Wine & Spirits - February 2021 - 48

Focus
South Africa
Syrah and Rhône
Varieties
90 | Thorne & Daughters

BLENDS
516624

92 | Mother Rock

$33

2017 Swartland Holocene ^ Holocene grows
at a single vineyard outside Malmesbury, a
blend of half cinsault with about equal proportions of carignan and mourvèdre making
up the remainder. Johan Meyer ferments it
as whole bunches and ages it for 10 months
in used 500-liter barrels before bottling. The
wine is almost feral-distinctly wild at first,
even as its complexity shines through. A peppery tinge amps up the juicy red berries in
the wine, calling up a memory of my first
time gone strawberry picking, sat down in
the field, hands and lips covered in juice. § Vine
Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
516634

91 | Anwilka

$57

2015 Stellenbosch ^ A project originally
founded by the Bordelais Hubert de BoÜard
(Château Angelus) and Bruno Prats (Château
Cos d'Estournel) and South African Lowell
Jooste (Klein Constantia), this focuses on a
100-acre vineyard four miles from the Atlantic. The 2015 blends syrah and cabernet sauvignon, the wine a bit distant when first
opened. Given time and air, that distance
becomes an elegant austerity. There's a tart
umeboshi plum note girding the darker flavors of cherry and barbecue spice. It's dense
and extracted and would show well next to
some hard-seared hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. § Winebow Imports, NY
516606

91 | A.A. Badenhorst

$45

2018 Swartland ^ Cousins Hein and Adi
Badenhorst dry farm 106 acres of old bush
vines on the north slope of the Paardeberg
mountain. This is an energetic blend (56
percent shiraz, the balance grenache, cinsault and tinta barroca) with textbook shiraz aromas of black pepper and earth. It
feels harmonious and coherent, melding grenache-pink accents with a core of dark plum. §
Broadbent Selections, Richmond, VA
516622

48

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2021

Our blind panels tasted 43 new-release
South African syrah and Rhone-variety
wines for this issue. Corey Warren, our
critic for South African wines, rated 13 as
exceptional (90+) and 9 as Best Buys.
Find a complete list of wines tasted and all
reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

$25

2018 Western Cape Wanderer's Heart
Cape Red Blend ^ Husband-and-wife team
John and Tasha Seccombe started Thorne &
Daughters in 2012, focusing mainly on white
wines, including some skin-contact fermentations. They've continued to expand their
small production, including this red; in 2018
blending cinsault (from 46-year-old vines in
Bottelary) with young-vine fruit: grenache
noir (from Paardeberg), grenache gris (Wellington), mourvèdre and syrah (both Bot
River). It's aromatically fascinating, an
intriguing blend of herbaceous forest floor
notes and blooming flowers. Then, notes of
pomegranate and red plum layer over dense
minerality, providing a strong foundation as
the complex flavors persist with focus. § Vine
Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
516639

88 | Kloof Street

$20

2018 Swartland (Best Buy) ^ This is Chris
and Andrea Mullineux's entry-level brand,
a graceful wine in spite of its plush purple
fruit. Mostly tinta barroca and syrah, along
with grenache, cinsault and carignan, this
wine is approachable from all angles-perhaps the meaty undertones will strike you
first, or maybe you'll find the chewy, jammy
fruit more appealing. In either case, it's a
well-balanced crowd-pleaser. § Skurnik Wines
& Spirits, NY
516623

88 | Storm Point

$15

2020 Swartland Red Blend (Best Buy) ^ Australian winemaker Mick Craven blends this
from cinsault (56 percent) with syrah and
carignan. My first note when I put my nose in
the glass was " Hell yeah. " This a fruit bomb
of bright raspberries with stem and rosepetal notes to keep it interesting. Throw this
bottle in your cooler on the way to the beach
and be careful you don't drink too quickly
and fall asleep in the sun-it's hard to put
your glass down until it's empty. § Vine Street
Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ
516617

86 | Fairview

$13

86 | Joostenberg

$12

85 | Essay

$10

2019 Western Cape Goats do Roam Red
Blend (Best Buy) ^ Charles Back focuses this
blend on grenache, shiraz and mourvèdre. Its
scents of herbs and char are buoyed by acidity and cocoa-powder tannins. § Indigo Wine
Group, Venice, FL
516636
2018 Paarl The Family Blend (Best Buy) ^
Focused on syrah, cinsault and mourvèdre
this blend partners ripeness with the high
tones of citrusy acidity. With enough air,
syrah's black-pepper flavors emerge. § Skurnik
Wines & Spirits, NY
516613
2019 Coastal Region (Best Buy) ^ Earthy
notes of root vegetables and potting soil
don't get in the way of the fresh red fruit in
this wine, all strawberry and pomegranate
with some floral aromas. It's tartly acidic,
a high-toned Rhône blend based on syrah. §
Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL

C INSAULT
516642

92 | Leeu Passant

$72

2017 Wellington Old Vines Basson Cin-
sault ^ In 2013, Chris and Andrea Mulli-neux
partnered with Analjit Singh of Leeu Estates
to expand their reach beyond Swartland.
They farm leased parcels of old vines around
the Cape-like this block of cinsault, planted
in Wellington's sandy alluvial soils in 1900.
A beautifully-structured wine, this holds its
complex flavors in a tight progression, moving seamlessly from ethereal marigold to
crunchy cranberry and pomegranate then
back to herb-inflected rose. It could owe all
that detail to the ancient vines, or perhaps
it's due to the three weeks of skin contact
following an ambient-yeast fermentation.
In any case, its flavors open into a kaleidoscope of colors, a pleasure from start to finish. § Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com
Wine & Spirits - February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2021
