Kloovenburg Shiraz 2002
By the time you read this, I hope to have made it to Switzerland. I am making a secret trip to raid my Swiss bank account, buy a big, brash Breitling watch, an army knife, a cuckoo clock and some rosti.
If you are still reading, you must be new to this blog, or you would have laughed out loud and moved onto your favourite sports website. Just in case any of my investors are reading this, I would just like to clarify that I am indeed taking a humble sojourn, walking around Swiss mountains in nought but sackcloth shoes whilst taking the time out to think through our next business plan. I will probably take a refreshing dip in mountain lakes, perambulate vigorously and get pissed a lot on the local wine.
Meanwhile, I write this note as I pack for the trip. And in practice for getting pissed on the local wine I am drinking Kloovenburg Shiraz 2002 from Swartland. It just so happens that Kloovenburg translates roughly as place in the ravine which is one of the more tenuous links that could be found between the Swiss Alps and South Africa (apart from the initials matching).
Just in case you are interested in the wine, it tastes, to me, of leather and cloves with undertones of bilberries and hazel nuts. At 15% I was expecting a jammy new world blockbuster but it was not really new world style at all. Is this wine proof that it is possible to create a high alcohol wine that doesn’t have to be “in yer face”?
Suprisingly refined, I recommend it, especially with spicy pasta. I have had very mixed experiences with S.African wines. This was one of the high points. Although not ranking besides Nelson Mandela’s release, I would climb a small hill to taste another bottle.