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Cape of Good Wine

cape of good wine | Sipping my way through the Cape Winelands | A South African Wine Blog

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Cape of Good Wine

cape of good wine | Sipping my way through the Cape Winelands | A South African Wine Blog

About
- Contact Me
- Sample Policy
Musings & Ramblings
Learn with me
Wine Reviews
BIPOC Wine Brands
Red Wines
White Wines
Rosé Wines
International Wines
Wine Regions
- Constantia Wine Route

Fortified & Sweet Wines

De Kranz Cape Vintage 2018 [sample]

Oremus Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttunyos 2013

Klein Karoo Terroir Tasting

Justino’s Madeira Sercial 10 Year Old

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Delheim Edelspatz Botrytis Riesling 2020 Can I ge

Delheim Edelspatz Botrytis Riesling 2020

Can I get away with just calling this lekker? This was part of a wine workshop I hosted in August...so there was more talking and listening...and not much writing.

The beautiful medium gold colour and pronounced nose make promises that it absolutely keeps! Honeysuckle and honey, apricots and peaches, lime lime lime, guava peels, orange peel and sticky marmalade, dried pineapple, sultanas, and all the baking spices.

Lusciously sweet, high acidity, full bodied, and with a loooong finish.

From vineyards planted in 1985 in Simonsberg-Stellenbosch. Multiple pickings, sorting, whole bunch pressed, then fermented in French oak for 9 months. 162g/L for anyone who’s wondering.

Lekkerrrrr!!!

Drostdy Hof Adelpracht This is the wine that spar

Weingut Knoll Smaragd Grüner Veltliner 2017 In

Weingut Knoll Smaragd Grüner Veltliner 2017

In case you wondered what the celebration wine was when I first received my results...

In case you wondered why I was so over the moon about Austria appearing in the final exam...gotta love serendipity...

And in case you remembered that I said I’d finally open the certificates once I was done...

Toes wiggling at the red and white stripes, smiling at the celery salt seaweed stank as I popped the cork, and a heart bursting with thanks to my dearest @grzesiek.just.grzesiek for gifting me this iconic wine!

Gold in colour with a pronounced nose of struck match, celery (candied celery!), dried kombu, green apples but also yellow apples and ripe peaches.

Dry, mediumish acidity...far less than I’d braced for, medium bodied, and with a deceptively long finish. Vanilla, chamomile, ripe almost shriveled yellow apples that are incredibly sweet, pears, light toffee, and the candied celery that decorated Eid biscuits from my childhood. I couldn’t pick out any pepper (how am I going to fix this!). And I was surprised by how round it felt...less precise than I’d imagined it would be. I was treated to a far older example of this exact wine last year...and there was a similar ‘hard to put your finger on it’ character. And I think that’s because the sip is presented as one complete, unified feeling...it almost does the wine a disservice to try and pick it apart and BLIC it.

This was Coravined into numerous sample bottles to share with friends. It was paired with Howl’s Moving Castle...my safe space that I’d craved for 2.5 years. My heart was full. Full of Studio Ghibli peace. Full of excitement that my darling friend and his family will be back in Cape Town soon. And full of gratitude and relief that I’d finally finished this fucking diploma. One more thing: this is for all of you who’ve posted incredible tasting notes on wines that we’ll never see in South Africa - cheers to every one of you that I’ve learned from!

Durbanville Hills Collectors Reserve The Cape Mist

Durbanville Hills Collectors Reserve The Cape Mist Sauvignon Blanc 2022

This looks like a two-fer, but this is all about the spring appropriate The Cape Mist SB*. As soon as this was delivered I opened it 😂...as it was one of 3 Sauv Blancs in the recent South African Wine Tasting Championship that I’d hesitated over. I called 8/10 varieties correctly (those tricky blends gets me every time), but only 4/10 producers. I missed this producer...so I HAD to know where I went wrong.

Pale lemon, with a fairly pronounced nose of lemongrass, peach, light pineapple and granadilla, apples, blackcurrant leaves and tempered asparagus.

Dry with fresh zingy acidity, surprisingly medium bodied with a some leesy broadness that interplays rather nicely with the contradictory effervescent spritz, and a very pleasant medium finish. There’s salinity and minerality (sherbet) that accompanies the juicy peaches and lemongrass.

It’s strength is that this isn’t overwhelmingingly Sauvignon Blanc-y ...which makes this a great choice for those who aren’t sure about SB. It’s yum, it’s fresh, it’s mineral and saline...and it’ll be a fun blind wine as you need to hone in on the asparagus to definitively get to SB. Slurp quickly (not hard to do) because this doesn’t show many SB features by day 2.

The winemaking is as expected but using only free run juice, lees stirring once a day, inoculated, and 8 months on the lees before light filtering before bottling.

Many thanks to the Durbanville Hills team for gifting these wines. Love the illustrations by Theo Paul Vorster! I also loved the promo videos for this range that you can view on their page.

*I didn’t get along with the Shiraz...but you might.

Perdeberg Wines Endura Winemaker’s Selection Cap

Perdeberg Wines Endura Winemaker’s Selection Cape Blend 2020

A blend of Pinotage (52%), Cabernet Sauvignon (24%) and Malbec (24%), this wine serves to ‘showcase the essence of dryland vineyards’ and to ‘reflect the true character or the terroir’.

It is a deeply coloured wine, with a wonderful nose of dark plums, more plums, all the plums, mulberries, blackberries, cassis, liquorice, light cloves, meaty braaivleis, and salty soy sauce. You’ll want to sniff this for a good long while!

The palate lives up to the nose: dry, high acidity, full bodied with a round texture, fairly high tannins that feel both green and plush. I don’t notice the alcohol but the full body gives an expectation that it’s high. There’s decent length...that starts off with bitter leafy greenness and tar...that evolves into green figs (first the leaves and stem, and then the preserved deliciousness), through dark ripe juicy plums...into luxurious blackberry/peppercorn/oyster sauce compote...and finally, banana peels. Grilled spicy aubergines was the pairing of the day.

The Malbec and Pinotage are an inspiring combination...with the Cab adding structure.

Many thanks to Perdeberg Wines for gifting this lovely bottle.

Brookdale Chenin Blanc 2019 To round off women’

Brookdale Chenin Blanc 2019

To round off women’s month in SA, let’s talk about a wine from someone I’ve not yet featured...but who has always been one of my favourite faces to spot at any wine event.

The colour is a clear sign of oak, with a glorious nose of spiced pears, yellow apples, peaches, vanilla, the creamy filling to almond croissants, nutmeg, honey and salinity.

Dry, fuller bodied, high but balanced acidity, and a long finish that introduces chamomile. The intensity of the aromas and flavours is undeniable. The reserved oaking is the kind that makes you appreciate the complexity that it adds. I headed straight to the kitchen to make the most of this melange of flavours: creamy artichoke and spinach pasta...dotted with anchovies, capers and lemon zest.

Chenin from Paarl, whole bunch pressed, fermented with natural yeasts in 500 litre French oak (25% new), and 80% completing MLC. Aged on the lees for 10 months, lightly filtered, and bottle aged for 9 more months before release.

Kiara Scott must be one of the friendliest winemakers out there...always ready with a smile...always far more humble than her winemaking belies. She is a winemaker to keep your eye on because she is surely destined for greatness.

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