Ahead of the second Springbok rugby test against Ireland, I thought I’d review a wine for all the devout rugby and wine connoisseurs out there. Tendai Mtawarira is a Zimbabwean-South African retired professional rugby union player who last played for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby and previously for the South Africa national team and the Sharks in Super Rugby, becoming one of the most capped front rowers for the Springboks ever.
He was born in Zimbabwe and qualified for South Africa on residency grounds, before later acquiring South African citizenship. Mtawarira, known by the nickname Beast, became the most capped prop ever for the Springboks with 117 test caps. Not only is he the most capped prop in South African history, he is also currently the fourth most capped Springbok of all time behind Blue Bulls legend Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana and Eben Etzebeth.
I recently caught up with Beast and ex-England rugby international, Simon Halliday, the UK importer of Beast’s wine, to see what all the fuss was about!
The Beast Wine Collection Cabernet Sauvignon – Syrah 2016, WO Franschhoek, 14.5% Abv.
Shows a dramatically fragrant aromatics of exotic sweet scented incense, Middle Eastern spices in a souk, with notes of rose water, Turkish tobacco, pomegranate, blood orange and deliciously mouthwatering black berry and saline creme de cassis nuances. Silky soft with sweet ripe tannins, the palate shows a creamy, opulent and generous texture with seamless Cabernet and Syrah integration through masterful blending, and a really sumptuous long finish. Really quite a fine tuned and classy wine with an understated power.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Wine is available from The Sporting Wine Club for circa £40 per bottle in a case of 6.
As owner of one of Europe’s foremost rugby squads, Racing 92, together with four quality Bordeaux wine chateaux, Jacky Lorenzetti has many commitments on his time, but his love of wine and sport always manages to shine through the pressures of a larger business empire. As President of Racing 92 rugby club, he changed its name from Racing Metro back in 2015 and helped establish it further as one of the most successful clubs in the French Top 14 rugby championship.
Jacky Lorenzetti has always had a fine appreciation of the great wines of the Médoc region. Jacky and his wife Françoise first purchased Chateau Lilian Ladouys and its 46 hectares in 2008, and then went on to purchase Château Pédesclaux in 2009. In 2013, Jacky teamed up with Emmanuel Cruse taking over 50% of Chateau d’Issan, a fine 1855 Margaux Grand Cru Classé certified winery.
Château Lilian Ladouys – Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel – St Estephe: In 2008, Jacky and Françoise Lorenzetti acquired the estate after falling in love with it. When tasted, Lilian Ladouys always reveals a rich and crisp structure with ripe tannins and refined oak which melts into an explosion of fruit. It has the opulence and length of a Saint-Estephe fine wine. Thanks to the appellation’s limestone-clay subsoils, its power is balanced out by a wonderful sensation of freshness. The recent upgrade to Exceptionnel has catapulted Lilian Ladouys into wine lovers’ consciousness all round Europe.
Chateau Lilian Ladouys Le Devise de Lilian 2017, St Estephe, 13% Abv.
Soft silky very elegant, supple red fruits, red currant pastille, black currant and red plum. Exotic and easy going with silky tannins. Great drinkability for an accessible vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lilian Ladouys 2016, St Estephe, 13.5% Abv.
Earthy, raisined black cherry, liquorice, savoury plummy aromatics. Super slky and soft textured with supple tannins, cedar spice and delicate weightless cherry fruit concentration. A serious effort from a blockbuster vintage in Bordeaux.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Château Lafon Rochet – Grand Cru Classé en 1855 – Saint Estephe: Lafon-Rochet is a close neighbour to Lilian Ladouys and is among the greatest terroirs of St-Estephe. The vineyards are mainly located around the château in a large contiguous plot, not far from Cos d’Estournel, Cos Labory, and across the stream in Pauillac, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.
Chateau Lafon Rochet Les Pelerins de Lafon Rochet 2019, 14% Abv.
Dark black broody aromatics with smokey black berry, graphite, and blue berry nuances. Palate shows exotic sour cherry fruits, black currant, parma violets and a delicate, soft textured weightless intense finish. Very classy indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lafon Rochet 2016, St Estephe, 14% Abv.
Rich earthy savoury nose with a warming feel of ripeness and depth with hoisin plum sauce, freshly tilled earth, with a beautifully intense and tangy fresh palate with creamy black currant, blueberry muffin, silky tannins, and a sweet savoury polished finish. Very classy from this impressive Bordeaux vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Château Pédesclaux – Pauillac: The Chateau classified in 1855 is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Pauillac, and in the world of the great Pauillac, Château Pédesclaux is the image of its terroir: complex and powerful. In this mosaic of soils, clays promote power and bold expression of elegance. Emmanuel Cruse, co-owner of Château d’Issan, is General Manager of Pédesclaux, and his lineage coming from a long line of proprietors and merchants that have been present in the Medoc since the 18th century, make his expertise in the Bordeaux market very well recognized and respected.
Chateau Pedesclaux Fleur de Pedesclaux 2016, Pauillac, 13% Abv.
A delicious Pauillac with an unusually high 67% of Merlot supported by Cabernet. Nose shows mint chocolate, cocoa, creme de cassis, red currant and sweet vanilla oak spice. Plush and loose knit with creamy soft tannins and tangy acids, this is a deliciously forward fleshy wine with black currant, dried herbs and minty, purple grapey candied menthol nuances on the finish. Simply delightful.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Pedesclaux 2014, Pauillac, 14% Abv.
Earthy and savoury with violets, cigar wrapper, graphite, and menthol cassis nuances. Sweet fruited, elegant and soft textured with fruit purity, salty cassis, thyme, Cabernet blackberry, menthol black currant cough sweets and a delicate, succulent finish. Lovely precision and purity for an almost 10-year-old wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau d’Issan Moulin d’Issan 2019, Haut Medoc, 13% Abv.
