Winemaker Notes
Intricate aromas and flavors of plum and dark berry fruit, with a rich, plush mouthfeel and soft, refined tannins.
It’s juicy enough for solo sipping yet has enough grip to pair with a nice steak.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Botanica Wines 2023 Stellenbosch Big Flower Merlot is a simple and pretty expression, offering soft cherry and blue fruit flavors with gentle notes of leather and ripe plum, more charming than nuanced when all is said and done. A subtle minty, lifted quality typical of the grape adds aromatic freshness, while 11 months of aging in neutral 300-liter barrels preserves volume and approachability.
With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.