2019

Wade Bales, South African Negociant Par Excellence – Tasting His New Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Releases…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

I first tasted some of the exceptional negociant-styled wines from South African merchant Wade Bales a few years ago when Cape Wine Master Wini Bowman introduced me to his notable white Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon Blend and his Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon, which was awarded a Platter 5 Star gong.

So, having a brief background on Wade’s wines, I was pleased to meet up with him again recently in London to taste two of his follow-up releases.

Wade has over two decades of experience criss-crossing the Cape winelands in search of the very best wines and having forged longstanding relationships with some of the Cape’s top wine estates and winemakers, Wade’s mission is to find great South Africa wines and bring them straight to his clients’ tables.

The list of participating wineries contributing to the Wade Bales Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon blend reads like a veritable who’s who of the Cape wine industry, assuring a very high level of quality every release. Ground breaking, innovative, and impressively well crafted, these are definitely fine wines worth seeking out if you’re a true Stellenbosch terroir lover.

Wade Bales Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.

Classically powerful heady nose of pure Cabernet Sauvignon with all the telltale Stellenbosch notes of earthy black currant, black plum, dried violets, black tea, wet tobacco and classic freshly tilled earth nuances. Incredibly intense and focused on the palate, the 2019 is concentrated and piercing with a deliciously mouthwatering acidity and a deep broody earthy red and black berry fruited depth. The texture is intense, powerful but very fine grained and polished with sweet silky tannins and a really generous harmonious elegance. Creamy with a densely packed mid palate, the finish is long, pure and opulent. Plenty of underlying focus and power make for a very serious offering indeed! Drink on release and over the next 10-15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wade Bales Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

A full and generous aromatics show ripe red and black orchard fruit notes over sweet violets, peaty earth, cedar wood spice, wet tobacco and black currant nuances. Plummy and full on the entry, the palate is fleshy, full bodied, opulent and very fruit forward with sweet round tannins, tangy soft acids and a broad, sumptuous mouth-filling finish. Accessible and ready to go now, this should improve in bottle for a good 5 to 8+ years and drink well for over 15 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

For further information, contact Wade Bales on: wade@wadebales.co.za

Exploring Bordeaux Second Wines – Part 15: Petit Cantenac Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2019…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Clos Cantenac is a three-hectare wine property on Bordeaux’s right bank with vines planted on a combination of deep gravel, sand, and clay over limestone soils. It is situated close to the pre-historic “Megalith de Pierrefitte” in the Saint Emilion wine appellation and was purchased in 2007 by Martin Krajewski, the previous owner of Chateau de Sours and more latterly, Chateau Seraphine in Pomerol. Both Clos Cantenac in St Emilion and Château Seraphine in Pomerol – the properties are barely 5 km away from each other – follow similar strategies in the vineyard and winery having reintroduced cover crops to the vineyards and using only sustainable products and viticultural practices in order to protect the vines and the vineyard environment. With this Petit Cantenac, you certainly get the same feel of care and precision that goes into the Clos Cantenac Grand Vin but with greater accessibility for earlier drinking.

2019 forms the middle of the trilogy of three very high-quality Bordeaux vintages in 2018, 2019 and 2020, but is also one which may well eventually trump both its siblings for sheer depth, ripeness and power one day. But as Martin Krajewski freely admits, “… in the 20 years I have been in Bordeaux, there has not been two identical vintages despite all of the technological advancements and the significant investments in new wineries. It is still a question of how man and the vines respond to the weather that determines the quality and quantity.”

However, whilst 2019 was a very good to excellent vintage, it wasn’t at all straightforward with heat waves, a drought, and a rainy finish in late September, but they also enjoyed a long, dry summer and harvest with just enough rain and none of the disasters like the late spring frost of 2017 or the mildew that some growers experienced in 2018. The growing season got off to a slow start with a cool May, but it then warmed up considerably for the start of flowering just as growers approached the first glorious weekend of June. Some vineyards flowered successfully over these few days but then with intermittent rain over the next week or so, it cooled down considerably with the result that many bunches had uneven fruit set, with ‘coulure’ and ‘millerandage’ which is unformed and variable or undersized berries respectively. The impact appeared very varied from one area to another with some vineyards completely unaffected, whilst others had uneven bunches from one row or even one plant to the next.

