
Cost: $34.55
Grape Variety: 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 15% Malbec, 3% Cabernet Franc
Category: Red Wine
Appellation: VINTAGES
Country: South Africa
Region: Paarl
Format: 750 mL
Producer: Vilafonte
Alcohol: 14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Description: Deep ruby in colour with a highly intense nose.
Positives: The nose shows medium oak, roses, bramble fruit, menthol, plum, black cherry, cinnamon, leather, green twigs & some earthly notes. The taste is different from the nose showing coffee, mocha, nutmeg, blackberry, plum, anise, black currants, leather, portobello mushrooms, sour cherry & cinnamon. Medium to full body with medium+ tannins, acidity & length.
Negatives: A little astringent & therefore needs to be decanted for 2 hours hour, but then it opens up wonderfully.
Interesting Things: I love the minimalist label & the back label that gives the consumer a lot of interesting facts about this wine.
Drink now with tenderloin steak or lay it down for another 4 years.
Tasted: 3 Mar 12
Score: 9+/10, Value: 8.5+/10, Total: 18.5/20
Out of 5 stars, I rated this wine: 4.5
LCBO#: 7757
As the winemaker for the 2006 vintage and winemaking partner for Vilafonte I enjoyed all your comments on the Vilafonte 2006 Series M. We just finished doing a vertical tasting from our first vintage (2003) forward and the wines are showing an excellent trend for longevity, with the 2003 still showing quite a bit of fruit plus aging characters
The grapes come just from our own estate and we are seeing good evolution as the vineyard matures. In general the Vilafonte wines need decanting to be fully appreciated and are meant to have a long life.
If your readers have questions I would be happy to answer them!
Zelma Long
P.S. I am a California winemaker by trade, but invested in South Africa in the mid 90’s and love making wine here…also work in Israel, Provence, Bordeaux, California and Washington state.
Thank you for your comments, but you should really thank my wife as she loved your 2004. Unfortunately, I can’t get that in Canada, and she lives in the Cayman Islands. She wanted to know how she could get her hands on 2004 vintage?
Regards
Edward