Wines to keep winter blues away
Here are the titles that the winners will have courier-delivered to their homes: Toy Story (1995), A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters Inc (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Cars 2 (2011), Brave eighth Absa Top 10 Pinotage Trophy. The premium Single Block range is their flagship range, featuring wines made from select mature single vineyard blocks that produce excellent quality fruit in limited volume. The wines are made to age, individually numbered and signed by the winemaker.
The 2014 L’Avenir Single Block Chenin Blanc is a new vintage release, harvested from a 2ha bloc that was planted back in 1972. It’s partially fermented and matured for 12 months in acacia and French oak. On the nose, it’s a rich tropical fruit salad with dried apricots, ripe pears, sweet oranges and some nuttiness. On the palate, more tropical flavours of pineapple and apricot, balanced by oakiness and toasted almonds.
This is a serious chenin, perfect for cooler days, proving yet again this variety’s incredible versatility. It’s like the Madonna of grape varieties: depending on its mood and treatment, it can transform amazingly well into just about anything. Only 3 000 bottles have been produced, selling for R180.
The L’Avenir Single Block Pinotage 2013 is another new vintage release, harvested from a 1.2ha single block of pinotage, from dryland bush vines that range in age between 15 and 30 years. Previously, the fruit from these vines was blended with other blocks of pinotage but since 2012 they’ve bottled the individual bloc. This has undergone malolactic fermentation, which imparts creaminess, and maturation for 18 months in 100 percent in new French oak. Typically, pinotage is associated with plum sauce, tobacco, bacon, smoke and raspberry flavours – sometimes even tar. This one is all about ripe black cherries, spicy Christmas cake and chocolate on the nose, with dark ripe plums and oak flavours on the palate. Only 5 000 bottles have been produced. It will set you back R300 a bottle.
Also look out for their secondtier Provenance range of chenin and pinotage wines, which are
PICTURE: FLICKR.
THOMAS HAWK priced R80 and R120 respectively.
Hartenberg’s flagship The Mackenzie 2012, a Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit berdot, cabernet Franc and malbec grapes, is limited to just 20 barrels. Matured for 19 months in 100 percent new French oak, this is another keeper – and it’s suggested for up to 12 years. It’s just won a gold medal at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, widely regarded as the world’s most influential. It’s a classically styled and structured wine with pronounced black current, violets and dark chocolate aromas. Black and red berries explode on the palate. The Mackenzie 2012 sells for about R385.
Another gold and regional trophy winner at the Decanter awards, albeit last year’s, is Durbanville Hills’ 2012 Rhinofields pinotage. Well made, pinotage can be as elegant and full-bodied as some of the noble varieties. The range, named after the threatened indigenous renosterveld which is protected on their member farms, includes a merlot, pinotage, shiraz, sauvignon blanc, a nobel late harvest, and chardonnay. The velvety pinotage boasts concentrated black currant aromas, cherries, cinnamon and pipe tobacco. It costs R115 a bottle.
Lastly, La Bri’s new vintages of their Affinity Bordeaux-style red blend has just been awarded 90 points in this year’s Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report. The historic boutique winery on the outskirts of Franschhoek has just released the 2014 vintage of their fruit-driven, lightly-oaked chardonnay and the 2013 vintage of their Affinity.
The Affinity’s blend changes with each vintage, but the 2013 blend is cabernet sauvignondominated. That year, they didn’t make a cab limited release so all the cab went into the Affinity. La Bri’s wines are beautifully packaged too, with labels featuring Cape flowers and herbs. Each wine is linked to a specific flower that symbolises its particular characteristics.