As usual, I’m the last person in town to taste this wine.
Thank goodness Vino Pronto was able to solve this problem!
The Wine:
You know when you’re making caramelised sugar and walk away for just a second…and you think ‘nooooo’…but then realise that ‘aaaactually, it’s perfect’?It is THE most enticing nose of burnt sugar, dark caramel, OG Wilson’s toffee blocks (aka tooth extraction by toffee). And then preserved lemons, scorched naartjie peel, brown pears, quince, apricots, hints of tropical fruits (the closest I could get was Delicious Monster fruit…pretty specific, I know), fresh fennel, beeswax, nutmeg, and smoke.
Surprisingly fuller bodied with a waxiness to it. Good acid and good length that leaves you with stony minerality, lemongrass essential oil, green apple, gentle grapefruit peel and almond skin bitterness, traces of riper fruits, green melons…and smoke.
Vini + Viti:
100% Vermentino from Voor Paardeberg in Paarl, brief maceration on skins, fermented in tank, transferred to barrel (I think it’s still neutral oak?), lees ageing with weekly battonage for a few months. I hereby petition that all interesting wines have detailed spec sheets! Fermented in music?!?