrel maturation, the wine was bottled without fining and without filtration.
Grape varieties: 98% Syrah, 1% Viognier, 1% Roussanne