2022 Scions of Sinai, Swanesang, Syrah, Stellenbosch, South Africa

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries. It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness. South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

Located in Stellenbosch’s Lower Helderberg, Scions of Sinai was founded by Bernhard Bredell in 2016. Having grown up on a wine farm, Bredell has always felt the desire to give back to his roots. He focuses on using natural methods and minimal intervention in the cellar to ensure the wines maintain authenticity to the vines and their roots. But why the name, “Scions of Sinai”? Scion, in biology, refers to the upper part of the vine or a young shoot. In old English, scion also means descendant. Sinai refers to Sinai Hill, the foothill of the lower Helderberg, where the Bredells have farmed with old dryland bush-vines for generations. From Sinai Hill, Bernhard sees both himself and his old bush-vines as the Scions of Sinai – descendants of this unique terroir.