Wine Cellar visits Sijnn - David Trafford's Malgas project
The Wine Cellar team recently visited David Trafford's Sijnn Wines in Malgas. With its stony terroir and unique microclimate, Sijnn is one of South Africa's most exciting new projects. For our Sijnn price list, visit
Vol. II - MALGAS
CAPE SECRETS
Malgas is a small area in the Overberg region near Cape Agulhas. It’s best known for the last pontoon ferry crossing in South Africa. It may seem like a quiet town but it has some pretty spectacular secrets.
We stayed at tides river lodge, a beautiful resort nestled in the Malgas valley just by the Breede River. It’s a relaxing and peaceful place to stay with a ton of lovely rooms. Next on our list was Sijnn Wines. A unique farm creating very special wines from very arid, rocky soil. I really didn’t think you could grow a vineyard in such a remote place… Malgas is special for another reason – a short drive away is the De Hoop nature collective, a reserve part of the cape floral region. It’s a 350 square km haven to both sea and land animals alike touching the mighty Breede river. This reserve blew my mind, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many types of animals in one place in such a short space of time (granted I’ve never gone on safari).
Malgas & De Hoop are definitely hidden gems and well worth a visit, here are the links to places we stayed/went:
sijnn.co.za
For this trip I travelled with:
Jared in CT – jaredincpt.com
Miss Dhanusha – missdhanusha.wordpress.com
Saara M -
Track by – Odesza ‘Divide’
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Tom :)
TheBlueT
#CapeSecrets #SouthAfrica #Malgas
Waldo van Zyl from Sijnn wines in South Africa talks to Bibendum
Sijnn Wines is a collaboration between David Trafford and Waldo van Zyl located between 60 and 70 meters above the Breede River in South Africa. Here Waldo talks about how and why they chose the vineyard
Sijnn White
Sijnn White 2012 (84% Chenin Blanc/16% Viognier). With each new vintage the wines are showing a real sense of place. This vintage is especially expressive at an early stage. An attractive pale yellow colour. A lovely mineral, apricot / peach nose with honey & nuts complementing. A rich and full palate with fresh fruit & all the other complex flavours carrying it to a long finish. Excellent with a wide range of food from rich food, fish, seafood, creamy poultry or as an aperitif. Should age well over 3 to 4 years.
Winemaker David Trafford at De Trafford in South Africa
David Trafford, is the architect that turned in to a winemaker. David puts the emphasis on his own boutique winery, producing age worthy red wines. De Trafford consistently produces some of South Africa’s best modern-style reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah. The focus is on big in flavour, concentration, balanced, complex and structure. Let´s meet David and hear about his passion for big flavour wines.
Boekenhoutskloof's Marc Kent on South African Syrah
The Boekenthoutskloof estate in the Franschoek region of South Africa has produced wine since 1771, but its output was sold off in bulk. Winemaker Marc Kent and company arrived in 1994 with a vision to focus their efforts primarily on Syrah and Syrah-based blends. Today, the winery label Syrah stands out as one of the world's best.
Sijnn Red
Sijnn Red 2009 (Shiraz 46%; Mourvedre 29%; Touriga Nacional 13%; Trincadeira 6%; Cabernet Sauvignon 6%). Attractive deep red colour. Slate, wild berries, herbs, liquorice and subtle barrel maturation character adding to the beguiling nose. Substantial palate with a rich texture and layered, complex flavours and an attractive dry finish. Already a wine worth savouring, we're convinced it will develop beautifully over the next three years or more.
Item #8 & #9: Sijnn Wines /awa 2014
Item #8 & #9: Sijnn Wines /awa 2014 (available in both 750ml and 1.5 Litre bottles)
62% Syrah, 38% Mourvèdre, W/O Malgas
Winemaker: David Trafford | Sijnn Wines
Both the Syrah and Mourvèdre were naturally fermented in open top tanks after which they were pressed in a traditional basket press. Vini ed separately, the Syrah was drained into a new French oak barrel where it spent one year before being blended with the Mourvèdre in a 400 litre barrel, for a further nine months of ageing.
Beautiful rich red fruit avours, with slight savoury notes, and a dusty/earthy hint to it. After a few minutes in the glass, lovely nutmeg and clove spices start to show.
Sijnn Syrah
Sijnn Syrah 2011. Attractive deep red, youthful colour. Subtle slate and red fruit on the nose. Quite restrained, but very attractive. Firm, but soft and quite a fine texture. Also quite restrained on the palate but with a long fine finish promising great development over at least 4 or 5 years. Has enough zest to go with a rich pasta dish, mushroom risotto and subtle red meat dishes.