Once the flowering was out of the way, the fruit grew in fine weather, becoming hot and sunny from the end of the month and throughout a very warm July. Temperatures reached a stifling 40ºC on 23rd July and many of the vines shut down although thankfully, heavy rain then fell on the Friday 26th July but only lasted two days. The July heat wave did not impact the fruit negatively as the grapes had only just formed and were yet to change colour but then came more hot weather in the second half of August, which lasted well into September with the chillier nights and early mornings proving to be ideal for the healthy development of the fruit. The harvest at Clos Cantenac started on the 11th of September and only finished in early October.

One can conclude that the best recent Bordeaux vintages such as 2009, 2010 and 2016, also had just enough rain (but not too much), although 2019 also had a lot of rain early in the year as well as a wet spring, so the vines were better able to cope with the dry summer through to September, making for structured, ripe, powerful wines with plenty of concentration.

Petit Cantenac 2019, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, 14% Abv.

The 2019 Petit Cantenac is a classical right bank blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon that was aged in 20% new French oak and 80% 2nd and 3rd year oak for 12 months. Seductively deep coloured with a purple garnet core, the wine is beautifully expressive, boasting a lifted perfumed aromatics of violets and cherry blossoms over notes of black cherries, kirsch liquor, baked plums and black currants with subtle hints of graphite and vanilla pod oak spice. A wonderfully accessible and alluring wine, even in its youth, this classy 2019 vintage delivers multiple layers of plush, fleshy black berry fruited concentration that melts into crème de cassis, black raspberry compote, mocha, and subtle milk chocolate nuances. The tannins are mineral but tensile, emphasising the wine’s stony, gravelly spiciness, combining with soft, fresh acids that add harmony and balance to the fruit intensity. This may only be the second wine of Clos Cantenac, but it has all the composure and complexity of many far more ambitious Saint Emilion Grand Cru reds on the market. Drink on release and over the next 10+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The wines of Clos Cantenac and Petit Cantenac are available in the UK from specialist fine wine merchant Museum Wines for circa £59.99 and £40.99 per bottle.

The Rising Saint Emilion Star On the Radar of Serious Bordeaux Collectors – Tasting the New Release of Clos Cantenac 2019…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Saint Emilion is one of Bordeaux’s largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, Saint Estephe, Pauillac, Saint Julien and Margaux put together. Clos Cantenac’s 3-hectare plot of vines are largely situated on either deep gravels or shallow sandy soils over gravel, clay and broken limestone. Owner Martin Krajewski, who also owns the famous Chateau Seraphine in Pomerol, just a stone’s throw down the road, has been working since 2007 to elevate Clos Cantenac to one of the most respected boutique red wine properties in Saint Emilion.

With a trilogy of “exceptional vintages” in 2018, 2019 and 2020, Clos Cantenac’s new releases have really started to attract the attention of not only the world’s top critics, but also fine wine collectors. Indeed, Neal Martin, writing for Vinous.com, described the 2019 from barrel as the finest wine produced at the property to date.

Walking the Clos Cantenac vineyards in St Emilion with owner Martin Krajewski in September 2023.

I visited Martin Krajewski in September 2023, just as the harvest was starting on the right bank and took the opportunity to walk his well-groomed vineyards in not only Saint Emilion but also Pomerol. Now with the 2019 vintage newly arrived in the UK market, I thought I would take another look at this wine that showed so much promise from barrel at En-primeur.

Clos Cantenac 2019, St Emilion Grand Cru, 14% Abv.

