Vinos - Traveling to South Africa
The destination of our most recent wine club was South Africa and we enjoyed a veritable smorgasbord of great wines that could all be sourced locally on-island,. We had a few preconceptions going on our tour - we thought that the Meerlust Rubicon was going to come up tops. However, knowing that the finest South African wines nowadays don’t generally come from Stellenbosch but from Swaartland and beyond, we took a risk and included Saronsberg’s 2017 Seismic in our line-up. And boy did we get lucky. Max Wong, our resident sommelier and tour guide provides a great write up of the proceedings…
The wine was not just delicious; it was luscious. All the usual indications of a superb wine were already evident in the nose: pronounced and complex, rich in ripe black fruits, some reds too, all wonderfully integrated with a little bit of oak to round it off. To the taste, the texture was generous without being overwhelming. A fair amount of tannins but very fine. The fruits were both ripe and fresh, somehow achieving the richness of cooked fruit but without being cooked. But gone are the days of the Australian fruit bombs: this is a wine that is carefully and elegantly put together. We sensed the pleasure not just as a delicious treat, but in the way the winemaker made choices to tease with richness yet to restrain tastefully. A superb example of fine South African winemaking that is possible nowadays, it blew the Rubicon right out of the water.
A read of Saronsberg’s notes reveals the love, imagination and attention to detail they have given. It is a Bordeaux blend but not quite the most traditional: Cab-based for sure, but Merlot as a distant fourth grape, with Petit Verdot and Malbec in between. Grapes were picked early in the morning to preserve freshness, and force cooled to 4°C before they were even destemmed. Fermentation was tightly controlled with cold soaks under carbon dioxide blankets and precise cap management. They made a smart choice in letting the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc do the maceration work, avoiding the harsher tannins of the Malbec while taking advantage of its delicious fruit. Finally, malolactic fermentation was introduced to turn malic acid into lactic acid, after which the wines spent 11 months on lees—predominantly white wine techniques.
All this makes it astonishing that the wine came under £20 from Mike at the Wine Alley. A wine of this quality in Europe or California would more than double it. We were so privileged to have found it. This wine will live on in the legends of the Aurinia Wine Club.