Stellenzicht The Mistaken Identity Pinotage / Syrah

Stellenzicht The Mistaken Identity Pinotage / Syrah is part of Stellenzicht’s “speciality” range which also includes other excellent wines like the Plum Pudding Hill Syrah and The Vine Post Pinotage.

The Stellenzicht Estate is flanked by the Helderberg and Stellenbosch Mountain. Between Stellenbosch and the False Bay coast, lies an exceptional tract of land that benefits from terroirs eminently suited to the cultivation of the highest quality wine grapes. This jewel in the crown of the magnificent Stellenbosch wine-growing region is known as the Golden Triangle. At its core lies Stellenzicht.

The origins of Stellenzicht can be traced back to 1692  when it was part of a larger property granted to its first owner Barendt Hendrikse. The farm was bought by international banker and financier Hans-Joachim Schreiber in 1981. In 1999 he entered into a joint joint venture with Distillers Corporation which today forms part of Distell. The same partnership, called Lusan, also owned four other wine estates at the time: Le Bonheur, Uitkyk, Alto Estate and Neethlingshof. The estate was sold off by Distell in 2017 when it was purchased by one of the co-owners of Ernie Els wines, Baron Hans von Staff-Reitzenstein, and the fruit now goes into Ernie Els wines.  So grab their last remaining wines whilst you can!

The name Stellenzicht The Mistaken Identity derives from an accidental blend which winemaker Guy Webber made in a glass while attending a famous wine show in Bordeaux. Thinking that he had been blending Syrah varietals from different continents, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had, in fact, blended Syrah and Pinotage to create what
he believes to be the ultimate expression of “elegant power” in a Stellenzicht wine.

The grapes for the Stellenzicht The Mistaken Identity Pinotage / Syrah come from vineyards from which were planted between 1995 (Pinotage) and 1997 (Shiraz) and are all grafted onto nematode-resistant, Richeter 110, rootstocks. After harvesting, the two varieties were vinified separately although treated very similarly. After destalking and crushing, the mash was fermented in stainless steel tanks.  Selected yeast cultures were used in both fermentations. The juice was separated from the skins after three to five days and the press-fractions were kept separate. After spontaneous malolactic fermentations, the wines were matured for 36 months in a combination of new French (50%), American (40%) and Hungarian (10%) 300 litre Oak barrels.

Only 2783 bottles produced.