Boekenhoutskloof Porseleinberg Syrah 2017 South Africa 75cl

The very expressive bouquet, more vivid than the 2015, features blackberry, bilberry, a touch of raspberry, cracked black pepper and just a faint hint of charcoal. This is a very cerebral Porseleinberg. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, outstanding structure, broody black fruit and gentle grip, and the schist soils are very expressive on a finish that feels fresh but extremely complex. 2021 - 2038

Score: 94 Neal Martin, vinous.com, August 2018


“If ever a South African wine tasted of specific place it is Porseleinberg, the Cape’s answer to Cornas in terms of its dense, compact structure, but with a personality that is all its own: wild, savoury and unruly with tannins that can be demanding in their youth. Femented with 100% whole bunches and aged in a combination of concrete eggs and foudres, it’s ripe, but not overly so, with notes of garrigue and tangerine and a stony, compact finish. 2022-35.

Tim Atkin MW: 96 Points


“Ripe and inviting, with warm plum sauce and raspberry pâte de fruit notes wrapped in red licorice and roasted vanilla details. A sanguine streak contrasts with the fruit and enlivens the finish. Youthfully compact, but this displays serious latent length. Syrah. Best from 2020 through 2029.

Wine Spectator: 93 Points

Porseleinberg is big, brawny and throbs with black olive tapenade, hedgerow blackberries, balsamic, wildflowers, dried herbs, black pepper, moist rolling tobacco and something damp, rocky and uncompromising like the gorse-studded Scottish Highlands. One of those wines everyone should try before they die. Dark and wild as a night on a mountainside.

Grilled quail, grapes, mascarpone, beetroot-cumin puree, couscous with herbs, mustard-hanepoot rosemary jus.