Berserkers,
This is another of those OMFG sweet wines that deserve their own individual tasting note instead of waiting for my usual seasonal summary.
This amazing South African wine is marketed as a late harvest Semillon from the famed Stellenbosch region but technical notes reveal that is in fact 58% botrytised Semillon and 42% botrytised Riesling. Oddly, this appears to be the one and only time Fleur du Cap has gone with this combination for their Noble Late Harvest because their website shows every other iteration has been composed of either Riesling or Chenin Blanc (of which I also have 2 bottles of their 10 edition). After tasting this, I seriously wonder why they haven’t done this particular combination more often.
The wine has an amazing dark gold color with reddish hints that make it appear almost orange in bright light. Only the Rene Mure Clos St. Landelin SGN Riesling has ever shown itself the same way to me. Nice aromas of honey, dried lavender and mango. In the mouth, intensely sweet taste of rich honey, dried mango and dried pineapple are carried on a backbone of incredibly racy lemony acidity.
Essentially, this wine is what were to happen if you were to cross a Sauternes with a Riesling icewine or Beerenauslese. On paper alone, this match should not work at all especially in a sweet wine and looks like a tremendous clash of aromatics and flavors. In truth, the Semillion aromatics do overwhelm those of the Riesling on the nose. But once in the mouth, this is an amazing melding.
So much so, to be honest, that it actually has me rethinking my passion for Sauternes quite a bit. I always thought that having more acidity would destroy the balance of a Sauternes but this wine clearly shows that a Sauternes would be able to handle a much higher acidity level and still be an incredible wine. Of course, vinifying in this fashion would mean it would no longer be an actual Sauternes and would become something else completely.
Still, this was quite a revelation and I would not be at all against blending a half bottle each of an Australian or Californian botrytis affected Semillon and a botryised Riesling or Riesling icewine to get the exact same result. Just an incredible find and I’m sorry I only have one bottle left. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The 2010 Chenin Blanc only version I have has much to live up to.