Wine Composition
100% Shiraz
Winemakers Comments
Hailed the ‘most powerful and luxurious Shiraz ever crafted in South Africa’, the incomparable Black Lion is a result of the masterful alchemy of hand-chosen Swartland and Stellenbosch fruits. Taking into careful account soil combinations as well as meso and macro-climates, select vineyards from three unique sites – Swartland, Helderberg and Polkadraai – were earmarked for this complex wine, with the terroir of the first lending it its raw power, and the latter pair its undeniable elegance.
Awards
Wine Enthusiast | 95 points
Vinyeards / Vintage
Within each allocated area, only the most perfectly balanced, mature and low-bearing vines are chosen and meticulous care then taken of their canopy management – every single vine is visited on a weekly basis by a team of just three dedicated caretakers, each wearing surgical gloves. The very best fruits – those which have been fully exposed to sunlight in the correct locations within the bunch zone – are then selected, resulting in crop yields of a mere 450g (or four bunches) per vine. Picking is done at the point of absolute phenolic ripeness, when the grapes are at their peak concentration and complexity, and harvesting is conducted by hand (six bunches per tray) at sunrise, to retain the cool freshness of dawn. Hand destemming within an hour of harvesting is followed by fermentation in new French Oak and the detailed attention given to the entire winemaking process is ultimately reflected in every bottle. For this is no ordinary wine. Black Lion is a true labour of love, and a wine destined for collector’s-item status.
Winemaker
Name: Albie Koch
Winery
De Toren is a boutique Private Cellar, established by Emil & Sonette Den Dulk in 1994. The farm was named De Toren, which translated from Dutch means "the tower", and refers to wine structure which allows for gravity-flow winemaking.
The farm's maiden release was the 1999 vintage "Fusion V", a Cabernet Sauvignon driven five varietal Bordeaux style blend; a first for South Africa's wine industry.
"De Toren doesn't have "a harvest" it has several micro-harvests over the course of many weeks; the time and location of each harvest is determined by near red aerial imagin. This technology allow us to monitor the vigor in clusters within each block, with different colours representing different growth patterns. When a cluster approaches ripeness we isolate demarcate and harvest separately; always at optimum ripeness. We are also able to identify variations within the vineyards with this technology that enables us to adapt our canopy management decisions...gaining valuable data and experience from each vintage and optimizing our harvests year on year - aiming for perfection!"
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