The question of South Africa’s place in an ordered hierarchy of the wine world is a vexed one. It has been around a long time, for much of it reasonably invisible in a vinous sense. But a lot has changed, particularly over the last decade, and many of the world’s leading wine critics have begun to taken notice, lauding the sense of ambition and increased quality emanating from the Cape.
A recent benchmark tasting in South Africa posed perhaps a more immediately answerable proposition- Is South African Syrah world class? To come up with a plausible conclusion, wine writers Tim Atkin MW and Christian Eedes put together a tasting line up composed of both elite SA and international wines, to be tasted by them in company with a dozen of South Africa’s finest winemakers.
Haskell Pillars Syrah 2011 was chosen as one of the South African representatives. We are delighted to say that following a blind tasting, we were one of only five South African wineries to make the top 10.
It is an outstanding accolade, and particularly given the company we were pitted against. It underlines a number of things for us. One, what a world class vineyard Pillars is. Two, that our decision to prioritise Syrah at Haskell is the right one, and three, that SA Syrah has arrived and is here to stay.
Even better, there is no shortage of wines of this calibre in the cellar awaiting release in the years ahead, including the much anticipated first vintage from the Hades Vineyard. We look forward to sharing those with you in the near future. Click here for the full story, as told by Christian Eedes, or his tasting partner, Tim Atkin MW.
