Wine of the week:

a nakedly honest syrah

2018 Iona, Solace Syrah, Elgin, South Africa

£27.99, flagshipwines.co. uk; £26.50, kwmwine.com; £27.99, thornewines.com

I first visited Andrew and Rozy Gunn, the custodians of Iona, some two decades ago. A relatively new property back then, Andrew explained that they were planting some of the coolest sites in the Cape, high up (420 metres) in Elgin, on soils more used to supporting apple orchards than vines. I bought buckets of their sauvignon blancs back in the old days, and the chardonnay planted here is also a scintillating treat. But I have to admit that I didn’t think that they would go on to make one of the most enchanting and elemental South African syrahs I have tasted just a few years later. Thanks to the unusually cool microclimate and the very long growing season, the resulting wine is arresting, elemental and unforgettable.

Grown entirely naturally, with no sulphur, and indigenous yeasts used for the fermentation, this is as naked and honest as wine gets. Three weeks on skins gives it a glorious wild, peppery perfume and large old oak barrels cradle this wine without marking it with any oak tones before it is gently bottled without fining or filtration. Midthirteens alcohol levels mean that this wine has a crunch and a snap that differentiates it from the big, broody styles from Paarl, Stellenbosch and beyond. It is oldworldy in shape and size, but the fruit is sonorous, plummy and mulberry-hued with a glossiness that charms every taste bud.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).