Paarl & Swartland with God Sadie Day 2
Degustations: Rhebokskloof, Badenhorst, Eben Sadie
Regardez plus-bas pour la version Française
Follow-me here for 3 weeks in the vineyards of South Africa where I will be trying to understand South-African wine regions and wines.
I appreciate comments and feedback, wine is all about sharing after all, however I'm against haters and inappropriate comments, therefore comments are disabled on my videos but you can contact me here!
Stephanie.wineevents@yahoo.com
English is not my first language so Pardon me for my English!
Who am I?
Stephanie, wine lover, sommelier, currently wine director of Raffles Singapore
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Suivez-moi ici pour 3 semaines de voyage dans les vignobles d'Afrique du Sud
Qui-suis-je?
Stephanie, passionnée par le vin, sommelier et actuellement directrice des vins pour Raffles Singapore.
J’apprécie les échanges et les critiques constructives, pour me contacter c'est ici: Stephanie.wineevents@yahoo.com
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L’ABUS D’ALCOOL EST DANGEREUX POUR LA SANTÉ
Bilton Wines Stellenbosch - Africa Travel Channel
Bilton Wines Stellenbosch - Rare Wines of Distinctive Character.
Chris Riccobono from pardonthatvine.com tastes South African wine with up and coming sommelier
Chris Riccobono from pardonthatvine.com tastes South African wine with up and coming sommelier Vergelegen,De Trafford,Hamilton Russell
Vergenoegd Wine visited by The South African Wine Safari
We have changed our format and are proud to introduce Vergenoegd Wine Estate to you as seen through the eyes of a visitor who is being shown around.
I hope you enjoy the new format.
De Trafford Sijnn Red 2008 from Red Squirrel Wine
The complex stony soils, together with a warm dry climate (350mm) moderated by constant sea breezes provides an ideal terroir to produce something unique. A mix of varieties from various origins deemed suitable to this area. All vines are grown as bush vines due to the exceptional low yield and vigour. This is the second vintage from the 4 year old vines as well as some 3 year old vines. All vines planted on a mix of drought resistant rootstocks.
Only 73mm rain during the growing season. Typical dry windy conditions meant tiny yields and moderate growth. Jan/Feb average max. 26°C, but very few days over 30°C. Usually the max. temp. is reached before midday and it is a little cooler in the afternoon due to the strong sea breezes. The evenings were a little cooler than 2007. Vines irrigated before growing season and again at veraison to assist the critical ripening process, otherwise the vines are left to fend for themselves and adapt to their environment. Light drizzle and early morning mist around harvest meant a little botrytis, which had to be painstakingly removed.
Handpicked and carefully sorted in 14 kg flat trays in the cool mornings, to avoid damaging and transported back to Stellenbosch. Further sorting in Stellenbosch and 98% destemming and gentle crushing directly into small open top tanks and oak vats. Spontaneous natural yeast fermentation @ max. temp. 29°C. Time on the skins 6 -- 9 days, with caps of the skins punched down (pigeage) 2 to 3 times a day. Single pressing in traditional basket press and malolactic fermentation in barrels. We used a mix of barrels in the first year of maturation and mostly 700l in the second year of maturation. This better respects the complexity of the fruit while softening the wine sufficiently. 25% new French oak used -- all 700l. Time in barrel 22 months, which included 3 rackings to gradually clarify the wine and assist maturation. The wine was bottled by hand, unfined and unfiltered.
More information at Red Squirrel Wine:
Pia's Pick of the Week - A wine worth sharing
Share this video on Facebook to stand a chance to win a bottle of Sijnn Low Profile 2011 - a mineral and juicy Touriga Nacional produced in Malgas by renowned winemaker David Trafford. The 2011 shows its Douro roots with distinctive slate, blackcurrant and wild spice. Fantastically different with all the flavours of Portugal's Touriga Nacional, Sijnn's entry-level red is available for R89 per bottle. For more on Trafford's groundbreaking Malgas project, view our recent video on Wine Cellar Plus -
To order, email Pia@winecellar.co.za. View Wine Cellar's full price list on
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Wine Minute 11: Popa TN 2008 Touriga Nacional
The Wine Minute is a video series that features a wine connoisseur's commentary regarding one particular wine per video. This will be an ongoing series. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed creating them. Please share your thoughts on this new series with comments.
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Episode #2 - 2004 de Trafford Cabernet Sauvignon - The Wine Forum.MP4
2004 de Trafford Cabernet Sauvignon
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Hello everyone! Here is my second video blog to date. Work has been winding down, but still quite busy. I also have been away for a long weekend wedding out of town and prepping for our trip to FRANCE! Lisa and I will be there for 2 weeks traveling for about 5 days each to Provence, Bordeaux and then Paris.
I will be taking lots of video and pictures so I should have some good stuff to post once I get back and settle into the summer.
Cheers!
-Tom