Taste Profile
Notes: Blackberry, Cherry Raspberry Black Pepper Violet, Rose Turkish Delight
Body: Medium
Dryness: Dry
Acidity: Medium
Tannin: Medium -
Alcohol (%): 12
Winemaking
Origin: Coastal Region (Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Swartland, Constantia & More), South Africa
Maker: Naudé Wines
Grape:
Fermentation: Heavy Wood
Awards:
Serving Recommendations
Decanting: 30 minutes
Asian Food Pairing:
Western Food Pairing: Escargots, pizza, beef bourguignon
Description
Naudé Old Vines Cinsault
Naudé Old Vines Cinsault is fragrant and elegant. The nose is all Turkish Delights, violets and dried rose petals plus the faintest hint of cracked black pepper. The dry and medium-bodied palate shows the classic Cape Cinsault characteristics of red berries, salty blackberry and black cherry pastille fruit notes. Very expressive but also impressively classical and restrained.
100% Cinsault. The fruit comes from 37-year-old vines growing on a farm in a vineyard just outside Darling, which is in the Western Cape region of South Africa. These old vineyards, planted in 1978, are impeccably maintained and produce an astounding quality of fruit. The key is to get the correct picking date and the wine takes care of itself.
Handpicking the fruit in small crates, which are left overnight in a cold room to bring temperatures down to roughly 10°C. A combination of whole bunch, destemmed grapes and stalks (for tannins) go into a stainless steel tank and is left until natural fermentation begins. One to two soft pump overs per day and left for roughly 2 weeks. The wine then goes through a pressing and transference into older 225L French oak barrels (minimum oxidation during the process). Barrel ageing for 12–15 months.
Ageing potential: 30+ years due to minimal interference and no additions, except for a little sulphites.
AWARDS & ACCOLADES
Greg Sherwood (MW), rated at the Old Vine Project tasting held in London, June 2017 - 95 POINTS
“Naude Old Vine Cinsault 2015 – Altogether more youthful, taut and exotic than the 2014. Shows complex layers of lychee, rose petals, fleshy yellow fruits, raspberry, and bramble berry fruit with a pronounced granitic mineral accent underpinned by chalky tannins. Plenty of structure and intensity. An impressive wine in its youth.”
- 93 POINTS
From a single 38-year-old vineyard in Darling aged in old French barrels. Fabulous perfume, vanilla and cream yes, but the florals are all there, some violet and rose petal, a slight nuttiness in the background. Pomegranate juice on the palate, cherry and the smokiness and touch of rhubarb and bitters acidity is lovely. Long with good structure even though light and elegant.
- 87 POINTS
- 17.5/20
“This is Cinsault in all its carpaccio, white pepper, beef tartare glory. Raw, wild, gypsy spirited, dancing in the dust at sunrise. Light as a feather, a will-‘o-the-wisp. Rose petals and rosehips and rain on bricks. No sign of ageing – Peter Pan Cinsault. You could chill this a little. It’s just delicious and utterly captivating.”
“Ian Naudé might be something of an old hand in the local wine industry but he’s making some of the most appealing new-wave wines around, as these latest releases again show. From a 35- year-old Darling vineyard. Red cherry and cranberry plus a very attractive herbal character and a hint of earthiness. The palate is extraordinarily light and fresh with very fine tannins. A very pretty rendition of the variety.”