Panel chairman's choice: January 2010
Panel chairman's choice
Looking for a personal recommendation? Christian Eedes discusses the wines that particularly stood out for him during this month's blind tastings.
INVESTMENT RED BLEND
★ ★ ★ three stars
Black Pearl Oro 2007
CELLAR PRICE: R75
60% Shiraz, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. Black Pearl Vineyards is a Paarl winery owned and operated by the Nash family, who relocated from New Hampshire, USA in 1995. There's typically nothing shy about the wines, as is the case here with sweet, succulent fruit matched by firm tannins. CE's score: 17/20.
INVESTMENT RED BLEND
★ ★ ★ ✩ three and a half stars
Boplaas Family Reserve
Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
CELLAR PRICE: R100
50% Shiraz, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. This Calitzdorp winery is famed for its Port but is making increasingly accomplished table wines such as this one. Made using grapes from the Upper Langkloof ward, it comes across as focused and precise with juicy dark fruit, good tannic structure and fresh acidity. CE's score: 17/20.
INVESTMENT RED BLEND
★ ★ ★ ✩ three and a half stars
Mas Nicolas Cape 2005
approximate retail price : R220
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Shiraz. This is the ultrapremium, ownlabel offering from Nico van der Merwe of Saxenburg in Stellenbosch. What most impresses is its youthfulness - dark fruit and firm, wellmeshed tannins which suggest that the claimed maturation potential of beyond 10 years is not completely improbable. CE's score: 18/20.
INVESTMENT RED BLEND
★ ★ ★ three stars
Rust en Vrede 1694 2006
CELLAR PRICE: R1200
56% Shiraz, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine spent 18 months in 100% new oak, 75% French and 25% American, but to fixate on the obvious wood-derived character is to miss the sumptuous fruit that it also displays. An unashamed blockbuster but exceptionally well executed. Needs time to merge fully. CE's score: 18/20.
