Skip to content

About
- Contact Me
- Sample Policy
Musings & Ramblings
Learn with me

Cape of Good Wine

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

Interviews
Musings & Ramblings
Wine Reviews
Learn with me
- What's the Grape?
- Wine Regions
  - Constantia Wine Route
Wine Wise

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
Interviews
Musings & Ramblings
Wine Reviews
Learn with me
- What's the Grape?
- Wine Regions
  - Constantia Wine Route
Wine Wise

Platter's South African Wine Guide

Platter's Wine Guide 2026

Platter's South African Wine Guide

Categories

Search

Instagram

follow @capeofgoodwine

Stark Conde Pines Syrah 2018 The deepest ruby hue

Stark Conde Pines Syrah 2018

The deepest ruby hue delivers exactly what you’d hope for from that depth of colour: a canvas of blueberries, blackberries, black plums interlaced with threads of lifted tart red plums, boozy kirsch, light vanilla, star anise, herbal olive leaf and fynbos, fresh violets and lavender; embellished with subtle charcuterie, smoke and black pepper (rotundone is still going, baby!).

A seam of cheerful medium+ acidity and wonderfully integrated big velvety tannins that hem the full body…neatly finished with the longest finish. It’s an appliqué of bright and fresh red plums, dark plums, dark cherries and woodsy cedar woven against a tapestry of big, full, rich velvet opulence.

Stark-Condé has a beautiful tasting room hovering over a scenic little dam…with so many of the biggest fish (I’m easily amused and distracted). I’ve long been a little obsessed with Rüdger, the winemaker. But our wine host was one of the most impressive I’ve experienced: able to sway between friendly light-hearted chit chat, while fielding technical questions with a deep wine knowledge beyond only Stark-Condé and Stellenbosch. And for that reason, this winery is one of my favourite recommendations…well worth a visit (for the hospitality, wines, location…erm, and the fish)!

Springfontein Chenel 2023 x 2! New grape unlocked

Springfontein Chenel 2023 x 2!

New grape unlocked: Chenel! I could tell you all about how it was developed in SA in 1974…but @springfonteinwine have already created a comprehensive website devoted to the grape variety 🙌🏾. I offered to pay…but Springfontein insisted on gifting these wines 🙏🏾. And when I couldn’t make it to the winery, Springfontein sent a hunk of limestone to bring their vineyard to me ❤️. I call them wine geeks…and they agree.

There isn’t nearly enough room to rave about both Springfontein and these wines…but know that Springfontein are our kind of wine peeps! I am utterly charmed by them and their wines:

Terroir Selection Chenel 2023: paler in colour, with an elegant mineral-led nose that speaks to the ocean breeze, Kalksteen (limestone) soils, and fynbos terroir; orchard blossoms, peaches, pears, seashell minerality and salinity, creamy nuttiness, and dark toffee. Lighter bodied, bright but friendly mediumish acidity…and a retronasal herbal tincture bitterness that had me grinning in delight! Think Albariño meets Vinho Verde clean, sherbety, pretty fruits.

Daredevil’s Drums Juices Untamed Intracellular Fermented Chenel 2023: a mouthful in both name and flavour! Hazy medium gold wafting pronounced incense, spices, ripe oranges, apples, dried citrus peel & mango, kombu and cidery yeast. Dry, with a similar mediumish acidity, fuller bodied, and a lengthier finish. The pear returns as textural fine pear juice-like tannins, and salinity more akin to iodine than sea salt.

You’d think that the more complex, intense and textured Daredevil’s Drums with its unbelievably cool label would be my fave. Yet it’s the clean and mineral Terroir Selection that I can’t stop thinking about. The answer is you want both!

Just to prove that @springfonteinwine are our wine peeps, here’s a quote from their chenel.co.za website: “If Pinotage became the celebrated voice of South African wine identity, Chenel remained its quieter counterpart — South Africa’s other original, shaped by the same spirit of innovation, adaptation, and local ambition.” Springfontein are proving that Chenel is far from just a ‘bulk wine’ variety.

The Township Winery Argument Corner Field Blend 20

The Township Winery Argument Corner Field Blend 2021

You should skip to the last paragraph: the reason why I purchased this wine.

Deep and dark and no, my glass isn’t thaaat dirty 🤣, it is hazy. Pronounced blackberries and dark plums, red plums and red cherries pace a myriad of savoury oriental and sweet baking spices conjoined by medicinal eucalyptus...cradled by a gently creased leather and soy sauce patina . It smells heavenly!

Vibrant acidity lifts the full body, integrated finely grained yet present tannins graze your gums, and heat close the chapter on a modest finish. Prunes, dried figs, cola, cedar and join the fresh fruits and spices - the soy and leather transform into sweet teriyaki sauce. It’s an easy big ripe red crowd pleaser that outlines its plot line and delivers its story.

