Governors Reserve Red 2019

Groot Constantia , located a few kilometers from Cape Town, is the oldest estate in South Africa. It commemorates its 336th anniversary in 2021! The vines are trained on vertical trellises and vine operations, such as pruning, canopy management and harvesting, are carried out by hand. Pest control is organic , and soil health and weed control are managed naturally. This cuvée is made from a blend of Bordeaux grape varieties , composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. The grapes of each varietal were hand-picked and fermented separately in stainless steel tanks. Then the wine followed a long post-fermentation maceration of 4 weeks to maximize extraction. It was then aged for 15 months in French oak barrels including 75% new barrels, 10% 2nd fill barrels and 15% 3rd fill barrels. The result of the final blend gives a wine with intense aromas of blackcurrant , black plum , black cherry, blueberry , blackberry , cocoa , leather , graphite , cinnamon , cedar , vanilla , and tobacco . The palate is robust, spicy and suave, the tannins are firm and the whole is well balanced by the acidity. Certainly, a wine with great aging potential.

The first vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really begin to take off until the arrival of French Protestants, in the 1680s, with their skills and their knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s. Today South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the southern hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often have more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles. South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards can also be found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, strongly influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.