Winemaker Notes
This has a delicate cranberry and pomegranate bouquet with a bit of a rhubarb and bay leaf emerging with air. It offers red berries, black currants, rooibos tea, and white pepper on the palate. Chalky tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2023 Cinsault comes from a parcel in the Rustenhof farm shared with Scions of Sinai. This was destemmed and spent eight to ten days on the skins. It has a pretty nose that’s quite energetic and delineated, expressing white-tipped strawberry, maraschino cherry and just a hint of candy floss. The palate is very well balanced with a Grenache-like flashiness on the mid-palate and fine acidity. Crisp, focused and linear in style, it concludes with a peppery finish. Very fine.
A charmer in the Southern Rhône Valley, Cinsault thrives in any hot and windy climate, and finds success in many other countries. It is a parent grape alongside Pinot Noir, of South Africa’s acclaimed red grape, Pinotage. Somm Secret—Given its relatively long history in California, Cinsualt is often “hidden” in the Zinfandel blends of Sonoma and Contra Costa Counties. Historically planted alongside Zinfandel (with Petite Sirah and Mourvedre) in the same vineyard, Cinsault is now an essential part of many “field blends.”
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.