The 2017 vintage has, over the years, become one of the most lauded and sought after quality vintages for red wines in South Africa, potentially even surpassing the famed block buster expressions of 2015. Falling right in the middle of the drought years, the vineyards all around the Western Cape had finally started to readjust to the new perpetuated heat and drought conditions. I tasted some of Ian Naude’s 2017 Cinsault barrels not long after harvest and realised very early on that this was going to be a very special vintage indeed.

The 2017 harvest was slightly larger than 2016, following another dry season. The growing season, post-harvest, was very hot and dry and winter arrived late in most wine regions. Spring arrived on time with cooler nights throughout the growing season and an absence of significant heatwaves during harvest time helped buffer the effect of the ongoing drought. Higher rainfall brought some relief in certain regions although it still was very much below average. The dry conditions did contribute to very healthy vineyards and smaller berries with good colour and flavour concentration. The harvest season kicked off somewhat later due to cool night temperatures however ripening accelerated by mid-February and the harvest ended earlier than usual.

Ian Naude has always had a knack of confounding critics when they taste his cool, crystalline, flavour-packed wines and then realise that they are often only 11% or 12% alcohol wines with ample texture, depth, structure and ripeness. Ian confirms that the challenge is always to interpret the vintage conditions correctly in order to monitor the natural fruit / acid balance in the grapes and of course, getting the picking dates correct. This can only be achieved with regular visits to the vineyard, tasting the grapes and then understanding when the flavours tell you to pick, not the laboratory results.

I had an opportunity to taste the 2017 Cinsault in November 2022 in London at a tasting with Ian Naude and then again in March 2023 on my recent visit to the Cape winelands. Watch out for this new release in early May 2023!

Naude Wines Werfdans Old Vine Cinsault 2017, WO Darling, 12.5% Abv.

1.6g/l RS | 5.2g/l TA | 3.51 pH

Finally ready for release 6 years after vintage, the 2017 Werfdans Cinsault is undoubtedly one of the most exciting wines Ian has released to date under his own Naude Wines label. From an exceptional vintage, the 2017 is altogether tighter, tauter and more compact than the opulent and gregarious Werfdans 2016, coming across as a more serious, confident and highly composed expression of old vine Cinsault. Ian already makes some of the most regaled expressions of serious old vine Cinsault in South Africa, but the 2017 takes quality up another notch or two. The aromatics are initially a little more broody and restrained with a slow perfumed release of pressed violets, red bramble berry fruits, wild strawberry, sour cherry, sun raisined cranberry and the signature top notes of rose petals, crushed granite minerality and Turkish delight. The palate is packed as tight as a sailor’s sea chest, with a fruit density, concentration and power delivered with an effortless elegance. Always deliciously fresh and crystalline, the bright acids help frame the youthful palate fruit adding further structural integrity, finally yielding on the finish to delicately drying, mineral, fine grained stony tannins. This is an incredibly striking, long awaited fine wine release that all committed Cinsault aficionados are going to be seduced by. Drink on release and over the next 20+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wines are imported and distributed in the UK by Museum Wines. http://www.museumwines.co.uk at an approximate retail price of £39 per bottle.