Boekenhoutskloof Syrah
£48.00
£64.00 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 3 bottles available
97Tim Atkin
96Decanter
This is the bottle that proves the Swartland belongs in any serious conversation about world-class Syrah. Sourced from rocky schist vineyards near Riebeek-Kasteel, it's a wine of plum, violet and ground pepper, structured for the long haul yet generous tonight. If you want to see how far South African Syrah has come, start right here.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We taste a lot of South African Syrah, and this is one of the few we'd happily put against the best of the Northern Rhone without flinching. What sets it apart is the balance: the concentration of that schist-driven Swartland fruit reined in by genuine freshness and restraint, never heavy, never jammy. It has earned 97 points from Tim Atkin and 96 from Decanter, and frankly it deserves both. Buy it for the cellar collector in your life, or buy it for yourself and forget about it for ten years. We only ever get a few cases, and they don't hang around.
Tasting Notes
The nose comes forward fast: ripe plum and violet wrapped in a sleek peppery spice, the kind of aromatic lift that tells you this is serious Swartland Syrah before you even taste it. The palate is pure and vibrant, layering blueberry and dark red fruit over liquorice, anise and a savoury, earthy undertow. Full-bodied but never heavy, with plush tannins and bright acidity holding it taut. Sweet tobacco and black cardamom trail across a long, lightly charry finish, threaded with iron and tar.
Plum and violet
Ripe dark plum meets a heady floral violet lift, the signature perfume of cool-climate Swartland Syrah that keeps the wine elegant rather than jammy.
Cracked black pepper
A sleek peppery spice runs through the core, giving the wine its savoury energy and that classic Rhone-grape bite on the mid-palate.
Liquorice and anise
Dark liquorice and anise add a sweet-savoury depth, layering complexity beneath the fruit and stretching the finish out longer.
About This Wine
Here's a wine that quietly outclasses bottles costing twice as much. Boekenhoutskloof made its name on Cabernet, but their Syrah is where the real obsessives go, and once you taste it you'll understand why. This is South African Shiraz at its most serious and most thrilling.
The fruit comes from two Swartland farms near the little town of Riebeek-Kasteel: the bulk from Porseleinberg, with its brutally hard, rocky mica-schist bedrock, and a touch from Goldmine on the slopes of the Kasteelberg. That stony, low-yielding terroir gives a wine of real concentration and tension. Expect dark plum and blueberry, a lift of violets, then black pepper, liquorice and anise unfolding into something savoury, almost iron and tar-like. The tannins are plush, the acidity vibrant, and a charry, tobacco-scented finish lingers long after the glass is empty.
Much of the fruit is fermented as whole bunches in concrete tulip tanks, then aged for up to 18 months in large Austrian oak foudres rather than small new barrels, so the oak whispers rather than shouts. Decant a young bottle for half an hour and pour it with a slow-roasted shoulder of lamb, a peppered ribeye, or a mushroom and thyme risotto.
It cellars beautifully for a decade or more, which makes it a properly considered gift for anyone who takes wine seriously. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK.
Food Pairing
This wants something with char and richness to meet its grip and pepper. Picture a slow-roasted shoulder of lamb studded with rosemary and garlic, or a rare ribeye straight off the coals. The savoury, earthy side loves game: think venison or a rich oxtail stew on a cold evening. A mature hard cheese closes things out beautifully.
- —Slow-roasted lamb shoulder with rosemary and garlic
- —Chargrilled ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce
- —Venison loin with juniper and blackberry
- —Braised oxtail stew with root vegetables
- —Mature Cheddar with quince paste
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature, between 16 and 18 degrees. Pull it from the rack about 30 minutes before serving.
Decanting
Decant young bottles for 30 to 60 minutes in a wide-bottomed decanter. The firm tannins need air to soften and the violet and pepper aromatics really unfurl with time.
Glass
A large-bowled red wine glass gives the concentrated, complex nose the room it needs to open up.
Cellaring
Built to age. Store on its side somewhere cool, dark and stable, and it will continue to develop for a decade or more.
Behind the Wine
Swartland is a warm, dry corner of the Cape, but the best Syrah here depends on the cooler, more patient seasons. A proper winter chill during dormancy sets the vineyard cycle off well, and when the usual December and January heat spikes stay away, the grapes ripen slowly and hold their freshness. That patience shows in the glass: a refined, compact wine with real elegance, peppery lift and balanced acidity rather than sun-baked weight.
Ageing Potential
Drinking well now if you give it air, but this has the structure and concentration to reward patience. Cellar it for 10 to 15 years and the plush tannins soften further while the fruit folds into deeper notes of leather, dried herb and savoury earth.
The Land
Two sites do the work here. Porseleinberg, the major share, sits on hard, rocky decomposed mica-schist, a ward-defining terroir that drives structure and concentration. Goldmine, on the south-west slopes of the Kasteelberg, brings brown schist laced with weathered Table Mountain sandstone washed down from above. Together they give a wine that is both tightly built and beautifully detailed.
The Winemaking
This is hands-off winemaking with a lot of nerve behind it. Hand-picked grapes are cooled, then fermented spontaneously in tulip-shaped concrete tanks, with around two-thirds of the fruit kept as whole bunches for extra perfume and savoury spice. No acidification, minimal sulphur, and a gentle delestage two or three times a day to coax out colour and structure without harshness. After basket pressing, the wine is gravity-fed into large Austrian oak foudres and demi-muids for up to eighteen months, which frames the fruit rather than masking it.
The Swartland Region
Swartland, 'the black land' in Afrikaans, named for the renosterbos that darkens after rain, rolls out north of Cape Town across the hills around Malmesbury and Riebeek-Kasteel. It's hot, dry, and stubbornly characterful: a place of old bush vines, granite and koffieklip soils, and a community of growers who've made it the most quietly thrilling corner of South African wine. Concentration, freshness, and a wild streak you don't find elsewhere, that's Swartland in a glass.
About the Producer
Boekenhoutskloof
Boekenhoutskloof sits at the head of the Franschhoek Valley on a farm first granted in 1776, named for the indigenous Cape beech trees in the ravine behind it. The modern estate was reborn in 1993, when seven partners bought the property and set about rebuilding it, those are the seven Cape Dutch chairs you see on the label. Marc Kent took over the cellar in 1994 and turned Boekenhoutskloof into one of South Africa's most influential producers, picking up Diners Club Winemaker of the Year along the way. Gottfried Mocke now leads the winemaking. The Chocolate Block, first made in 2002, has become the estate's calling card, and a wine that introduced thousands of UK drinkers to what the Cape can really do.