The fruit for the Cyril Back 2021 was selected from our best sites of the vintage. A mild vintage, with no heat waves made for great flavours and optimal ripening conditions. The Shiraz for this vintage was selected from a cool, dryland, bush vine in Darling and from our spiciest Paarl site. This year, the classic stable Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon also made the cut. The vineyards are regularly visited during the ripening period and tested by tasting, visual and analytical examination to determine the ideal picking date.
WINEMAKING:
All the fruit was handpicked at 24.5-25 degrees balling. The grapes were hand sorted and fermented in foudres. The grapes from the different vineyard sites are treated as separate batches in open oak fermenters (foudres), with fermentation allowed to start naturally. Manual punch downs (pigeage) are done twice a day. After alcohol fermentation a few extra days on the skins allowed for extraction, with daily tasting to determine pressing of the skins. The skins were gently basket pressed and the wine aged in French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation.
Once completed, the wine was racked and returned for barrel aging in a selection of new, second and third fill French oak barrels. After 20 months in barrel the Cyril Back selection is made from the best of the vintage exhibiting purity of fruit, expression of origin and age worthy structure. Only 8 barrels of which 40% new selected for the final blend, assembled in Nov 2022 and aged as a blend for a further 2 months. The wine was bottled in early Feb 2023, un-fined, with minimal filtration.
