Naudé Grenache 2019

Naudé Wines Grenache 2019

It’s back! The serious cork dorks out there will remember the highly acclaimed and much-lauded 2014 Naudé Wines Grenache Nour which Ian produced from a small block in Agter Paardeberg. Sadly, as quickly as it arrived it disappeared again. As is often the case with these little parcels, they get very little attention until a maestro gets his or her hands on them, produces an outstanding wine and then everybody wants to lay claim to the vineyard.

This is exactly what happened to Ian and his now-famous Grenache block but luckily in 2019 he secured the rights once again and we can now enjoy this spectacular wine hopefully for many more vintages to come.

Pale, almost garnet in colour, the wine greets you on the nose with an intense aroma of freshly peeled oranges, strawberry, raspberry and nutmeg. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s delicate. On the contrary, it smells like a man, man. A bit like Old Spice.

Like wine is completely in touch with its feelings but can still bunch a horse to the ground. If you know what I mean.

The palate is dry, light, tight and mineral with chalky fine-grained tannin and again those flavours of citrus, red fruit and spice complemented by tilled earth and leather that hang around long after the glass is empty.

This is an outstanding wine but is way too young to be drunk now. For the tasting we double decanted the wine a day in advance, not doing so will only yield a wine that tastes of tart red fruit. This wine is best left to mature for another two years before drinking and will benefit from upwards of a decade of careful cellaring.

W.O. Swartland.