Glenelly Estate Reserve 2017
Glenelly Estate Reserve 2017 is the signature red blend of Glenelly inspired by the classic Claret style of the 1700s, with Cabernet Sauvignon as its backbone, delivering rich cassis, mulberry, cedar, and tobacco notes. Syrah adds red and black cherry flavors with a touch of black pepper spice on the mid-palate. The wine is complex, layering intense fruit with mocha, Christmas cake, sandalwood, and leather. Fresh, fruity acidity balances firm tannins, leading to a clean, dry finish with strong aging potential.
GRAPE VARIETIES 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 12% Syrah, 7% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet franc
91/100 Decanter World Wine Awards 2023: Silver Medal
90/100 International Wine Challenge 2023: Silver Medal
93/100 Tim Atkin MW Special South Africa Report 2021
Rupert and Rothschild Classique 2021
Rupert and Rothschild Classique 2021 is the second vintage to include Cabernet Franc in the blend, which lifts the texture making for a more elegant wine, although Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon still dominate the assemblage. This is Classique at it’s best and after 16 months in French oak and a few years in the bottle this vintage is singing! A complex and smoky nose starts off with roasted coffee, cassis, black cherry and earthy spice. The palate is medium to full bodied with seamless tannins and just enough acidity to retain freshness. There’s ripeness and richness on the palate, but it’s not overworked or overripe, it’s balanced and very well made. The wines of Rupert and Rothschild seem to get better with every passing vintage, and Classique 2020 certainly supports that theory.
92/100 Deano da Vino
Beyerskloof Faith 2021
Intense dark fruit and cassis upon entry, with delicate spice and cedar aromas from the new oak. A big structured Cape blend with excellent complexity but still great balance. Hints of dark chocolate add to a long smooth finish. Pairs well with Rib eye on the bone and oxtail potjie.
35% Pinotage 33% Cabernet Sauvignon 32% Merlot
A Cape blend of Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot which is a testament to the faith Beyers Truter has in Pinotage and the abundant blessings of nature melded in this ultimate expression of South Africa's heritage grape sired in Stellenbosch soils. A big structured, well-rounded, and elegantly balanced Cape blend. This wine will age well for 10-15 years.
Raats Red Jasper 2022
Raats Red Jasper 2022, is a blend of 49% Cabernet Franc, 35% Malbec, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.5% Merlot and 3.5% Petit Verdot, we encounter an incredibly plush, luscious, approachable red blend brimming with earthy red berry fruits, aromatics of violets and sweet lavender, dried baking herbs and subtle notes of graphite and lead pencil. On the palate, the wine is medium bodied and plush, soft textured but also fleshy, creamy and deliciously accessible boasting toasty notes of black currant, damson plum and sour black cherries. A very compact and complete wine on release, this cuvee might not rise to the heights of the 2021, but in a funny kind of way, consumers desiring instant enjoyment now may actually love the 2022’s creamy opulence more than the bracing acid structure of the 2021. This wine simply gets better and better every vintage. Well done Bruwer!
93/100 GSMW (review c/o.)
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Food suggestions Venison dishes / lazy-aged sirloin or rib-eye / Hard cheese
Constantia Glen FIVE 2022
TASTING NOTE
This wine has a vibrant and youthful dark ruby colour. On the nose, pronounced aromas of Morello cherries, ripe blackcurrant, and plums are elevated by a delicate fragrance of violets and dried herbs. Underlying savoury notes of tobacco pouch, cedar, and graphite add complexity and intrigue.
On the palate, the wine is rich and concentrated, with bold dark fruit flavours that are beautifully balanced by this blend’s inherent freshness. The fine-grained tannins provide a mouth-coating texture and wonderful persistence that creates a lingering finish. This wine is beautifully structured, showcasing a harmonious blend of dark fruit, elegance, and finesse. The wine comes across as tightly wound in its youth, but with all the potential for incredible ageing potential.
TECHNICAL DATA
A carefully crafted blend of 28% Cabernet Franc, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot and 9% Malbec, matured for 19 months in 80% new and 20% secondfill 225 litre French oak
barrels. Following barrel maturation, the wine received a very light filtration before making its way into bottle on 12 December 2023. With no fining agents used during the production of this wine, a harmless sediment may occur during maturation in the bottle. This is a classic and bold vintage of the Constantia Glen FIVE, which will continue to age and develop admirably in bottle for up to 10 to 15 years from harvest, under correct cellaring conditions.
