Cool climate Cab: calling card of the southern Cape

The first tasting of wines from SA’s latest wine route at Stanford produced a couple of surprises yesterday. Here are two sisters-in-law on Boschrivier, an enormous spread of wheat and grapes who are taking the contributions of farm workers seriously. The farm is managed by a former foreman and if these ambassadors are anything to go by, communicating the elegant finesse of the wines from this site is in safe hands.

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Best wine IMHO was the 2013 Cabernet which retails for R100. Over on Sir Robert Stanford, The Hansom Blend 2013 of Cabernet (60%), Franc and Merlot confirms that the expression from Boschrivier was no flash in the pan. These wines have brilliant fruit and juicy intensity and are light years ahead of the baked Shirazes that seem dominate the Mondo Vino outside of Stellenbosch.

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