De Toren - 'The Black Lion', Coastal Region - 2017 (750ml)

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 - Martin Fourie

Winery

The truth is in the vine. The guiding philosophy that elevated this boutique estate into one of South Africa’s most respected premium wine producers. De Toren began with a view. Enchanted by the estate’s panoramic vistas stretching from the Helderberg, over False Bay and across to Table Mountain and recognising the untapped potential of this unique site, the foundation for De Toren’s innovative approach to crafting world-class Bordeaux-style wines, was laid. Working closely with academics from the Stellenbosch University, an extensive soil analysis of the property embarked. A dozen sampling holes were dug on each hectare of the farm, treble the wine industry’s standard practice. Across the estate’s 25 hectares, 15 separate soil types were identified and ultimately 25 clones across the five classic Bordeaux varieties were planted. Here this philosophy of craftsmanship and exceptional care was born and was applied to everything we have done ever since.De Toren believes that complexity can be found through design. The estate’s vineyards were designed from the ground up to produce world-class wines and enormous attention was given to where and how each vineyard was planted. The design of our iconic Left- and Right-Bordeaux styled blends were planned and decided upon after which the vines were planted to match the make-up of these wines. Crafting a blended wine is like painting, with each texture, aroma and flavour being a different colour. The De Toren palette is made up of a selection of soils, rootstocks, vines, cultivars and barrels. We utilised 25 different clones across the five noble Bordeaux varieties which includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot which were matched to 10 different rootstocks, before being planted across fifteen different soil types. Each variety, clone and rootstock were matched to the optimal soil type to gain as much complexity from the vineyard as possible.