Deep ruby. Dark fruits, cocoa, liquorice nose. Black cherries/plums, figs, tar with a hint of sweetness at the end. Well balanced, medium + tannins, well balanced, long finish. Cab Sauv, cab franc, merlot blend. 14% abv. A new wine to me, but this is an outstanding Bordeaux blend which may improve and gives me the impression that it should drink well for 5-10 years.
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Tasted at The Wine Society's dinner, speaker Warwick's winemaker Nic Van Aarde. Served to accompany braised lamb shoulder. This 2015 was served from balthazar (12 litre bottle) which had been flown from the Cape a couple of days earlier especially for the dinner. The bottle had been opened the day before for another dinner, the remaining two thirds kept back for tonight's dinner. So we benefited from it having breathed for over 24 hours and being a very young vintage, it needed it! In some respects, opening a very large bottle so young is not to be recommended, however it was a great experience to taste this vintage and we appreciated the effort made to get this large bottle to us. This 2015 is predominantly cabernet franc (as opposed to the 2010 and 2007 which followed). This is because Nic had blended the wine blind and the cabernet franc showed well; this reflect the excellent vintage and may not be the case every year. As expected, lots of up front fruit, which pleased those who like their wines young, but it didn't appeal so much to those looking for a Bordeaux blend style. Blackcurrant and coffee aromas. Cherries on the palate. Continues to open out in the glass over a couple of hours.
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12/31/2022 - cab blends wrote: 93 Points
Clearly lots of tannins and new French oak here.
The cab franc and cab savignon are almost in balance.
Hl2. Fd 3. Tan 8/10
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4/10/2022 - foyfrcs Likes this wine: 93 Points
Deep ruby.
Dark fruits, cocoa, liquorice nose.
Black cherries/plums, figs, tar with a hint of sweetness at the end.
Well balanced, medium + tannins, well balanced, long finish.
Cab Sauv, cab franc, merlot blend. 14% abv.
A new wine to me, but this is an outstanding Bordeaux blend which may improve and gives me the impression that it should drink well for 5-10 years.
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10/9/2018 - Keith Cooper Likes this wine: 90 Points
Tasted at The Wine Society's dinner, speaker Warwick's winemaker Nic Van Aarde. Served to accompany braised lamb shoulder. This 2015 was served from balthazar (12 litre bottle) which had been flown from the Cape a couple of days earlier especially for the dinner. The bottle had been opened the day before for another dinner, the remaining two thirds kept back for tonight's dinner. So we benefited from it having breathed for over 24 hours and being a very young vintage, it needed it! In some respects, opening a very large bottle so young is not to be recommended, however it was a great experience to taste this vintage and we appreciated the effort made to get this large bottle to us. This 2015 is predominantly cabernet franc (as opposed to the 2010 and 2007 which followed). This is because Nic had blended the wine blind and the cabernet franc showed well; this reflect the excellent vintage and may not be the case every year. As expected, lots of up front fruit, which pleased those who like their wines young, but it didn't appeal so much to those looking for a Bordeaux blend style. Blackcurrant and coffee aromas. Cherries on the palate. Continues to open out in the glass over a couple of hours.
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