Tag Archives: value

Gabriëlskloof Shiraz 2013

The Headlines: //

Cleaner than a Spice Girls radio edit, with posh spice elements of pepper and cloves on the vanguard. Ripe black fruit and some oaky vanilla also present.
On the palate, ripe blackberries arrive first, with slow attack sweet sugar plums arriving a little later.
There is a fair amount of black fruit sweetness (for a dry red), but the acidity is every bit its match. The end result is beautifully balanced.
Mouthfeel is marvelously soft, as is the finish.
Vanilla lingers into the tail.

Quality: 17/20 //
Price: R95.00  (as of December 2016)//
Value: 4/5 //
Ponce factor: Low//
Occasion: Mid-week, post suicide hour, once the kids are in bed //
Key words: value, botrivier, UnderR100//
Vivino rating //

To fill those awkward silences…

The Cool Kids from Bot River

Bot River is a little like The Smashing Pumpkins; terrible name, superb products.
The region is home to rockstar wineries like Luddite, Beaumont Family Wines, and Wildekrans, but also hosts lesser known rising stars that offer superb value. Gabriëlskloof is one such rising star in the area, which is why the winery provides such insane value – especially on its shiraz (It’s Five Arches blend is also superb, but at R190, the value train derails somewhat.

Before they were cool

Being able to buy a bottle of Gabrielskloof Shiraz for #underR100 is like scoring Guns n Roses tickets in 1987. The quality is already out in the public domain, but mainstream hair-metallers are yet to catch on. Just be sure you snatch up some bottles before Gabriëlskloof have their Sweet Child o’ Mine moment, and blow up on Wine Spectator. You won’t be paying double digits after that.

A rose by any other name…

In case you cared, when G’nR had just formed, and were yet to decide on a band name, two little gems that were at the top of the list of possibles were “AIDS” and “Heads of Amazon”. Thankfully history took a different course.

Kleine Zalze Barrel Fermented Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

The Headlines: //

Like an emotional weightlifter – solid legs, followed by thick tears that run for days.
Colour is a medium intensity deep ruby hue, with medium+ viscosity.
Lovely open nose of pencil shavings, eucalyptus, and a hint of sweet plum.
On the palate, cassis and black cherries, with moderate acidity and pleasantly grippy tannins. I’m sure this will soften further with time, but I wouldn’t wait past 2018.

 Price: R120 (as of Sept 2016) //
Quality: 16/20//
Value: 3/5 //
Ponce factor: Moderate //
Occasion: Friday Dinner //
Key words: Consistency//

Vivino rating //

To fill those awkward silences…

Kleine Zalze is on fire right now

So you are struggling to maintain dinner guest interest with your passionate monologues on US politics? Why not try something a little closer to home; like how the combination of winemaker Kobus Basson and Kleine Zalze are a powerhouse combination to watch. Just have a gander at the little pretties they have produced over the last few years:
– a Platter 5-Star rating for their 2012 Barrel-Fermented Cabernet Sauvignon (R120.00),
– Chardonnay-du-Monde Top10  spot for their Vineyard Selection Wooded Chardonnay (R80.00),
– a Concours Mondiale Bruxelles Gold Medal for their 2015 Unwooded Chardonnay (R47.00)
– TWO Top10 spots in the Standard Bank Chenin Blanc competition (their Vineyard Select Chenin retails for about R80.00)

The list actually goes on for a lot longer, but what I wanted to focus on was the prices. If you look at the wines listed, none of them go over R120 per bottle, which is worth noting (as many of our 5-Star Platter wines and Chardonnay-du-Monde winners retail for between R250 and R450.00).

While it is kinda boring to faun like a schoolgirl at a Bieber concert, I do want to laud Kleine Zalze for their ability, not only to produce consistently great wines across a wide range of red and white varieties, but to deliver value to the customer, despite opportunities to sell wines for triple the price in foreign markets.

To be fair, that though was only marginally more than US politics. I apologise for over promising and under-performing.

To try and make up for that, and hopefully this will salvage your reputation as a conversationalist, I will leave you with one last Cab Sauv Moderately Fun Fact.

While Cabernet Sauvignon feels like a Big Daddy of a wine that will knock the socks of an unsuspecting winedrinker, it is actually the fortuitous little baby lovechild of a passionate night in the vineyards between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

Which I guess makes it all the more suprising to see how the wee lad turned out. When you have light, dry, minimalist mother, and a rather effeminate and perfumey dad, the apple could hardly have fallen further from the tree.

Cheers!