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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Mount Arbora and Antebellum review



Tasting Mount Arbora and Antebellum wines has to be one of most inspiring tasting I had to date this year.

Krige Visser of Mount Abora introduce me to the 4 wines below in a non blind tasting presentation of what they are up too at MeerhofPrivate Cellar in Swartland, and what I liked about the wines, are the fact they are made to be enjoyed and paired with food, i.e they are low in alcohol by general South African standards (as an example when was the last time you had a South African Shiraz / Syrah at 12.5% abv ?), yet no sign of stemmy greenness, in fact they are packed with flavor, with the bonus of having high natural acid, the wines have cut, one would often found in Mosel or Clare Valley Riesling, Santorini Assyrtiko from Greece, Chenin Blanc from Savennieres, Loire, or Austrian Gruner Veltliner.

Linear in structure, in fact the wines are more reminescent of “moderate to cool climate offerings” than what one would expect from the hot climate district of Swartland, respect to this chap for thinking outside the box and deliver something that is exciting, super table friendly and above all very well price for a Swartland wine of origin (credit also goes to Leeuwenkuil Family Vineyards (sold under Lion’s Lair in America) for their friendly pricing strategy) that not only make it great candidates for wine lists offerings, that will results in good stock movement and vintage rotations and introduce more great Swartland wines to local diners and their hard earned Rand.

Ignore the sexy wines below at your own peril, exciting stuff indeed.

Individual tastings notes to follow.

Antebellum Naturally Fermented Coastal Region Chenin Blanc 2012 92+ Points

Mount Abora Koggelbos Naturally Fermented Swartland Chenin Blanc 2011 91+ Points

Mount Abora Saffraan Swartland Cinsaut 2012 92+ Points

Antebellum Naturally Fermented Swartland Syrah 2012 92 Points