Etienne le Riche has been making superb wine in Stellenbosch since the 1970s. First at Rustenberg Estate and since the late 1990s, he has made wine in his own small cellar up in the Jonkershoek Valley above Stellenbosch.

A highly respected winemaker, he tends to shy away from too much publicity, but his talents have seen him being invited to join the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild.

His Chardonnay is legendary, buttery brioche and juicy ripe pear it is a masterful understatement, very Burgundy rather than Barossa.

The Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2006 is a wine to hold you in awe.

Not given to using the name reserve lightly, Etienne only confers it when grapes, hand selected from older, lower yielding vines are used and resulting wine measures up to exceptional standard. s are used. Fermentation is done with a selected yeast strain under controlled temperatures and manual plunging during this period ensures optimal colour extraction. The Reserve is moved transferred to 225ml French oak barrels of which 70% are new for 24 months. Bottling is followed by hand labelling and further bottle maturation.

The wine is a deep dark royal red, it is full bodied, elegant and wonderfully aromatic with layers of clean sweet cedary oak. In the mouth it is a pool of superb dark red fruit and black berries. It is succulent and rich. The tannins are firm making it a superb food wine.

Ready to drink now with the traditional Easter Lamb but the sheer greatness of the wine, its magnificent structure, its rich sappy fruit promises even more if you lay it down for a year or two.

The recommended retail price for this wine would be in the region of R300.00. Possibly the best R300 you will spend on a South African Wine.