Vilafonté Series M 2022
Series M 2022
Immersive & Engaging
Expect this vintage of Series M to provide increasing finesse and pleasure over time. It’s colour is deep, garnet-red colour with a dense centre. The entry is pure-fruited and focused, showcasing a vibrant medley of pomegranate, cranberry, raspberry, and blueberry compote. These are layered with sweet notes of crème brûlée and vanilla pod, complemented by intriguing hints of tarragon, cardamom, and a touch of savoury character. On the palate, the wine is broad and luscious from the first sip, with plush, crushed velvet tannins. The palate continues seamlessly from the nose, with abundant red fruits leading to a long, delicious finish.
While the 2022 Series M is remarkably complete in its youth, this blend will reward those who exercise patience as it continues to evolve and develop complexity. Enjoy now or cellar for two decades or more.
The Blend
22 months in 30% new French oak barrique, with the balance in older French oak.
Series M 2022 consists of Merlot (40%), Malbec (39%), Cabernet Sauvignon (16%) and Cabernet Franc (5%).
80 barrels were produced.
Buitenverwachting Christine 2018
Meerlust Rubicon 2021 Gift Tin
Tasting Notes
Very youthful colour, deep and dense with almost purple hue. Quintessential Rubicon nose with violets, ripe plum, cedar wood, fennel, and intense spiciness. Typical liquorice notes also evident on the nose. Still young and intense, the palate is full bodied, structured but packed with fresh dark fruit and rounded tannins and seamlessly integrated oak.
Blend Information
48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot
Accolades
2024 Platter's Wine Guide - 5 Stars
Ageing Potential
Ageing potential of 10 - 20 years, provided wine is stored in ideal cellar conditions.
Raats MR de Compostella 2020
Never made with exactly the same blend in any two vintages, the 2020 is a classic Cape Bordeaux assemblage of 30% Cabernet Franc, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 16% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot with a total production of only 1,000 x 6. The wine displays a real intensity in the glass with a ruby red rim and a red / black plum heart. The aromatics are vibrant and fabulously perfumed, bursting from the glass with expressive notes of red and black berry fruits, black currant, raspberry, red and black cherry, before notes of earthy blueberry emerge with suggestions of pressed violets, lavender, sweet sandalwood, star anise and graphite spice. On the palate, the vintage’s regal elegance emerges with exhilarating acids framing the plush opulent red and back berry fruits, saline cassis, tart red cherry and a blueberry confectionary generosity.
98/100 Greg Sherwood MW
Château Montaiguillon, Montagne Saint-Emilion 2020
Montaiguillon’s 2020 is another resounding success, continuing a string of excellent vintages at the estate. It is a deep ruby colour with notes of spiced plums, cassis and blackberries on the nose. There’s a savoury, graphite note woven through the juicy, sumptuous palate. Its rounded tannins are already integrated with the plump fruit, and the finish has a fresh, balanced length, the likes of which you’d expect from wines with much bigger price tags.
Meerlust Merlot 2022
Deep ruby red. Typical Merlot notes of black plum, dark cherry, dried herbs underpinned by mocha and tobacco. The palate is generous with juicy dark fruit, while still delicate on the finish, showing complex cherry tobacco flavours coupled with a fine acidity. This wine shows will age gracefully and will gain in complexity and suppleness of tannin for many years to come.
100% Merlot
Ageing potential
10 - 15 years, provided wine is stored in ideal cellar conditions.
In the cellar
This vintage is 100% Merlot. It is made up of a few individual parcels that are all fermented separately before undergoing malolactic fermentation in 300 L barrels. After 6 months in barrel, the final components were selected and blended and put back to barrel for 12
months in 40% new French oak for further maturation before bottling.
SPRINGFIELD ESTATE The Work of Time 2019
SPRINGFIELD ESTATE The Work of Time 2018 has a deep and concentrated nose, it opens up on the palate to reveal crisp cassis fruit with smoky edges and a hint of green pepper all hung on a ripe firm structure. Excellent balance.
32% Cabernet Franc, 31% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Petit Verdot
