Late last year I was invited to a select tasting of old
South African wines at The Saxon hotel, a tasting organized by Saxon Wine Director Francis Krone with the generous support from one of leading South African wine writer
and commentator Michael Fridjhon, 2012 Louis Roederer International Wine Columnist of the Year.
It was a focus tasting with a deep historical insight as each
wines was presented by Mr Fridjhon, fascinating history, I reckoned he should
write a book about this, it will be an invaluable reference for anyone having a
keen interest in South African Wines.
It is always difficult to judged old wines of this nature
for various reasons and without prior benchmark reference of how the style was back
then, as one has to factor in the way not only the wines were vinified, but the
viticultural approach was radically different, grapes were harvest less ripe, i.e
based on alcohol potential, rather than physiological ripeness, hence the average
alcohol was 12% abv as an e.g, there was no new small barrels use for the
upbringing of the wine, it was mostly large vats 500L+ and above, so fruit
delicacy was well preserved and so on.
Nevertheless it was a great experience to have an hindsight
into the industry back then and how far South Africa have achieve to date,
inspiring and exciting to say the least.
Bottom line questions are the wines better because of their
age? or can South Africa wines age well? I
will say yes, they have aged well, not necessarily for the better, but they
were not over the hill or shot, majority have plateau and will stay as such for
probably another 5 to 8 years, they offer a maturity feel not too dissimilar to
aged Bordeaux of similar year, from good producers, in fact looking at my 2
favorites of the day, Alto and the Bertrams Cabernet, they are super smart and
I believe holding better than the majority of Bordeaux Cabernet driven blend of
similar vintages, that’s how good they were.
Individual tasting note to follow:
Alto Stellenbosch
Cabernet Sauvignon 1969 90 Points
Bertrams Coastal
Region Cabernet Sauvignon 1980 90 Points
Blaauwklippen
Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 1979 75 Points
Groot Constantia
Estate Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon 1974 78 Points
Groot Constantia
Estate Pinotage 1974 83 Points
Kanonkop Estate
Simonsberg-Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 1976 79 Points
KWV Roodeberg 1973 84
Points
Meerlust Estate
Stellenbosch Rubicon 1989 85 Points
Meerlust Estate
Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 1975 83 Points
Nederburg Johann
Graue Private Bin S312 1973 79 Points
Nederburg Private Bin
S333 1979 82 Points
Oude Libertas
Stellenbosch Selected Cabernet Sauvignon 1971 73 Points
Uitkyk Stellenbosch
Carlonet 1973 76 Points
Vergenoegd Estate
Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 1972 89+ Points
