Winemaker Notes
While the palate is sleek and elegantly textured with polishedmineral tannins, it’s also taught, ultra-pure, and electricallyfresh. This is a blend made in heaven. The taught freshcherry and tart red berry fruited Cinsaut is complementedby the fleshy raspberry compote and plum spice of the Grenache,while the Syrah adds savoury muscle and shape.
Blend: 58% Cinsaut, 21% Grenache, 21% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Alluring, with a black tea note leading the way for silky cherry, raspberry and blood orange fruit flavors. Lingering dried anise, incense and bergamot notes line the finish. Elegant, but sneakily deep and long. Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah. Drink now through 2020. 266 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Follow The Line is 58% Cinsault with Grenache and Syrah, including around 30% whole cluster fruit, mostly picked earlier. It has a reticent bouquet at first, gradually unfurling with blackberry leaf, cranberry and black pepper aromas, developing subtle garrigue scents with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple red berry fruit, caressing in the mouth, not powerful but very well balanced with peppercorns and undergrowth towards the finish.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
With an important wine renaissance in full swing, impressive red and white bargains abound in South Africa. The country has a particularly long and rich history with winemaking, especially considering its status as part of the “New World.” In the mid-17th century, the lusciously sweet dessert wines of Constantia were highly prized by the European aristocracy. Since then, the South African wine industry has experienced some setbacks due to the phylloxera infestation of the late 1800s and political difficulties throughout the following century.
Today, however, South Africa is increasingly responsible for high-demand, high-quality wines—a blessing to put the country back on the international wine map. Wine production is mainly situated around Cape Town, where the climate is generally warm to hot. But the Benguela Current from Antarctica provides brisk ocean breezes necessary for steady ripening of grapes. Similarly, cooler, high-elevation vineyard sites throughout South Africa offer similar, favorable growing conditions.
South Africa’s wine zones are divided into region, then smaller districts and finally wards, but the country’s wine styles are differentiated more by grape variety than by region. Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, is the country’s “signature” grape, responsible for red-fruit-driven, spicy, earthy reds. When Pinotage is blended with other red varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah or Pinot Noir (all commonly vinified alone as well), it is often labeled as a “Cape Blend.” Chenin Blanc (locally known as “Steen”) dominates white wine production, with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc following close behind.