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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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- Constantia Wine Route

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
Wine Regions
- Constantia Wine Route

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Six Dogs Red Chenin 2023 Yes, you read correctly.

Natte Valleij NAT Pinotage 2022 I first noticed t

Natte Valleij NAT Pinotage 2022

I first noticed this at Cape Wine a few years ago, and was delighted by this fresh and juicy Pinotage alternative that aligned with my preferences (ie Pinotage that could be easily confused for Pinot and/or Cinsault).

I didn’t write any tasting notes for this ‘22, so here’s a general vibe: red cherries and plums, pomegranate, a little blueberry, some pepper spice and fynbos/garrigue. It’s the juiciness and bright acidity that keeps you sipping 😋. I thought this was a little more uhm refined that the ‘21 so maybe a little less memorable for me...or maybe I’m older, less refined and my memory less trustworthy 😂.

Ps. Love his Cinsaults and the always sold out Axle Chenin!

Chateau Thivin Clos de Rochebonne Beaujolais Blanc

Chateau Thivin Clos de Rochebonne Beaujolais Blanc 2021

This is a latergram saved especially for this week...it fits the 🍌 theme? I kinda forgot what Beaujolais Blanc was as I took the first sip. The almondy notes took me by surprise and I malfunctioned for a few minutes...as evidenced in these notes that even I’m struggling to follow 😂!

On the nose: white florals, salty butterscotch, yellow apples, browned butter, marzipan, yummy bread dough ferment, and uhm a hollow alcohol that’s a bit weird...like neutral alcohol?

On the palate: dry, with vibrant acidity adding freshness and tension to offset the weird neutral alcohol that comes across in its flavour too. It’s weightier than expected and creamy too (I keep forgetting this is Chard 😂). An okay finish. A sense of banana...fermenting banana peels. And salinity.

It’s pleasant, plenty of fruity flavour, refreshing acid...but I find the almond note kinda disconcerting...sort of like fruit that’s turning or has tropical stinky ripeness (cantaloupe, papaya), or decaying lilies, or almond essence or...fermenting banana 😇. I wanna sound fancy and say I suspect ‘mixed barrel usage’ coz I’m a bit all over the place with the oak. Ja nee...I kinda like it but not in a hurry to repeat it...my budget is going to the Cru Reds.

Still haven’t tasted a Beaujolais Nouveau... so to all you lucky peeps who have access to these wines, enjoy Beaujo Nouveau Day on Thursday! Ps. Someone got a massive trim a few months ago #pruning

Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2024 When I thi

Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2024

When I think Sauvignon Blanc, this is one of two wines that instantly come to mind. 25 years as an accompaniment to parties, braais and casual summer meals...this wine is, deservedly, entrenched in SA wine culture. So it’s no surprise to see the fleet of awards bestowed on these Durbanville Hills wines.

@durbanvillehills kindly gifted this trio which is a summer-perfection celebration of cool climate wines. I’ve posted about the Cape Mist Sauv Blanc and excellent Tangram Sauv Sem before...so let’s return to the OG Sauvignon Blanc that we know and love:

Pronounced lime, grapefruit, guava leaf, green mango...maybe even papaya, green figs, green pineapple, grassy herbaceousness, green asparagus and green peas.

Dry, on the lower end of medium bodied with subtle grapefruit pith texture, zippy acidity, and a long finish. All the flavour intensity you can imagine, of course, in the sweet lemons, lime cordial, lemongrass, barely ripe nectarines, winter melon, pea pod sweet bitterness (that’s delicious), mineral tinned pineapple sweetness that fills out the back palate...there is salinity but it’s more like metallic tin.

I haven’t tasted this wine in ages, but it is EXACTLY as I remembered it. Textbook Durbanville SB - intense concentrated lime and tropical fruits, crunchy green veggies, all the mouth puckering vibrancy.

Living close to Constantia often has me wondering why a winery would produce multiple Sauv Blancs. It’s coz, love it or hate it, SB is a viticultural, oenological, and blending nerd fest. And Durbanville Hills understands the brief! Many thanks to the DH team for this gift!

Ps. Cape Mist vs this OG SB vs Tangram: Cape Mist is softer, more herbal, less piercing, less zing, peach & lemongrass rather than tropical fruits, and leesy broadness. This OG SB is all the tropicals and vibrant enthusiasm one associates with the grape. Tangram is moreish deeper complexity with drier tropical fruits, lemon curd, toffee, fennel, nuts...you get the picture - it’s fabulous!

The Blacksmith Guarded by the Moon 2023 I don’t

The Blacksmith Guarded by the Moon 2023

I don’t know what to call the colour of this wine. Diluted copper? Orangey rose? Ah...got it...rinse your glass of red with white wine’. The unusual colour is telling you something...as is the nose:

Fairly pronounced honeysuckle, peaches, raspberry, cranberry, strawberry macarons, cinnamon, and garrigue. Huh? Shall we try the palate:

Dry, light bodied with a gentle tug of white grape tannin phenolics that coats your tongue and teeth. Red berried raspberry and cherry, faint heady marzipan, oranges, waxy honey, bitter peach skins and the slippery wormy bit close to the pit, and dried herbs. The decent finish, that’s just short of long, leaves you with grapefruit peel/quinine and weak herbal black tea bitterness.

If you didn’t study the back label, lemme help you out...it’s a field blend...suddenly all makes sense, right 😂. Grenache Blanc, Grenache Noir and Palomino. 100% destemmed, 7-10 days on skins, cold fermented, natural co-ferment, one short pump over per day, and then 7 months maturation in old 225l French barrels.

It’s delicious summer everything and it’s stupidly easy to drink. I first tasted this at the Constantia Wine & Craft Wine Festival...and proceeded to send every stranger I chatted with to taste this. It’s a light red that drinks like a white wine....with a foot in both the red and white fields, this is far too undecided/intriguing to be rosé. Very very cool...no surprise there from The Blacksmith Wines.

Happy spooky week!

Testalonga Mielie Green 2022 The last bottle of a

Testalonga Mielie Green 2022

The last bottle of another repeat offender last summer. At R140, it was too easy to reach for this when it was too hot to think.

Let’s whizz through this so that I can clear some recycling: shy nose, medium intensity palate, medium acidity (though it was resonating in my throat), and a short finish. All the green apples, lime cordial, honeysuckle and wet hay. There is some yummy grapefruit pith texture, and salinity that makes you crave another sip.

It’s the epitome of a ‘simple’ wine. I suspect this was made from young Chenin vines. Ya know I’ll be repurchasing the new release...coz this label is too fun, it keeps me away from the bigger Testalonga’s, and, well, it’s Craig.

Ps. Found an entire stash of baby music from junior school...no wonder nothing fits in the piano bench. Our family treads a fine line between hoarding and nostalgia!

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