2020 BLANKbottle Kortpad Kaaptoe

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 87.6 points

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  10/7/2023 - Panegyric wrote: 88 Points

  Medium golden. Medium intense nose of apricot, peach, melon, mango, papaya, slight floral notes.
  
  Palate similar. Quite oily texture, moderate acidity, ripe fruits, some bitter notes. Some resemblance to some Northern Rhône whites. 100% Fernão Pires 🍇 🇵🇹. Some sources claim it's the only wine from ZA made on this grape, but others say more. Maybe some of our local experts know? Well made and pleasant as an aperitif, but the moderate acidity means food pairings need to be very specific.
  
  Medium body, light+ acidity.

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  9/28/2023 - grapenomad wrote: 87 Points

  Moderate golden in the glass. The nose reminds me of Zibibbo right off the bat. Loads of florals, ripe pineapple, mango, passionfruit. No complexity on the palate, some oiliness, quite interesting drinking.

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  12/5/2022 - forceberry wrote: 88 Points

  "Kortpad Kaaptoe" translates to "Shortest way to Cape (Town)", in reference to how Pieter Walser of BlankBottle found the 40-yo vineyard of Fernão Pires while asking for the fastest route back to Cape Town. There are three different versions of Kortpad Kaaptoe, differentiated by the label: the "skinny" (black font on gold label) made with early-harvested fruit, the late-harvest "bodybuilder" (gold font on black label) and the "refined" version (white font on gold label) picked at optimum ripeness. The bottle we had was the "refined" version. 13,2% alcohol, 2,4 g/l residual sugar, 5,25 g/l acidity and pH 3,60. Tasted blind.
  
  Quite youthful yellow-green color. Youthful, fragrant and quite perfumed nose with aromas of musky flowers, some acacia honey, a little bit of beeswax, light pear tones and a primary hint of gummi bear. The wine is ripe, characterful and balanced on the palate with a medium body and nuanced flavors of perfumed floral character, some sweet notes of apple jam, a little bit of stony minerality, light primary notes of candied gummi bear character, a hint of honeyed richness and a touch of apple peel bitterness. Good, balanced high acidity. The finish is dry, floral and quite perfumed with layered flavors of apple blossom and roses, some apple peel bitterness, a little bit of candied primary fruit, light grapey tones, a hint of honeydew melon and a touch of stony minerality.
  
  A fun, harmonious and very characterful white. Although the floral qualities here weren't similar to those of Muscat, I guessed this was a blend of Muscat or Gewurztraminer with something else. Well, it turned out to be a South African Fernão Pires - something I would've never guessed. It was very interesting to taste this wine, as it is quite rare to find varietal Fernão Pires wines even in its native Portugal, where it usually disappears in blends to lend the wine its aromatic, exotic character. While nothing super impressive or exceptionally memorable, this was still a very lovely and harmonious little white. I really don't get a feeling that the wine would call for any additional aging, so I'd say drink now or in the next handful of years. Most likely this wine will be showing its best while it is still youthful and so perfumed - although it wouldn't hurt to let the wine age just a little more, so that it would lose some of those candied primary fruit tones! Priced according to its quality at 267 SEK (approx. 23,50€).

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  6/15/2021 - janhenro Likes this wine: 87 Points

  Not every day I enjoy my Fernao Pires, but not a bad choice for opening the soccer EC. Yellow flowers, nutmeg, peach, nectarine, some pineapple and a warm smokey hint. Juicy, with medium body and acidity. Spicy finish. Interesting, without the wow. Even so, a good championship opener.

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