Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 64

FOCUS: SOUTH AFRICA
P I N O TA G E
121527

92 | Simonsig

$38

2014 Stellenbosch Redhill Pinotage ^ This
is a bright pinotage with a red berry glow of
fruit, precise in its tannins, both rustic and
refined, making it delicious with the dark
meat of roast turkey or a big, fatty ribeye
steak. In 1970, Frans Malan's first release was
a pinotage, and the variety remains a Simonsig specialty, grown at a vineyard with red
soils of decomposed shale. This aged in new
oak, a mix of French and American, which
may account for how soft and cushioned the
texture feels. But you could easily miss the
new oak while enjoying an impressive pinotage. § Quintessential, Napa, CA
121386

88 | Eikeboom

to drink, a sophisticated young red for a
steak. § Broadbent Selections, San Francisco, CA
121481

91 | Bellingham

$35

2015 Coastal Region The Bernard Series
Barrel Fermented M.M.M. ^ This is Bellingham's top selection of malbec from vineyards in Somerset West (64 percent), merlot
from Stellenbosch and bush-vine mourvedre
from Paarl. The fruit flavors emphasize the
black plum and tobacco richness of malbec,
fragrant and youthful. There's some rustic
abrasion to the tannins, and the fruit is more
baked than fresh, but the wine is generous
and lovely to drink with braised lamb. § Pacific
Highway Wines & Spirits, Petaluma, CA

$14

2015 Western Cape Pinotage (Best Buy) ^
With horse-saddle scents and the finer
leather notes of a watch case, this has plenty
of plum-skin fruitiness to balance all the
umami savor. It's a tense pinotage for braised
game. § Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, VA

RED BLENDS

92 | A.A. Badenhorst

2014 Swartland ^ Adi Badenhorst and his
cousin Hein moved to the slopes of Paardeberg in 2008, where they purchased vineyards dating to the 1950s and '60s. Though
they both grew up in the vineyards of Constantia, they chose to settle in Swartland,
attracted by the old bush vines. They farm
organically and take their winemaking cues
from local traditions, foot treading this wine,
then fermenting it in closed concrete tanks
where it rests on the skins for six months
before pressing. Focused on shiraz (56 percent), blended with grenache, cinsault and
tinta barroca and aged in large oak casks,
it's light, with spicy complexity, bringing to
mind black olives and scents of the charred
edges of brisket. That complexity opens with
air, lengthening into a racy wine that's delicious now and should take well to age. § Broadbent Selections, San Francisco, CA
121495

92 | Vilafonté

$95

2014 Paarl Series C ^ The power couple of
California wine, Zelma Long and Phil Freeze,
partnered with Mike Ratcliffe on this project to farm 100 acres in Paarl, 40 planted to
vine, focusing on four red Bordeaux varieties. Series C is a blend of cabernet sauvignon,
franc and merlot from one side of the vineyard, a sleek, elegant, red-fruited wine with
just enough sweet ripeness to balance the
firm tannins in the end. It's clean and ready
64

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

$16

86 | Boekenhoutskloof

$12

2016 Swartland Tania & Vincent Carême
Le Rouge (Best Buy) ^ Vincent Carême harvests cinsault early for the fresh side of this
blend; he picks the syrah riper, providing
some chocolate and peppery spice. Fermented without added yeasts and aged in
stainless steel, it's a light, clean red with forest-floor notes, a wine to match a salad of
duck confit. § Cape Classics, NY
121540
2016 Western Cape The Wolftrap Syrah
Mourvedre Viognier (Best Buy) ^ Spicy and
bold, this wine's fat red-grape flavor balances
its ashy, earthy tannins. For braised meats. §
Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL
121511

91 | Tokara

$40

90 | Terre Brûlée

SYRAH

121237

121548

intriguing wine, whether you decant it now
or wait. § PaCa Imports, Newport, RI
121181

$40

2013 Stellenbosch Director's Reserve ^
Focused on cabernet sauvignon (67 percent),
this blend includes merlot, petit verdot, cabernet franc and malbec. It's wholesome and
rich, with warm black-currant flavors and
smoky, bitter-chocolate tannins. With air,
some red fruit begins to emerge, hinting at
raspberry seeds and strawberries. Decant it
for roast lamb. § Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NY
121521

90 | Mother Rock

$33

2015 Swartland Carignan-Cinsault ^ Johan
Meyer makes this wine from organically
farmed bush vines, fermenting it mostly as
whole bunches, the only addition a small
amount of sulfur at bottling. It comes across
as a country wine, refreshing in its rusticity,
with the crunchy fruit of a raspberry shrub
and some austere tannins to back it up. Serve
it with something equally rustic, like ratatouille. § Vine Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
121257

90 | Radford Dale

$35

2013 Swartland Black Rock ^ Selected from
dry-farmed bush vines, this is a blend of
syrah (34 percent), carignan (32 percent),
cinsault, grenache, mourvedre and viognier,
cofermented and made with minimal sulfur.
One side of the wine is all bright, tart fruit in
complex layers, with notes of fruit skin and
cider. Another side is beefy and tannic, gruff
and earthy. Give this a few years in bottle
for the two sides to come together; it's an

92 | Intellego Wines

$36

92 | Rust en Vrede

$29

90 | Blackwater Wine

$25

88 | Tokara

$21

2015 Swartland Syrah ^ Jurgen Gouws has
bootstrapped his own label while working
at Lammershoek; he owns no vineyards and
rents cellar space for his old barrels, fermenting this syrah as whole bunches to emphasize freshness over weight or extract. This is
the kind of brisk, mineral-driven syrah that's
made for charcuterie, its peppery spice and
meaty savor making it delicious and accessible. § Vine Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
121232
2014 Stellenbosch Estate Vineyards Syrah ^
This has the floral, barnyard notes that make
northern RhÔne syrah so compelling. They
appear here in a wine that's beefy and mineral-black, with smoky tannins firming up its
satin texture. Concentrated yet elegant, this
grows on warm, north-facing slopes in Helderberg, on well-drained soils of granite and
sandstone. § Terlato Wines Int'l, Lake Bluff, IL
121335
2012 Swartland Noir Syrah ^ Mostly syrah
(92 percent), this is blended with carignan
and grenache to produce a clean red with
black cherry, anise and tart strawberry flavor. Aged in old large-format barrels, this is
a light, high-toned wine for barbecue. § Vine
Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
121239
2013 Stellenbosch Shiraz (Best Buy) ^ With
sweet cranberry flavors, this tastes more like
a light grenache than a syrah. It's peppery
with heady spice, a simple wine to chill for a
picnic. § Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NY n
http://www.tokara.co.za/product/tokara-directors-reserve-red/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018
