2018 Little William
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Named after a little boy Pieter found standing in the middle of the road one day. The boy had blond hair, a white shirt, and a white nappy, standing on the white line of the road. Removing him from imminent danger, Pieter stood with him for a while not knowing what to do. The little boy started toddling off and Pieter followed him to make sure he was safe. He ended up following the boy over a bridge to a little farm house on a hill, where his mother came out screaming and crying "William, William! From a Shiraz vineyard planted on ungrafted roots at 800m above sea level in a valley surrounded by 2500m high mountains. This site sees high levels of sun radiation and very low average temperatures with extremely cold winters. The terroir is unique, and you see that in the wines - they are elegant, more Pinot Noir like than other Shiraz wines. Bottled it in a tall slim bottle, "because it's a tall, slim wine, not a short fat wine. Awesome whole bunch aromatics – a perfume of wild flowers and savoury herbs and spices. The texture is fantastic, incredibly silky and elegant with pure fruit flavours of cranberry, raspberry and darker blackberry fruit. There is a wonderful phenolic resolution despite a wonderful tension and freshness on the palate. At just 13% abv is this is seriously impressive.
Critic scores
Tim Atkin MW
More reviews and scores
Little William is right up there with my favourite Cape Syrahs. Sourced from a vineyard at 800 metres on the Ceres Plateau, this is fermented with 100% whole bunches and is wonderfully sappy, savoury and white pepper-scented with a whisper of oak and delightful freshness.