Perfect setting
Its no-good saying that awards and medals in wine don’t mean a thing. They do. As in all things in life we measure ourselves against our peers—apples for apples. The consumer is heavily influenced by the fact that a wine has won multiple awards and will tend to go for a wine with provenance. I have even heard some wine company—who do make fabulous wine—say that they don’t put the awards on their bottles because the consumer knows that their product is superior. Well, you know that isn’t quite true. Yes, the cognoscenti know but what about the rest of the market? Don’t you want them to buy your wine as well?
Du Toitskloof Wines make two Land’s End wines, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Syrah, one called South Coast and the other Cape Agulhas. The grapes for South Coast come from many areas along the Cape South Coast and the Cape Agulhas from the southernmost point of the continent at Agulhas. They are quite different, but all delicious.
Medals galore!
Last week we had the South Coast Syrah 2018, much awarded, and with very good reason. Wearing more medals than Idi Amin ever did, the wine is glorious, vividly packed with intense dark red fruit like cherries and plums, superbly aromatic with some white pepper notes adding to the flavour. Aged for 20 months in French oak barrels, it has a long finish that goes well with red meat, even seared tuna, duck confit, and ox tail. In short, a wine for those who know what’s great but still like to be told. Unbelievably priced at around R95 a bottle at the cellar—superb. In the intense heat we have been having, best brought down to 16 degrees.