But it’s as though the story has been edited into an easy holiday read...it’s sufficiently balanced but also a little uneasy...especially when you consider how advanced this feels for 2021. Until you remember that this is a field blend of Shiraz, Cab and Merlot: harvested together, crushed together, fermented together.! Yeah, it makes sense that there’s a bit of a precarious, wiggly self balancing adventure that’s constantly in motion...it’s hard to quite put your finger on what’s different, and rather exciting because of this. I like it.

The Township Winery is an empowerment project that aims to bring vineyard ownership to residents through school-owned premium vineyards. The proceeds support tertiary education for a child in need - and it’s the tertiary education that caught my eye. There is plenty of funding for cute kids...they’re adorable, how could you not? Then they grow up and the funding dwindles. Just as you’ve raised a capable and enthusiastic fisherperson, you take away their rods, their lines, their hooks before they’re able to fully secured their erm fishing potential. I’m getting lost in this fishy tale 🤣. In this world, there are fewer opportunities for those without tertiary education. And thus the cute kid funding cycle continues. The Township Winery sees this opportunity to give youths the best chance of changing SA’s future. Happy SA Youth Day.

Barbeitos Verdelho Branco DOP Madeirense 2021 Col

Barbeitos Verdelho Branco DOP Madeirense 2021

Collab time! @eversograpeful and I are reviewing the same wine. None of us should be surprised that he picked an exciting still wine from the wondrous island that is Madeira. And none of us should be surprised that he agreed to an interview (link in bio 😉).

Confession: I couldn’t help comparing this to the fortifieds that I adore. So there was irrational surprise at the saturated but paler gold tones. With a fair resonance to the aromas of salty kelp seaweed baking in a rockpool, beef broth, oyster brine (yup, see comments coz I went there), dried coriander seeds, light honey, preserved lemons, wrinkly yellow apples, pears, barely ripe white nectarines and melon. It feels wrong to claim fresh fynbos...so shall we call it laurel forest? The other irrational surprise was zero rancio and cooked fruit.

Dry and lithe with staccato-esque pithy grippy texture that becomes waxy towards the end of the sip; irrational surprisingly friendly fresh and vibrant and sensible! acidity; and a sonorous finish. An elegy of bright lemony citrus, underripe peach, bruised apples, tangerine peel zing, a hint of herbal sweet earthy fynb...erm laurel forest, a perfect generous pinch of salt, green olive brine rubato towards dried pear and meebos (salted dried apricot) that are the last notes that linger in this upbeat allegretto.

Our DM’s over the last year are the true interview (and the reason for so many musical terms above 🤣) - the man is profound, genuinely interesting and absolutely lovely. We have a long-standing lunch date (venue/country TBC)...and our wine list is now so extensive that we could keep all of your glasses full! Do check out this thoughtful interview...because I reckon you’ll want to RSVP to @eversograpeful ‘s awesomeness!

Rudolf Fürst Klingenberger Spätburgunder 2014 Thi

Rudolf Fürst Klingenberger Spätburgunder 2014

This post isn’t so much about this lovely aged Spätburgunder. It’s about an interview with the man who gifted it to me. @burgundynick has just hit 20k followers 🤗, and I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of following.

As an ode to our mutual WSET Diploma adventures, here’s a throwback to Diploma days: Medium garnet with an enticing medium (+) intensity nose of leather, damp earth, wet leaves, mulch, liquorice, oyster sauce, dried fruits like prunes and raisins, black plums, kirsch and gentle baking spices.

Dry, medium+ acidity, medium bodied, medium alcohol, smooth medium tannins, and a medium + finish. Medium (+) intensity tart fresh red fruits like cherries and red plums, tertiary dried cedar, mulch and leather, and finishing with dried fruits that leave a lovely lasting impression.

There is balance between the fresh acidity, alcohol, integrated smooth tannins and concentration of aromas and flavours; a complex potpourri of primary fruits, secondary new oak spices, and tertiary dried wood, earth and leather linger pleasantly to produce a very good quality wine. Drink now, will not improve with further ageing but will hold for 3-5 more years.

More interesting non WSET notes: empty glass sniff YUM, paired well with a black cherry flavoured sucker/popsicle, what a treat to taste an older German Pinot...yum!

I started double tapping Nick’s posts in May 2019...shortly after he reached 5k. And even back then I noticed his #GiveANewWineAGo hashtag. After years of wine inspo, swopping bottles through travelling friends (my first Hunter Valley Sem 🙏🏾❤️) and our recent AlternativeApril fun, Nick graciously agreed to an interview. If you’re (also) curious about why he chose his username and why that doesn’t contradict #GiveANewWineAGo , the link to the interview is in the bio.

Follow on Instagram

2023 © Cape of Good Wine

Looking for something?

close