Made from fruit sourced from Chateau d’Issan’s Haut Medoc property, this is a 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon blend. A wonderfully soft, plush expression with a fleshy, supple concentration, sleek spicy tannins and a delicious red currant, black berry, and plummy mouth coating breadth. Really pretty, archetypal Bordeaux, with impressive precision and focus and a lovely Merlot dominated fleshy finish. A deliciously affordable all-rounder.
Officially the second wine of Chateau d’Issan, the classy 2016 shows lovely leafy, sweet cassis notes with hints of black currant, sweet black plum, peach tea and subtle dried violet and potpourri notes. Compact and plush, dense and creamy with sweet tannins, opulent fleshy fruits and a deliciously elegant, savoury, plush mouthfeel. Really classy with classical Margaux power and precision.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Jacky Lorenzetti stable of Bordeaux fine wines are imported into the UK by Simon Halliday at Sporting Wine Club and are available for retail by the bottle from specialist fine wine merchants like Museum Wines.
In 2020, during the dark days of the pandemic, ex-international rugby players Kenny Logan, Simon Halliday and Schalk Burger Snr. decided to create a wine to help in the fight against MND, in the name of MyName5Doddie Foundation. The Doddie5 was born and this amazing red blend (5 grape varieties) has been enjoyed throughout the UK, raising significant funds for the Foundation.
Then came the sad news of Rob Burrow’s MND diagnosis, and the 7&5 Gin was created reflecting his and Doddie’s rugby shirt numbers. This raised more funds and awareness of their commitment to research to combat this disease. Now Sporting Wine Club brings you the third project, the Doddie’5 Cap Classique Brut Blanc de Blancs.
Welbedacht Wine Estate may be more renowned for their bold, premium reds but it’s a slightly better kept secret that they actually produce some excellent Cap Classique or Method Champenoise-styled bottle fermented sparkling wines from the Cape. Normally produced under the Mon Rene Blanc de Blancs Brut label, Welbedacht have offered their sparkling wine expertise to produce the latest creation in the Doddie’5 charitable range. A project worthy of every sportsman’s support!
Doddie’5 Cap Classique Brut by Welbedacht Wines, Schalk Burger & Sons, WO Western Cape, 12% Abv.
An alluring pale gold colour with a vibrant energetic mousse, the aromatics are seductively complex boasting layers of dusty white citrus, green Granny Smith apples, warm buttered brioche and honey glazed pastries. Produced as a pure varietal Chardonnay, this Brut Cap Classique has all the sourdough, lemon biscuit and leesy savoury white toast nuances that make traditional bottle fermented sparkling wines so tantalisingly appealing, suitable not only for celebrations but also food and wine pairing. The palate is sophisticated and elegant with a beautifully creamy mouse, a fresh mouth watering acidity that adds extra structure to the mouthfeel, finishing with hints of chalky minerality, lemon peel and white peach bon bons. A classical expression that will seduce a lot of fizz drinkers. Drink now and over the next 2 to 3+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wines are available from Sporting Wine Club in the UK at £24.95 per bottle inc.
Doddie Weir OBE is one of the most recognisable faces of the game of rugby earning 61 caps playing for Scotland. But in June 2017, Doddie revealed he was suffering with the onset of Motor Neuron Disease, an illness that as yet has no known cure. In November 2017, Doddie Weir and his trustees launched a registered charity called My Name’5 Doddie Foundation to raise funds to aid the research into Motor Neuron Disease.
In the past, the foundation has already collaborated with a premium gin producer to create a limited release Doddie Weir Gin and more recently, ex-Scotland rugby international and foundation supporter, Kenny Logan, launched a new wine initiative with the Sporting Wine Club headed by ex-England rugby International and head of European rugby, Simon Halliday. The new wine, in collaboration with ex-Springbok great Schalk Burger Snr. and his Welbedacht Estate in South Africa, was suppose to tie into the upcoming Lions tour to South Africa as Doddie had himself also earned his Lions cap for the 1997 winning tour against the Springboks.
Tasting in London with Welbedacht Estate owner and ex-Springbok rugby great Schalk Burger Snr., producer of Doddie’s Blend.
The Lions tour might now be in disarray and currently undergoing a mid-pandemic rethink with a move back to the UK, but the Doddie’s Red blend from the beautiful Welbedacht Estate in Wellington is very much a reality with the soft launch being planned in the UK in the coming weeks. As an extra gesture of support to the wider rugby fraternity, the limited release bottling includes a very special label painted by accomplished artist, Henry Fraser.
Henry Fraser played rugby for the Saracens Academy before suffering a freak injury at the age of 17 that resulted in him being paralysed from the shoulders down. Teaching himself to paint, Henry is now a most talented ‘mouth painter’ and was specially commissioned to design the labels for Doddie’s Blend.
If ever there was an initiative close to every rugby players’ heart, this is it. A genuinely exciting new wine release in support of an important cause. I hope rugby clubs and players across the country will give this initiative their full backing.
Welbedacht Estate Number 5 Doddie’s Red Blend 2019, WO Wellington, 14% Abv.
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, this is a genuinely impressive red Cape Bordeaux blend assemblage made in a true style where the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its individual parts revealing very pretty, seductive aromatics of fine dried herbal spice, ripe black plums, earthy black currants, sappy cedar spice and a delicate brûléed kiss of oak. The palate is equally alluring showing a harmonious creamy opulence and a super silky texture together with a real accessibility, finessed tannins and a weightless brambly black berry fruit concentration on the finish. Youthfully exuberant and utterly delicious already, this is a fine wine with character and class… just like the man in who’s honour it was created to celebrate. Drink now and over 8+ years.
