Christmas Tasting 2023 Highlights

A modern style Rioja Joven with juicy fruit driven characters of black cherry and raspberry combined with subtle sweet vanilla spice. Medium – bodied with a creamy smoothness leading into a fresh finish.

Country: Spain

Region: Rioja

Grapes: Tempranillo

ABV: 13%

Rich, intense and packed with dark red fruits. With Morello cherry and a touch of sweet spice on the nose, ripe berry, liquorice, chocolate, summer pudding and a hint of cinnamon spice on the palate, this wine is full flavoured and smooth with supple tannins. Brilliant! Perfect for Chateauneuf lovers.

Country: France

Region: Rhone Valley

Grapes: Grenache Noir, Syrah, Carignan

ABV: 14%

This wine has a natural affinity with herby lamb dishes, but would be superb with most grilled meats and roasted vegetables.

This isn't just any old Portuguese rosé! The unique blend of indigenous Portuguese varieties give this dry, fresh salmon pink wine a lovely balance and structure that sets it apart from other wines on the shelf at this price point. 

Country: Portugal

Region: Dão

Grapes: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Jaen

ABV: 12.5%

Adega de Penalva

Velvety smooth, rich, concentrated and supple. Flavours of cassis, bramble and black cherry with a sheen of vanilla from the oak ageing.

Country: France

Region: Bordeaux, Margaux

ABV:13.5%

Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot

Serve 12 to 14 degrees C

Food Match: Red meat dishes such as beef Wellington or roast lamb.

We love this orange wine with it's pale amber colour. Beautifully pure and textured palate with fresh nuttiness and fine spices. Tangerine and a hint of marmalade and lovely pure citrus fruits. Juicy linear and expressive with a salty tang on the finish.

Country: Portugal

Region: Lisbon

Grapes: 20% Fernão Pires from Lisbon; 80% Siria from Beira Interior

ABV: 13%

Winemaker Andre is always interested in experimenting with new and old methods. He is the 5th generation of winemakers at Quinta do Montalto, the farm has 15Ha of Vineyards grown with organic certification since 1997 in Clay and Chalk soils under the Lisbon DOC Encostas D’Aire.
He uses ancient methods the create DOC Medieval Ourem, but also made new Portuguese Amphoras and uses the most modern low intervention techniques for his traditional range.

Fresh citrus fruit and apple aromas, with liquorice and tropical notes...

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 56% Rabigato, 32% Gouveio, 12% Viosinho

ABV: 18%

Wonderful as a long drink with a slice of fresh orange and tonic...

Serve at 6 to 8 degrees centigrade

A fresh, crisp and fruity Chenin with a dash of Sauvignon Blanc. Complex beyond its style with flavours of pear, white peach and lychee.

Country: South Africa

Region: Voor Paardeberg

Grapes: Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc

ABV: 13%

Made with Pinot Gris (AKA Pinot Grigio / Sivi Pinot).  Fermented in stainless steel, the wine then spends two months on fine lees to develop texture. Bottled unfined and gently filtered. 

Ripe grapefruit, almonds and citrus, flavours on the nose. Moderate acidity, with a fleshy stone fruit character, very elegant on the palate and finish.

Grapes:  Pinot Gris

Region: Ormoz

Country: Slovenia

ABV: 12.5%

Food Match: Fleshy white fish dishes such as pan fried Halibut with artichokes Cod served with seasonal squash and green vegetables.

Verus (Latin for “true”) is an exciting new winery founded in 2007 and owned by three friends who now produce some of the most exciting white wines coming out of Slovenia. The 12 hectare vineyards are located around Ormoz in the appellation of Styria (Stajerska) on the Jeruzalem-Ormoz hills. The cool climate here is influenced by the Alps, the Adriatic Sea and the Pannonian Plain.
The wines are true expressions of each grape variety and are bottled under screw cap with anexquisitely designed label. Their inaugural vintage 2007 received much acclaim from the press and wine writers and previews the future success of this young dynamic winery.

Concentrated, complex and rich, oak matured Douro red, made from a blend of selected parcels from the best vineyards on the estate.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 74% Touriga Nacional, 13% Sousão, 12% Touriga Franca, 1% Fernão Pires

ABV: 13.5%

A consistent winner of both national and international wine awards, our Pinot Noir is nourished by the unique ‘terroir’ of the Graaff family farm in the Witzenberg Mountain range in Ceres, better known until recently for high quality apples and pears.

Country: South Africa

Region:  Witzenberg Mountain range in Ceres

ABV: 13%

Grapes: Pinot Noir

Food Match: Mushroom risotto will complement the earthy notes of the wine beautifully. Pinot Noir is light and elegant enough to be enjoyed with poached salmon or even a leek and pecorino tart. Also try it with chicken liver fettuccine.

At an altitude of 960 meters above sea level, with winter snowfalls often covering the vineyards, a truly continental climate facilitates gradual ripening for a concentrated, luscious, elegant, ‘terroir’ driven wine which, as the vines mature, produces increasingly perfumed wines with each successive vintage. Carefully handpicked in Ceres in the early hours of the morning, the grapes are vinified by Cellar Master Charles Hopkins in the safety of the cellar at De Grendel.

De Grendel Wine

Brilliant straw colour with greenish shades. On the nose the wine shows expressive notes of exotic fruit and notes of melon, lemon, green pepper and jasmine with orange. The mouth is delightfully rich with flavours of peach and green apple and a lemony fresh finish that lingers and evolves. 

Country: Greece

Region: East of Athens

ABV: 13%

Grapes: Assyrtiko

Food match: Greek salads, shellfish and grilled white fish, turkey.

Domaine Papagiannakos was established in 1919 in the heart of the plain of Mesogaia, Attica - just 30km from the shadow of the Acropolis.

Vegan

The wine undergoes no oak ageing - it's fermented and matured in stainless steel at a controlled temperature (16-18ºC) with some time spent on fine lees. Maturation in bottle for up to a year.

The Proposal Hill Cap Classique Brut Rosé is made from 100% Pinot Noir grown on the western slope of the Tygerberg hill on De Grendel, overlooked by the original homestead built by the first baronet Graaff, the vines enjoying the same view that Sir De Villiers and Lady Graaff treasured all those years ago.

Country: South Africa

Region:  Durbanville Hills, Tygerberg

ABV: 12.5%

Grapes: Pinot Noir

Food Match: Oysters, fresh from the sea or antipasti.

De Grendel Wine

De Grendel Brut Rosé has all the hallmarks of a traditional, meticulously constructed Cap Classique, with the added allure of being playful and exciting, Hopkins said. Complex and with a weightier palate than the average sparkling wine, this bone-dry rosé has a fine and persistent mousse introducing hints of oyster shell and fresh lavender on the nose. Intense strawberry coulis and black cherry flavours are well-balanced by firm acidity and linger in the exceptionally long finish.

Golden yellow colour. Precise and delicately honeyed nose, underlined by toasted notes. Unctuous foam leads into to a sophisticated palate, with a distinctive Chenin character of quince, acacia and beeswax. The finish is elegant, upheld by bitterness and structure.

Country: France

Region: Loire

Grapes: Chenin Blanc

ABV: 12.5%

Food Matches: Aperitif, foie gras, vanilla desserts or gingerbread!

Made from very small quantities of selected grapes from a specific block on the Andreas estate. Intense, concentrated dark red colour with aromas of black ripe fruit and sweet spice. The palate is richly raisined with hints of charcoal and earthy minerality, softened with a hint of white pepper.

Country: South Africa

Region: Wellington

ABV: 13.5%

Grape: Shiraz

Andreas Wine