Buying Guide: Bordeaux-style red blends
The Bordeaux en primeur market sees the customer investing in wine well before it is bottled in the hope that it will grow in value as time goes by. In order to facilitate this, expert judgement gets passed on any particular vintage very early on: we already know, for instance, that in the case of 2007 the whites are magnificent while too many of the reds are dilute and lack weight.
Here in South Africa, things take a little longer. There’s no real secondary trade in local wine and hence the first time that we get to take a view on a vintage is when a critical mass of wines from the year in question have hit the market.
It is now three years since the 2005 harvest, and the consensus increasingly seems to be that local red wine producers struggled, only confirmed by the results of WINE magazine’s review of 53 Bordeaux-style red blends currently available: 40.4% of the lineup rated 3 Stars or better, down from 60% in the case of the 2004 category tasting and 61.7% when the 2003s were reviewed.
What made 2005 difficult were a dry winter and an even drier summer, typically resulting in wines that, for all their concentration of flavour, lack freshness and are a little clumsy. Again and again, I noted sweet ’n sour stressed fruit or, worse, dead fruit – these wines appearing soupy and dull.
But what can get confusing for the punter is that many winemakers are of the opinion that 2005 was at least better than average, a point that was stressed during the post-tasting discussion by Charles Hopkins, in charge of Durbanville winery De Grendel and a Cape Winemakers Guild member.
The observation can be made, however, that too often there is a tendency to take a view on the merits of a particular vintage without having actually tasted the wines in question. In the case of 2005, there is a real sense that initial pronouncements were inclined to underestimate the impact that the heat and dryness in the lead-up to the harvest were going to have on the resulting wines.
|
The wines are hardly unacceptable but few offer great excitement. Those winemakers who attempted to make allowances for the dry conditions by picking a little earlier and adopting a less ambitious cellar regime have made cuvées that are approachable now but show no great signs of being able to mature with benefit: ultimately there was only so much that could be achieved with the fruit at hand.
Of greater concern is that there are a number of wines where it appears the winemakers absolutely relished the super-ripe fruit that 2005 afforded and subsequently went overboard in the cellar, opting for lots of extraction and lots of oak. This usually gets done in an effort to produce something in line with what winemakers perceive critics to prefer but very often makes something not very charming at all.
This is not to say that a powerful, full-bodied style is illegitimate – there’s nothing shy about Hartenberg The Mackenzie which has an alcohol by volume of 14.7% and spent 22 months in 100% new French oak and yet still rates 4 Stars – but this is winemaking that teeters on the brink.
The above discussion tends to paint the reds of 2005 in a poor light, but it might simply be that, even three years after the harvest, it’s still premature to draw any definitive conclusions regarding its merits. Unlike the way it works in Bordeaux, nobody has seen the wines of the major players yet: Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2005 was launched after this tasting was conducted, while the 2005 vintages of Beyerskloof, Buitenverwachting Christine, Jordan Cobblers Hill, Meerlust Rubicon, Morgenster and Vergelegen have yet to see the light of day. Perhaps 2005 will surprise us yet.
| BEST VALUE - TOP 10 ON PRICE Wines rated 2½ Stars or better recommended for particularly good value on the basis of their quality/price ratio in the context of the average price per bottle of the 53 wines assessed: |
||
|
KC Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005 (Klein Constantia) |
3½ Stars |
R48.00 |
Dombeya Samara 2005HASKELL CELLAR PRICE: R80
Cab S, Merlot, Malbec. Dark fruit on the
nose and palate. Oak well judged – firm but
fine tannins. Well balanced with a long finish.
Drink now or over the next 2 years.
CE 16 HB 15 JP 16 CH 17 GdF 16
The Oak Valley Blend 2005 CELAR PRICE: R90
Merlot, Cab S, Cab F. Medium bodied with
good red and black fruit expression, pleasing
tannic grip and fresh acid. Drink now or over
the next 2 years.
