A staggering concoction from the towering tour de force that is Donovan Rall.
Production
The wine is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Merlot from estate-grown fruit. The grapes are picked as early as possible and rushed to the cellar where it is not crushed only destemmed, hand sorted and transferred to tank. Fermentation occurs naturally without the addition of any yeasts after a cold soak of about 3 to 5 days. As soon as fermentation starts the grapes are given soft pigeage twice daily during the first week and then once every few days just to keep the cap wet. When the desired extraction is achieved the wine gets drained and pressed in a tiny hand operated basket press and transferred into 225l french oak barrels of which 50% is new for 22 months before bottling unfined and without heavy filtration.
Vuurberg Red, Stellenbosch 2019 (6 bottles case)
Vivino ratings
Tasting notes
Huge and muscular and surprisingly elegant given its depth of dark brooding fruit. An intriguing nose of wild berries, blackberry compot, graphite and other crunchy stuff. These delights follow through onto a palate with layers of graphite, rosemary, rocks, lashings of black fruits and countless other things! The Petit Verdot complements the characteristics of the other varietals creating a wine that has lots of cassis and spicy, leather notes and a firm tannin structure with the potential to evolve beautifully over the next 10 years. After decanting the wine evolves beautifully showing notes of crushed-rock minerality amongst the restrained layered and complex fruit.
Food match
Its got to be a proper braai! Good steak, bashed and barbecued with a sprinkling of rock salt and grilled veg.
Info
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ABV
14.5%
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CASE/BOTTLE SIZE
6 x 75cl
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REGION/COUNTRY
WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
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GRAPE
PETIT VERDOT 46%, CABERNET SAUVIGNON 40%, MERLOT 14%
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FEATURES
VEGETARIAN, VEGAN
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CLOSURE
CORK
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WINEMAKER
DONOVAN RALL
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ALLERGEN INFO
CONTAINS SULPHITES AND NO OTHER ALLERGENS
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Meet the producer
Vuurberg (pronounced ‘Feer-berg’, translated to ‘Fire Mountain’) is a tiny garage-style winery nestled next door to Zorgvliet on the Helshoogte Pass that winds round the eastern face of the Simonsberg Mountain between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. Bought by Dutchman Sebastiaan Klaassen in 2000, the estate produces just two wines, a red and a white.
These delightfully delicate wines are made by the very clever and super-talented winemaker Donovan Rall, who worked with Miles Mossop at Tokara and Eben Sadie before striking out on his own. Only very small quantities are produced but already the wines are getting rave reviews across the Cape and sit on the more interesting, less-predictable wine lists of the best contemporary Cape eateries. Donovan is very much among the current crop of young Cape winemakers being closely followed by the UK press.
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