Beskrivelse
Media Release 26th February 2015
for immediate release
Kleinood wine farm celebrates ten years of Syrah with the release of its 2011 vintage Tamboerskloof Syrah
Kleinood wine farm launches its handcrafted Tamboerskloof Syrah 2011 this month. One of the finest vintages yet, the wine continues to be an honest and elegant expression of Syrah from some of Stellenbosch’s best vineyard sites.
Kleinood’s lauded flagship wine Tamboerskloof Syrah has been crowned with a number of accolades. Following 93 points for Syrah 2008 (by eRobertParker.com) and 91 points for the 2009 vintage (by Stephen Tanzer), vintage 2010 received a gold medal at the Syrah du Monde International competition. The newly released vintage 2011 has already invoked the praise and approval of world wine authority Jancis Robinson, who noted the following on the wine after her recent visit to the estate in January 2015:
“Very fine and rich. Mouth-filling and mouth-watering. Spicy finish and just not drying on the finish. Lots of energy. Drier year than 2010 but it doesn’t taste it. Really quite mellow. “- Jancis Robinson (16,5 /20 points).
Gunter Schultz has been viticulturist and oenologist at the Kleinood property for close to nine years now. He explains that it is, “Because of the very unique terroir pockets and farming each block individually and to its best expression, one can strive to make a truly honest wine that is at the same time complex, sophisticated and elegant.”
In addition to this philosophy of farming each vineyard parcel individually to harvest the best possible grapes, proprietor and renowned cellar engineer, Gerard de Villiers, has developed a cellar in which no technological effort is spared, for the benefit of the end product.
Handcrafted in every sense, the gentle, minimal intervention cellar practices and carefully selected natural packaging materials, developed by Libby de Villiers, echo the craftsmanship and attention to detail synonymous with the philosophy of Kleinood.
The wine profits from a drop of Viognier and in this vintage we have added 5% Mourvèdre and 2% co-fermented Viognier. The casks used are 300 and 500 litres with 17% new oak for 20 months. Only best quality French oak barrels are used at Kleinood. It is part of the Kleinood philosophy to allow the wine to age in bottle for a further two years prior to being released to the market.
Available commercially for its tenth year now, this elegant and complex, yet uncomplicated expression of Syrah from Stellenbosch has an ageing potential of ten years plus.
ABOUT KLEINOOD
In the year 2000 Gerard and Libby de Villiers discovered a piece of land nestled in the Blaauwklippen valley between the Stellenbosch Mountain and the Helderberg, complete with mountains, river and pristine forest. It stole their hearts and they called it Kleinood.
Having re-invented the rundown fruit farm by establishing vineyards and building a winery, they finally moved to the property in 2008. Gerard, an Engineer by profession, having devoted his substantial skills and energy to designing cellars for some of the biggest names in the Cape wine industry, designed and built the winery. Libby, responsible for the architectural design, created timeless buildings with strong traditional Cape influences. Gerard used his experience to design a state of the art winery while maintaining traditional winemaking methods.
Today, ten of just twelve hectares of arable land are devoted to vines while the remaining two are under olive trees. The rest runs wild or is planted with fynbos, roses and vegetables. The Kleinood winery is the heart of the farm – a manifestation of the unique terroir and character of this simple unassuming haven where, in a delicate balance between science and passion, no viticultural or oenological effort is spared to produce a wine that is truly honest and elegant.
