My New Wines from South Africa.

I had the opportunity yesterday to taste some amazing new wines from South Africa. Some of them will soon be available in my store.

Wines from South Africa (Stellenbosch,Durbanville, Walker bay, Paarl, and others ) are excellent values right now. The wines are usually great quality and present unique flavors and styles that can rival any great wine producing country.

 Instead of writing the presumably boring details of my tasting notes I would rather indulge you with some deciding points that made me  purchase these wines.

The ultimate factor is always taste. The taste and unique flavors are the golden standard for all the wines I choose. That said...there are  smaller and less credited points which many times can be the deciding factor. These are things like bottle presentation, label style, QPR (quality,price ratio),type of closure, and even color of the glass.

Though I realize most of these details are created from a room full of college aged marketing students I often use these smaller factors when I have many wines to taste.

So I tasted about 20 wines. All but 2 were superbly delicious. I was able to narrow the choices down to my favorite 4 because of these smaller points.

Here they are and the reasons I chose them.

1) Matys Sauvignon blanc. $10

    This wine is a softer style of Sauvignon banc. It still however, carried that big citrus core typical of the sauvignons from SA. So all and all its a nice easy drinking wine that has many food pairing options as well as being a great wine just to sip on. So why this wine? 

I already have 3 other SA sauvignon blancs in the store at this similar price. Its the smaller points that made this wine a winner.

First of all the label. Its broad and long with big bright colors and says "look at me" all over it. My other SA sauvignons are simple and have traditional labels with little appeal. Second was the Twist off cap or otherwise known as a Stelvin. The other 3 wines I have are all cork. I think twist offs are perfect for an easy drinking $10 bottle of wine. The convenience factor out weighs the need to have the added complication of a cork screw.

It was theses 2 smaller factors that made my decision final.

2) Botanica old vine Chenin Blanc  $22

  This wine was absolutely beautiful. Its ranks up there as being one of the best Chenins that I have ever tasted. Big and lush with green apple and honey notes melded with soft undertones of lemon grass, and sweet almond. Wonderful mouth feel. I probably would have got this wine despite anything else, but other factors that enticed me were the beautiful artist created label of a white flower collage, the soft shoulder bottle shape, and the unique presentation of being a step up from the $10-15 SA Chenins  that bulk up my shelves. This wine is for the more detailed buyer or for someone who  wants something more than the quazi high volume Chenin blancs that every store has.

3) Chamonix Cabernet Sauvignon....$20

 This stuff was amazing..It is certainly a Wow wine just for its big taste.

Rich and smokey filled with dark fruit notes like blackberry and fermented blueberry. More dry than fruity the wine is superbly concentrated and perfectly balanced with oak and tannin. I could easily see a $40 price tag on this baby. This is why this wine wins. The QPR is great! You come into my store and pay $20 for a wine that will make your eye brows go up and your head shake in disbelief.

4) Haute Cabriere Chardonnay blend...$15

 This wine was rich and tasty. The Chardonnay is blended with touches of Pinot Noir that infuse a delightful tartness and refined fruit texture that is awesome. This wine exudes freshness and casual drinking for any scenario. 

What I liked the most was the unique blend and the excellent QPR.

Excellent value for the quality!!

The name and label appears French, But the taste is perfectly South African. This was an easy choice.

Cheers!