News
Vergelegen – Stellar Ratings in Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar, March/April 2007
03/14/07
Leading wine critic gives top marks for South Africa’s finest wine property 
“The number of cases of South African wine imported to the U.S. more than doubled between the end of 2003 and the end of 2005, and after a hiccup during the first half of last year sales have continued their uptrend. It’s no accident. South Africa should be one of the first places to look for excellent affordable wines, whether you’re seeking inexpensive sauvignon blanc, cabernet-based blends in a Bordeaux fashion, syrah in any style, or South African specialties like chenin blanc and, especially, pinotage, a uniquely South African variety created in the 1920s from a crossing of cinsaut and pinot noir. And if your preferences run to sweeter, riper, more fruit-driven New World reds, South Africa would also be near the top of my list of choices. South Africa is not a grape-growing nation on the verge of realizing its great potential: with a wine culture extending back more than three centuries, it’s already a source of world-class wines.”
2006 Vergelegen Sauvignon Blanc 90 ($22) Precise aromas of lemon ice, grapefruit peel and melon. Juicy, dry and pure, with sharply delineated flavors of passion fruit, grapefruit and pepper; a bit of semillon (9%) adds some fat. A note of dusty minerality runs through the wine from beginning to end. This was bottled with a screwcap, I move I applaud.
2005 Vergelegen Sauvignon Blanc 89 ($22) Pale bright yellow. Reticent nose hints at passion fruit, lemon, minerals and a raw peppery quality. Then dense, supple and generous in the mouth, with a restrained sweetness to the flavors of pineapple, grapefruit and minerals. In a broad, fairly rich style. Finishes with a pleasing pear skin bitterness.
2005 Vergelegen Sauvignon Blanc Reserve Schaapenberg Vineyard 93 ($34) Pale, bright yellow. Captivating aromas of grapefruit peel, quince, honey and crushed stone. Dense, rich and tactile, with a compellingly silky texture leavened by ripe, juicy acidity. Ultimately a sauvignon of outstanding richness and focus, in the style of a topnotch Sancerre. With aeration, this showed a downright sexy tangerine flavor and a strong mineral underpinning. I can't recall having tasted a better sauvignon blanc from South Africa.
2005 Vergelegen Chardonnay 89 ($22; 60% barrel-fermented; partial malolactic fermentation) Aromas of nectarine, minerals, toast and spice. Round, ripe and pure, with flavors of stone fruits, butter and spices. Good clean, lingering finish shows a subtle leesy character.
2005 Vergelegen Chardonnay Lower Schaapenberg Reserve 91 ($34; aged 13 months in new oak) Toasty, smoky aromas of nectarine, peach and minerals. Very rich, supple and pure, with clean, well-delineated flavors of peach and peach pit, spices and minerals. At once round and light on its feet. Finishes with a dusty impression of extract and subtle sneaky persistence.
2005 Vergelegen Flagship White Blend 94 ($48; a 67/33 blend of semillon and sauvignon blanc) Very spicy, gravelly aromas of orange, peach and flinty minerals. Silky and glyceral in the mouth, offering a compelling spicy sweetness of orange, lemon and peach fruit, with more tropical notes lurking. This has a thickness of texture and a tactile, dusty finish rare for a dry white wine from South Africa. Sexy already but structured to age. A knockout!
2004 Vergelegen Mill Race Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 87 ($22; the estate's entry-level red, made from younger vines) Good full red. Red plum, black cherry, tobacco, mocha and chocolate on the nose. Supple, sweet and nicely balanced, but without the depth of the top Vergelegen reds. Slightly herbal on the back, but the dusty tannins have a sweetness.
2004 Vergelegen Shiraz 89 ($38) Dark red. Musky aromas of currant, dark cherry, plum syrup, smoke, herbs and spices. Supple and generous, with smooth, meaty flavors of blackberry, spices, beefsteak tomato, chocolate and woodsmoke. Finishes with substantial but fine tannins and a note of burning tobacco. Winemaker Van Rensburg considers this to be a very good shiraz year: "less green than usual."
2004 Vergelegen Merlot 88(+?) ($36) Good ruby-red. Expressive aromas of cassis, blueberry, graphite, minerals and tobacco, with a cool note of menthol. There's a minty, herbal side to the wine, but the texture is fat, pliant and rich, with a chocolatey sweetness. Finishes with tongue-coating tannins and a dusty, herbal quality. This is still very young.
2003 Vergelegen Merlot 90 ($36) Full, deep red. Highly complex nose combines dark berries, graphite, mocha, minerals, meat and tobacco. Suave, ripe and light on its feet, with excellent delineation to the flavors of black cherry, plum and minerals. Seriously structured, persistent merlot with a firmly tannic, classically dry, rising finish. More spicy than the 2003 and less green. Van Rensburg told me he likes to pick merlot on the underripe side. "It ripens in the bottle," he maintains.
2004 Vergelegen Cabernet Sauvignon 90(+?) ($38) Deep ruby-red. High-pitched aromas of plum, licorice, eucalyptus and minerals. Sweet, juicy and very young, with lovely spice character to the intense currant, mineral and graphite flavors. Notes of mint and herbs on the back end. This very young and firmly tannic cabernet is likely to shut down in the bottle. The estate's cabernet goes through its malolactic entirely in new barriques Van Rensburg noted that this bottling has historically drunk well from years five through eight but then closes up again!
2003 Vergelegen Cabernet Sauvignon 90(+?) ($38; like the 2004, this includes bits of merlot and cabernet franc) Deep ruby-red. Blackcurrant and tobacco on the nose, along with a wilder game and animal fur character. Fatter, sweeter and lusher on entry than the 2004, then intense but by no means overripe in the mouth, with notes of chocolate, smoke, meat, cedar and minerals. Not green but there's a cooler-vintage character here. Van Rensburg says this will need a good decade of patience-longer than the 2004. Very suave wine, finishing with big, broad tannins.
2003 Vergelegen Flagship Red Blend 93(+?) ($64; a blend of 75% cabernet sauvignon, 20% merlot and 5% cabernet franc, from a single site; aged for two years in all-new oak) Good deep ruby-red. Primary aromas of blackcurrant, licorice and menthol; I was reminded of Napa Valley. Dense and silky on entry, then lush, ripe and sweet in the middle, but tightly coiled and vibrant. Cassis and licorice, as well as very smooth tannins, saturate the entire palate. This is almost deceptively approachable today but its sheer energy and impeccable balance suggest that it will gain in bottle for a decade or more. Van Rensburg considers 2003 a great vintage for this wine. (In comparison, the 2002 was in more of a Pomerol style, with redder fruits and notes of mocha and truffle but less energy and definition; I rated this one 89 points.)
2003 Vergelegen "V" 93 ($167; cabernet sauvignon with bits of cabernet franc and merlot; aged two years in all new oak) Deep ruby-red. Explosive, slightly wild nose offers blackcurrant, musky game, mocha and smoky, charred oak; lower-toned than the Estate Red. Lush and fine-grained, with dense, dramatic flavors of black fruits, licorice and minerals. Has a texture of liquid velvet; perhaps even broader than the Estate Red but without quite the same energy or depth. But these tannins are wonderfully suave. This will reward a few years of aging, but it has considerable sex appeal today.
link to Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: http://www.wineaccess.com/store/wineaccess/newsletter.html?m=140268