2007 Anwilka Ugaba- South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch (4/13/2011)
A Bordeaux blend (sort of) 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot 17% Syrah. Black core with a clear ruby rim. Big powerful nose showing black currant, tobacco and mocha. A bit too much influence from the new French oak. This is a big, full bodied beast of a wine. Brooding black fruit with bing cherry, dark roasted coffee and bitter chocolate combine with hints of spicy flavors. A lot is going on here. Massive tannins, and a long fruity finish. This drinks like a Washington Bdx blend or a modern styled Super Tuscan.
A couple of things come to mind with this one. First, I simply don’t get blending Syrah in wines like this. The Cabernet dominates here and I cannot taste anything that the Syrah brings to the table. Second, in this age of mystery wines, and secretly sourced discount wines etc, something like this at $21 is simply a steal. Estate fruit and deft winemaking make this an awfully nice bottle. Not something I could drink on a daily basis, but certainly a fine bottle of wine.
Thanks for the note- good to hear about the Ugaba. There is certainly quality in the people behind the scenes of this estate. Prats and Hubert de Bouard if I remember correctly.
The Anwilka (the first wine of the estate) is excellent as well. I was very pleasantly surprised by the 2006 and 2007 and while I didn’t get the syrah in the 2006, I felt it played a more prominent role (and to good effect) in the 2007. Though Anwilka is supposed to retail at about twice the Ugaba price it was able to be had in the low $20s for awhile.
Nice to see more quality wines coming from South Africa.
Drinking this tonight makes me wonder why I don’t bother to explore South Africa more and as a corollary why (Burgundy bias aside) it’s not discussed on the board more. Just for kicks I searched “South Africa” and there were a whopping two pages of results for all of 2013. I’ve found a bit of bottle variation with these but this one was anything one could want in a $16 wine.
2007 Anwilka Ugaba- South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch (8/26/2013)
Aromas of dark fruit, charcoal and herbs. The palate is lovely with black cherry, cocoa, brick dust, a hint of eucalyptus and a sour cherry/meaty finish. Medium+ acidity, light tannins, fairly long acid-driven finish. Drink now as I don’t see this developing further but it should last another year or two. (89 pts.)
South African wines overall are quite uneven in quality and style, but there are some terrific wines and terrific bargains available. I think there are some excellent Bordeaux blends, offering a nice marriage of old and new world character. I’m a big fan of the Rustenberg John X Merriman, and it’s tremendous value in the $20s.
You are right that South Africa, for whatever reasons, seems uncool in the world of wine geeks. I’m not exactly sure why.