Cape Heritage and The Loire
Timed Online Auction, 1 - 12 August 2024
Cape Heritage - Red Wines
About the SessionThe Cape Heritage Red Wine Session features 25 lots from The Tabernacle – the famous underground cellar in Stellenbosch that houses some of South Africa’s most spectacular vinous historical treasures. All the lots from The Tabernacle have been recorked; each bottle was opened for inspection, under the protection of an argon gas blanket, and Strauss & Co fine wine specialist Higgo Jacobs along with Amorim tasted and assessed each wine. The wines were topped up with wine from the same vintage, recorked and resealed, all under the supervision of a technical team from Amorim Corks.
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
About this Item
From a historic parcel of dry farmed bush vine Cinsault planted in 1900 in the deep sandy alluvial soils in Wellington. This is South Africa’s oldest registered red wine vineyard.
Provenance
Wine Cellar Private Client
Critics Ratings
‘Leather and smoke notes. Ripe and rich on the palate with real purpose and intensity. Dark fruits and spice – garrigue and thyme. Powerful and rich. Impressive, polished and weighty style. Needs lots of time.’ – Alistair Cooper MW, JancisRobinson.com, 16.5/20 (Sep 2021)
‘Very old Wellington dryland bushvines, veterans of almost 90 harvests, nurtured by the Mullineuxs & viticulturist Rosa Kruger, imbue 2017 with tremendous character & personality. Heady perfumes of cherry, strawberry & pot-pourri, fine & intricate tannin weave, impressive presence at bone-dry 1.1 g/l sugar. Gently handled, wholebunch crush, long post-ferment maceration, mostly older oak, as all.’ - Platter’s SA Wine Guide 2021, 4.5* (93/100)
‘Basson is probably the oldest red wine vineyard in the Cape, planted back in 1900 and resurrected by Chris and Andrea Mullineux and Rosa Kruger. There are only 1,000 bottles from the 0.8 hectares, alas, but what wine this is: complex, long and refined with palatecaressing sweetness and layered, fine-boned tannins. The Musigny of the Cinsault world. 2021-27’ - Tim Atkin MW, SA Special Report 2020, 96/100
‘The 2017 Old Vines Basson Cinsault is fuller and riper on the nose compared to the Lötter Cinsault, featuring exuberant wild strawberry, raspberry preserve, gingerbread and dill aromas, all very well defined and brimming with energy. The palate is medium-bodied with a fleshy opening, hints of marmalade and orange peel infusing the red fruit, and just the right amount of piquancy toward the finish. There is something "old school" about this Cinsault. Cerebral.’ – Neal Martin, Vinous, 95/100 (Oct 2020)