Another ripe opulent year in Bordeaux that forms part of the trilogy of famous blockbuster vintages … 2018, 2019 and 2020. One sniff of this wine leaves you in no doubt of its rich, exotic, plush 100% Merlot expression with intricately interwoven vanilla pod, praline, and wood spice notes that melt into aromatics of sweet mulberries, black cherry, smoky burnt wood embers and a mesmerising stony graphite minerality. Beautifully full bodied and muscular on the palate, there is a tantalising depth of salty black currant and black cherry fruit with layers of pithy plum compote, soft liquorice and liquid mineral tannins, seamlessly wrapped into a fleshy core of right bank opulence. Give this beauty another 2 to 3 years to fully unwind into something really quite special. (Only 8,000 bottles produced.)

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The latest release of Martin Krajewski’s Clos Cantenac 2019 is available from specialist fine wine merchant Museum Wines @ £59pb Inc.

Kanonkop Estate’s Iconic Simonsberg Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 Represents One of Their Finest Single Cultivar Releases To Date…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

In 2023, Kanonkop (owned by the fourth generation of the founding family, brothers Johann and Paul Krige) celebrated 50 years of wine with the inaugural release being the 1973 vintage of their single cultivar Cabernet Sauvignon. Joining in 2002, Abrie Beeslaar became only the third winemaker in the farm’s history, replacing Beyers Truter (1981-2003) who followed Kanonkop’s first official winemaker Jan Boland Coetzee (1968-1981). Of the estate’s 95ha of mainly dry-farmed vines, 35% are Cabernet Sauvignon, averaging 30 years old, from Simonsberg in Stellenbosch, used for their varietal Cabernet Sauvignon cuvée as well as the Kanonkop flagship Paul Sauer Cape Bordeaux blend.

In 1973, the Kanonkop cellar crushed around 1,000 tonnes of grapes, of which 200 tonnes were vinified and bottled under their own label, with the first bottlings consisting of a single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage. Today, the cellar processes 3,000 tonnes of grapes, 580 from the Kanonkop estate and the rest from 22 different growers contracted across Stellenbosch. In early 2024, Abrie Beeslaar announced that he would be leaving Kanonkop to focus on his own wine label Beeslaar, thus once again resurrecting succession plans for only the winery’s fourth winemaker since 1968.

Kanonkop Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, WO Simonsberg – Stellenbosch, 13.68% Abv.

3.2g/l RS | 6.1g/l TA | 3.48pH

The 2019 vintage in the Cape yielded another iconic Paul Sauer Cabernet Sauvignon (69%) based Cape Bordeaux blend. From the very moment of its final assemblage, all eyes were on its later release sibling, Kanonkop’s 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, such was the power, freshness and intensity inherent in the Paul Sauer 2019 blend. Produced from 30-year-old vines which are nearing old vine heritage status, grown on dry land vineyards on decomposed Granite, Hutton and Clovelly soils, the wine was matured for 24 months in 225-litre French Never oak barrels with a 50% new oak portion and a 50% second fill portion. From the very first nosing of the glass, the aromatics are incredibly vibrant, lifted, and expressive with enticing perfumed notes of pressed violets and purple flowers over saline crème de cassis, black cherry liquor, macerated plums, oyster shell, moist cherry tobacco and beautifully integrated notes of subtle sweet cedary oak and seductive vanilla pod spice. Medium bodied and initially quite weightless, lithe and supple in the mouth on entry, before a massive shock wave of intense black cherry, salty black currant, graphite, and tart blueberry fruits invigorate the senses, making the palate salivate with its bright refreshing acids and intense mouthwatering persistence. This is an exceptionally well-made single cultivar wine with intricate pinpoint tannins, tart sweet-sour acids, a piercing fruit concentration and the most harmoniously seamless structure possible. It has all the elegance, focus and poise of the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vins of the world. Drink from 2024 to 2044+.

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

The iconic Kanonkop Estate wines are imported into the UK exclusively by Seckford Wine Agencies. The Kanonkop wines are available for retail from specialist South African merchant Museum Wines and the Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 will retail at circa £44 per bottle.