CE 16 HB 15.5 JP 16 CH 16 GdF 15.5
Klein Constantia Marlbrook 2005
CELAR PRICE: SO R120
Cab S, Merlot. Nose shows cassis, violets and
pencil shavings. Well structured with dense
fruit and firm tannins on the palate. Still
youthful – keep for 2 to 4 years.
CE 15 HB 16 JP 17.5 CH 17 GdF 14.5
Môreson Magia 2005
CELAR PRICE: R200
Cab S, Cab F, Merlot. Oak, dark fruit and
some appealing leafy character on the nose.
Rich and full bodied on the palate with juicy
fruit, fresh acid and relatively soft tannins.
Drink now or in the next 2 years.
CE 16 HB 16 JP 15.5 CH 17 GdF 15.5
Hartenberg The Mackenzie 2005
CELAR PRICE: R266
Cab S, Merlot, Malbec. Ripe black fruit and
toasty oak on the nose. Full bodied and
expressive on the palate. Long finish. Drink
now or keep for 2 years.
CE 15 HB 15 JP 16 CH 17 GdF 16
KC Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005* R48
Saronsberg Provenance Rooi 2005 R80
Glen Carlou Grand Classique 2005 R110
Warwick Trilogy 2005 R180
Hillcrest R70
Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005
Zonnebloem Lauréat 2005 ARP R72
Spier Vintage Selection Malbec R75
Cabernet Franc Petit Verdot 2005
Diemersdal Private Collection 2005 R75
Laibach Organic The Ladybird 2005 SO R77
Seidelberg Un Deux Trois 2005 R80
La Motte Millennium 2005 R85
Rustenberg John X Merriman 2005 R120
Max 2005 (Miles Mossop) R130
Idiom Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot R132
Cabernet Franc 2005 (Whalehaven)
Groot Constantia R162
Gouverneurs Reserve 2005
Tokara 2005 R200
La Vigne Private Selection 2005 R65
Nick & Forti’s Epicentre 2005 (Saronsberg) R70
Kanu Keystone 2005 R90
Elgin Vintners Agama 2005 R95
Beaumont Ariane 2005 R105
Eikendal Classique 2005 R115
Welbedacht Cricket Pitch 2005 SO R140
Laibach Frederich Laibach 2005 R150
Sterhuis Astra 2005 SO R150
Hermanuspietersfontein R156
Die Arnoldus 2005
Avontuur Baccarat 2005 R159
De Toren Fusion V 2005 R235
Vilafonté Series M 2005 R250
Rupert & Rothschild TBA
Baron Edmund 2005
Avontuur Estate Vintner’s Red 2005 R40
Hermanuspietersfontein R76
Die Kleinboet 2005
Graham Beck The Andrew 2005 R80
Vuurberg 2005 R90
La Vigne Owners Selection 2005 R95
Viljoensdrift Serenity 2005 R95
Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2005 R95
Havana Hills Du Plessis Reserve 2005 R105
Chamonix Reserve Troika 2005 R110
Capaia 2005 SO R120
Saronsberg Seismic 2005 R155
Delheim Grand Reserve 2005 R165
Diemersdal MM Louw R175
Estate Red 2005
Epicurean 2005 ARP R260
Vilafonté Series C 2005 R350
Raka Quinary 2005 R75
Lynx Xanache 2005 R80
Durbanville Hills Caapmans 2005 R190
PRICES: wines in each quality grouping
are listed in order of ascending price –
all ex-cellar unless otherwise stipulated.
ARP Approximate retail price
TBA To be announced
SO Sold out ex-cellar
* Bottled under screwcap
Wine tasters: WINE magazine editor
Christian Eedes (chair) (CE), Tasting
Academy graduates Howard Booysen (HB)
and James Pietersen (JP) with winemaker
Charles Hopkins of De Grendel (CH) and
Cape Wine Master Ginette de Fleuriot of
retailer winesense (GdF)
