Late late, probably too late, and even more boring Saturday afternoon! What else could be better than some historicism’istic
wine adventure?! For instance a vinophile travel back in time to the miserable bad old days
of South Africa’s Apartheid regime!?!! More than 30 years ago the Ko-Operatieve
Wijnbouwers Vereniging (KWV) van Zuid-Afrika Beperkt in Paarl was one a few exporting and internationally competitive
wine producers of South Africa. In these days the South African wine revolution - so to speak, and other certainly far more important paradigm changes, were still far off their actual infancy. Apparently then the brand Roodeberg stood for
quality, longevity and desirability. Nowadays, perhaps not so much anymore, I assume ...
Anyway, a few months back I bought today's red blend from extraordinary good storage.
I am still not sure about the exact blend. Other old vintages, for example the
1977 and 1981, were apparently produced from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and
Syrah.
Anyway - again, as you already might have realized I do not have a lot
of knowledge to drop. Just one pretty mental info about various asking prices for
this wine on a Gauteng, the central province of South Africa, based Ebay-like
platform. Most prices moved around 10000 to 15000 RSA Rand. This would mean an approx. enormous amount of money for a bottle of wine. Such a bottle!!! I better spare my comment about this. Well, anyway - for the
third and last time – I paid faaar less. Let’s check it out …
6:51 pm (popped and poured)
Colour: old style Cab Blend transparency, core looks pretty vital and crimson red, corona spaciously discoloured – more white than brick-red
Nose: black pepper, red paprika, some mostly dried tomato, a bit too sweet’ish
cherry, only a few indications of mild herbaceousness; absolutely alive! Big
surprise! Not too special, tough …
Taste: structurally very silky and melted off – however not mundane at all,
overall rather lean style; mild flavours of black pepper, red and almost a bit
spicy red paprika, a hint of nougat, some beetroot juice and mostly a bit
diffuse appearing semi-dark red fruit flavours, perhaps a bit sweet ones;
finish seems to be more than okay, character not too thrilling, actual shape
mind-blowingly surprising - for such an old “bastard”! Cab and Syrah seem
imaginary'ly evident
7:55 pm
Nose: a bit more herbaceous, some developing aromas
of lovage, too; fruit appears a bit more brown and pulpy at the moment,
stronger tendencies towards coffee powder and dusty earth; well, let’s wait
another hour … probably on the brink to downfall
Taste: so far no evidence for
tongue’al downfall; no substantial change, perhaps evolving flavours which
remind me of cola, beef jerky and a certain amount of hidden smokiness!?
9:04 pm
Nose: getting more herbaceous and blurry indeed, not
really appealing anymore, loosing sap, too – downfall is happening
Taste: still a bit lagging behind the nose, luckily;
however not a big pleasure anymore
8:27 am (breakfast sip for a change)
That was to be expected. It’s
gone! Only pure herbaceous and acidic austerity left in my glass.
Does not really matter to me all too much! What matters was its shape in
the first hours. Then, it showed not so many indications of its 30-something
years in bottle. Its quality was downright solid. It showed a lean, not really
inspirational or cunning, however surely not bovine structure. Perhaps overall
a little bit too sweet for my palate. In the pre-revolution days back then this
might have been a really good red blend. For me by a margin a still decent **** wine with surprising
stability. Not sure about the earlier mentioned asking price though ;-)
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