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I’d love to go to South Africa and visit Cape Town and surrounds. It looks like a magic place. Never seem to have enough time (or money).

Aromas of lime rind, peach, a little dollop of vanilla cream and good spicy oak. Slightly flinty and faintly grassy. On the palate juicy explosive flavours of citrus, peach, pear and spice with strong crunchy acidity and dry flinty texture. It feels tightly rolled up on the mid palate and should loosen up, relax and flow with further bottle age. Finishes with spice and citrus flavours. Zesty and tasty.

Other vintages : 2005

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This is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Malbec from Stellenbosch and I am told it will be available in Australia in the not too distant future. Good news because it’s a beauty and makes for a pleasant change of diet for Cabernet enthusiasts such as myself.

Strong red purple colour. Aromas of blackcurrant, cherry, damp earth, licorice, violet and pencilly oak. Really a lot going on here and I did not get round to mentioning the ash, dried herb and mineral characters that make it even more attractive. On the palate medium bodied with a mix of blackcurrant, raspberry, black cherry, chocolate, dried herb, earth and pencilly oak. It leans more towards a dry savoury Old World flavour profile than a sweeter fruited New World one. There are some fairly firm chalky open weave tannins with crisp clean acidity providing a solid framework. Finishes with dried herb and earthy flavours. Really very enjoyable.

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A 135 Ha vineyard eight km from the ocean in Stellenbosch on the Cape in South Africa.
Dark colour and a real brooding nose that has a tar/char style nose with the fruit lurking in the back. The palate is quite tannic with a firm finish. It shows the same tar characters suggested by the nose that I suspect are oak related. It is a big, brooding style wine. The berry flavour is there in the back behind the tar and char. A reasonable wine but not my style. Once again, the price is a guestimate since my friend believes it is not imported to Australia.

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A wine from a large 1000Ha estate on the Simonsberg mountain, on the Cape in South Africa. A friend who knew that I had been busy investigating shiraz from all over, opened a few from South Africa, to see how they stack up against the Aussie stuff. Aromas of red berry, rich plum, bit of sulfide/reducing character in back.

The palate is quite clean and shows ripe red berry flavour, with good acid and a powdery tannin edge. There is also a line of white pepper running along the back not unlike a cool climate shiraz. It is an interesting mix and reminds me of a wine, The Guilty, that I reviewed a month or so back. The price is an estimate because as I understand it, the wine is not imported to Australia, yet!

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I was dining the other night with a famous Melbourne athlete and remarked that this wine reminded me of Dalwhinnie shiraz a bit. He either snorted or just called me an idiot. Possibly both. I can’t remember which. I like to block them out of my mind. Anyway, rather than pistols at dawn, I ran up to the local offy and sourced a bottle of the 2002 vintage (more on this later), and the evening ended as happily as it had begun as we both agreed that there were some similarities. Same same. But different! Actually this wine was a slippery character. I could not quite pin down one of the smells. Pinning down smells can be tricky at the best of times.

Aromas of sweet blackcurrant/blackberry, caramel, some more savoury meaty characters and a little leaf and mint. On the palate medium to full bodied with plenty of Ribena and blackberry fruit, some choc-caramel and assorted savoury flavours. Fine powdery tannins. Attractive blackcurranty finish. I’d like more shape and freshness on the palate but an otherwise excellent wine.

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This chardonnay comes from ‘The Golden Triangle’ in Stellenbosch. Funny. I always thought that it was located in South East Asia…nevertheless I had to open up a new account for South Africa on Winorama this evening.

Subdued aromas of honeydew melon, citrus, white peach, milk, a touch of spicy oak and green herbs. A crisp palate with flavours of grapefruit segments, melon, spice and herbs. Nicely balanced but with more presence on the front and mid-palate than the back. Spicy citrus and green herb finish of good length. This is bright, fresh and makes for very good drinking.

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