unusual and different wines
Delaire Graff Cape Vintage 2018
A Port by any other name and tasting just as sweet. Beautiful dark plum at the heart, it pales out to the edges. Aromas of dark roses, Morello cherries, dark chocolate and generous spicing and vanilla from the maturation in 20 year old previous filled barrels. The palate is rich, generous, unctuous. The purple and black fruits supported by fine tannins. Long and gently waning aftertaste…
Morné Vrey
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unusual and different wines
De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc Noble Late Harvest 2019
Such a brilliant wine this with its perfect sweet and sour flavours. Straw coloured in the glass, when swirled it shows its viscosity with ‘cathedral windows’ as the wine withdraws back into the glass. Fabulous mouth weight with apricot acidity, honey and spice. Wonderfully balanced. Very impressive glass.
Founding Winemaker Charles Hopkins with Sir De Villiers Graaff, who owns De Grendel
Read more about De Grendel Wines and the hospitality offerings – CLICK HERE
unusual and different wines
De Wetshof Riesling 2017
British Wine Writer, Jancis Robinson, hails Riesling as the finest wine grape in the world. Packed in a bottle known as an Alsatian Flute, the wine is a pale hay colour. Aromas are of grapefruit, a mélange of ripe fruits, and you can almost smell the acidity. The palate is spectacular, spice, lanolin, perfect balance of acidity, fruit, minerals, and complete and utter deliciousness. Th after taste is a thing of which dreams are made. Being a 2017, it has settled down and is so ready to drink now. This is a great food wine.
Peter, Danie & Johann de Wet
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unusual and different wines
Durbanville Hills The Tangram Red 2016
Very flagshippy, this is a real statement from Martin Moore, founding Cellarmaster and Wilhelm Coetzee, the Winery’s Red Wine Specialist. A Tangram it is a Chinese puzzle. In the glass, a wonderful bloodplum at the heart. Aromas are of sweet ripe dark berry, Christmas Cake reminders, chocolate and an undertow of mint. The palate is rich and generous and from entry the berries and sweet fruit are counterbalanced by a lovely line of acidity. Perfect harmony in a long and gently waning aftertaste.
Wilhelm Coetzee, Red Wine Specialist at Durbanville Hills Winery
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unusual and different wines
Groot Constantia Gouverneurs Reserve 2018
This wine is a classical Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, hugely popular in Australia, where with their penchant for abbreviation, they call it SBS. This one has just over 50% Sauvignon Blanc with the remainder Semillon. Vinified in French Oak Barrels and then matured on its lees for 10 months. The aromas are about apples and pears, oatmeal and white aromatic flowers, the oak lending its undertow of spice and vanilla. Wonderful palate, rich and generous and long lasting with a reprise of the fruit aromas. I am told by my wine merchant friends that this style of wine is a hard sell, it shouldn’t be. Break out of your comfort zone and give it a try, you might become addicted, like me.
Boela Gerber, Winemaker at Groot Constantia
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unusual and different wines
Landskroon Paul Hugo Red 2020
Now, here’s an interesting wine. What most wine estates would call an entry level wine. Interesting blend too, with half Cabernet Franc and 30% Shiraz and the balance Merlot. Cellarmaster Paul bleeds of some early juice to add intensity to this wine. Maturation on French Oak Staves and some previous fill barrels. We love it at home, and it is a regular favourite with some of our friends. The Cabernet Franc gives it so much class with its dark fruit and fynbos herbaceousness. The Shiraz, the berries and spice. And the Merlot the classy softness with its plums. Excellent quality to price ratio.
Paul de Villiers, 5th Generation Cellarmaster at Landskroon
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unusual and different wines
Oldenburg <CL° White
A reasonably new addition to the Estate’s range of wines, the name amusingly indicating the cooler than Stellenbosch temperatures. A blend of 54% Chardonnay with 46% Chenin Blanc, with 20% of the wine matured in previous 300 litre French oak barrels for 8 months. In the glass, the wine is a charming lemon in the glass. The aromas are of granadilla, guava and a spray of grapefruit skin oil. From entry, there is a delicious crisp Granny Smith Apple acidity which runs through into the long aftertaste. White flowers, soft peel citrus and a reprise of the aromas. Beautiful balance. Impressive glass from the Estate’s Winemaker, Nic van Aarde..
Nic van Aarde, Oldenburg Winemaker, barrel tasting
Read more about Oldenburg Vineyards Wines – CLICK HERE
unusual and different wines
Simonsig The Garland 2015
Let’s go out with a bang, you are in the presence of royalty here. A single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from the slopes of the Simonsberg. Closer to the perfect terroir you don’t get. A healthy vineyard delivering superb quality grapes. After fermentation the free run wine was settle and then racked into the very best tight grain French Oak Barrels, where it lay for 2 years. Every few months, the wine was racked other barrels. This melds together the fruit, softens the tannins and the integration of the oak. In the glass, the wine is a red black Indian ink. Dark berries, blackcurrants, mulberries, and pencil shaving make up the aromas. The fruit, roadside brambles, crème de cassis, and Morello cherries fill the rich and generous palate, with the iron fist in velvet glove tannins. This is a serious, magisterial wine. It can only improve with cool cellaring for anything up to 20 years, says the Estate.
Simonsig Francois & Johan Malan
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