Price: $26.99
In Mixed Case: $24.29
Quantity in Stock: 16
Decanter's #1 Wine of 2025!!
Decanter: 97 Points
Three of South Africa’s three previous appearances in our Best in Show selection have involved Stellenbosch and a member of the Cabernet family … so no one will be surprised to see that this year’s laureate is, once again, a Stellenbosch Cabernet. Why is the combination so successful? There isn’t the space here to delve into the intricacies of terroir (and in any case we should remember that this 17,500-ha zone constitutes around 18% of South Africa’s planted vineyard total on its own), but in sensual terms the answer seems clear -- and this wine exemplifies the appeal perfectly. It’s an opaque dark black-red, with perfectly calibrated oak-aged fruit that conveys an urbane and well-mannered refinement typical of Bordeaux back in France but rare outside it. The fruit qualities are ripe but not overly so, with ample inner freshness; it’s a balanced, digestible wine which cries out for fine cooking and polished glassware. Technically speaking, there’s enough ripe acidity and deft tannin to carry the fruit with poise and ease yet save it from simplicity, and credit to its creators for getting the wine to this state of approachable maturity in just four short years.
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