Swartland

Swartland Syrah is South Africa's cult, old-vine, dry-farmed expression of the grape: a dark-fruited but svelte, savoury red grown on sun-baked granite and schist north of Cape Town, fresher and more Old-World in feel than the jammy Shiraz of hotter regions. It marries crushed black pepper, blackberry and plum to the wild-herb scrub — fynbos — of the surrounding hills, olive and a stony, granitic mineral spine, with fine-grained tannin and moderate alcohol.