Delaire Graff Estate Banghoek Reserve Merlot

Delaire Graff Estate Banghoek Reserve Merlot 2018

Delaire Graff Wine Estate is situated on the shoulder between Botmaskop and the Simonsberg in the Stellenbosch Wine Appellation. The grapes for this wine came from a single vineyard, one of the oldest on the wine estate. Handpicked in the early hours before the Summer heat started rising in the vineyards, the grapes were taken to the cellar where they were hand sorted and destalked. No crushing took place. Punch downs took place regularly and when fermented dry, Morné Vrey and his team then took the wine to French Oak Barrels, 80% of them new for 16 months. The wine was then prepared for bottling.

Delaire Graff Wine Maker – Morné Vrey ‘thieving’ from a red wine barrel

Pour
From an appropriate Bordeaux shaped bottle, closed with natural cork. The label is classic Delaire Graff, simple and elegant. In the glass the wine is an opaque bloodplum at the heart which pales out to ruby at the edges. The aromas and the palate segue one into the other with dark country lane fruits like mulberries and roadside brambles and plums poached with spice. The finish is long and wanes gently, the silken tannins, the rich and generous fruit, the undertow of oak all in perfect harmony. A truly impressive glass. You will be well rewarded after a couple of years of cool cellaring.

Nina Timm’s Slow Cooked Moroccan Leg of Lamb

Pair
Merlot is a hugely popular wine, one of the most frequently ordered by the glass in South Africa’s restaurants and wine bars. It is a perfect sipping wine. It is a perfect food wine. Nina Timm’s Slow Cooked Moroccan Leg of Lamb and its accompaniments make a perfect lazy Sunday when paired with a couple of bottles of this treasure of a wine. Click HERE for her recipe

Nina Timm of www.my-easy-cooking.com