I was pleased to receive a wine from Robertson Wine Valley to review which is about a 2 hour drive from Cape Town. The Robertson Hands on Harvest event is coming up soon, so I was getting prepared 🙂 At first, I am rather embarrassed to say that I looked at the bottle which was quite unassuming (I have never heard of the farm before) so it sat on my wine rack for a few weeks before I actually read the label.

When I picked it up to read, I found out it is a vintage 2010 Bordeaux Blend which is one of my absolute favourite varietals to try. It was also an unfiltered wine! I was literally in wine heaven.

So it is called “The Work of Time” because of this…

The vines were planted on carefully selected sites and took 9 years to reach maturity.
The grapes were fermented whole with native yeasts and left for 5 weeks on their skins.
The wine was then barrel aged for two years
Then four years of bottle maturation.
Plus it will age well for up to 10 years.

Talk about a special wine!

It is a wonderfully balanced blend of 40% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Petit Verdot.

This Bordeaux retails for ±R141 a bottle

When reviewing wine, I like to rate it on:

Colour (out of 3)
Smell (out of 7)
And taste (out of 10)
So the taste has the most weighting. It is also very seldom that I rate a wine less than 3/3 for colour.

Bottle:
It is quite unassuming, nothing special, until you read the back label and vintage year. Yup 2010, been in the barrel for 2 years and the bottle for another 4. Sjoe!

Colour:
The colour was deep red with a subtle hint of tangerine around the edges. The wine is unfiltered so you will see some sediment. Best to pour it into a decanter first but I rather enjoyed swirling the sediment around the glass. 3/3.

Smell:
It had quite a complex nose. I could smell dark cherries but also licorice and a hint of hibiscus plant. Some chocolate and cigar box in there too. It was marvelous. 6.5/7

Taste:
Just mind blowing! It is a full bodied wine and has a lingering finish with a little residual sugar on the palate. Every time I tasted it, it got better which means it really does have a complex palate. Ripe berries with good tannins. 8.8/10

Total is: 18.3/20 =a great red wine to enjoy on its own or with a juicy steak. I can imagine how wonderful this would pair with ostrich.