Mendoza 2012

Provenance

The late David Brice was a respected wine connoisseur, collector and co-founder of Brice and Burnett – The Fine Wine Specialists (formerly Wine Cellar). His lifelong passion for wine from all corners of the world wine, and generosity, helped develop a culture of fine wine in South Africa and beyond. Always with value and authenticity in mind, the collection spans a wide range of styles from leading producers and diverse regions. The wines were professionally imported under refrigeration and carefully stored at Brice and Burnett (formerly Wine Cellar) thereafter. Many of the producers are not available in South Africa and provide an excellent buying opportunity.

For more detailed information on the lots, please feel free to contact Roland Peens (roland@briceandburnett.co.za). Roland spent many years sharing and enjoying these wines with David Brice and is happy to provide further insight into the collection.

Critics Ratings

"'More whispered [than shouted]', according to the winemaker – this is the more restrained character that they are aiming for. There is a tremendous bitter-cherry character and loads of savoury earthy notes. Excellent tannic feel – fibrous yet digestible. Absolutely no confection at all. If anything, this seems to run counter to the Mendoza norm – but is that necessarily a bad thing?" - Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com, 17.5/20 (Apr 2017)

"A dense, rich and ripe red, with well-structured flavors of dark cherry, plum and chocolate. The creamy finish is filled with Asian spice and minerally notes, revealing lingering blackberry accents." - Kim Marcus, Wine Spectator, 92/100 (Sep 2016)

"Bright ruby-red. Highly complex nose and palate meld currant, plum, licorice, mocha, tobacco, wild herbs and a sexy floral element. Utterly suave and seamless blend in the style of a ripe Right Bank wine, with saline soil tones leavening the wine's sweetness of fruit. One senses the 15% alcohol on the finish of this very long, firmly tannic, classically dry wine, which needs a couple more years in the bottle to come into full focus. My sample improved dramatically over 24 hours in the recorked bottle, showing purer fruit character without any loss of energy." - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, 93+/100 (Mar 2016)

"2012 was a warmer vintage but they harvested earlier to preserve freshness. The 2012 Cheval des Andes has more floral notes (that they attribute to the early picking) violets and lilies. While the blackberries and blackcurrants are there, they do not overpower the nose. In this vintage the final blend (which changes every year, they have no rules) was 64% Malbec, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon (a higher percentage to provide freshness in this warmer vintage) and then 8% Petit Verdot. This is a hedonistic Cheval showing the character of the vintage but with better balance and more integrated oak than in the earlier releases." - Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 94/100 (Aug 2015)