2021 White

Tasting Donovan Rall’s wines with his friend David Sadie is like tasting with two giants, both former, keen rugby players lured from back-passing an oddly-shaped ball to turning grapes into vino. Rall is another in the cadre of Swartland producers who excels with Rhône varieties, prudent vinification and whole bunches. The 2021 vintage sees the debut of a new cuvée, Noa, from granitic soils in the Paardeberg matured in concrete eggs and foudres – an impressive debut that bodes well for the future. But the real head turner this year is his other debut, the 2021 Syrah. Rall told me it took a fortnight to locate the owner of the 10-hectare parcel, but it was definitely worth the effort. It is cropped at just two tons per hectare. Interestingly, Rall was the second winemaker after Jean Smit (Damascene) to mention that sugar to alcohol conversion rates were “super low”, which meant that he was able to achieve final levels between 12% and 13%.