2018 Warwick Blue Lady

The Warwick Blue Lady is the flagship of the South African top winery Warwick . It is a wine coming from a single vineyard Cabertnet Sauvignon and goes back to the very first wine produced under the Warwick label, then released in 1984 under the label "La Femme Bleu". An example of Quintessential Simonsberg Cabernet - powerful and rich with tremendous aging potential.

The cabernet grapes from the single vineyard are harvested by hand over a period of four days. The harvest started in the early morning and stopped before the temperature reached 28 ° C. The bunches of grapes are destemmed, gently crushed and sorted by hand. The wine is first soaked at a cold temperature to extract color before fermentation starts. An isolated Bordeaux yeast culture was added and a hot short fermentation was done with daily pump-overs. After fermentation, the wine was left on the skins for a week so that the tannins polymerized. A light pressing was done, after which the wine underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The aging took place in medium and light toasted French oak barrels for 18 months. The wine was then bottled with only a very light filtration and then receives a further 12 months of bottle aging. This Blue Lady only arrived in the Netherlands in December 2019.

The Blue Lady is (dark) garnet red. On the nose we mainly smell blackberries and crème de cassis with hints of graphite and tobacco leaves all combined to promise a mouthful of power. The full bodied wine has a luscious texture and a richness of fruit with complex layers that you have to peel off as you sip; expect savory notes from roasted meats to fresh violets, coffee and a mineral element. The Blue Lady offers an intensity and purity; with a balanced symmetry that is pure poetry.

Warwick Estate is located near Stellenbosch, on the way to Paarl. This winery has a long history that dates back to the year 1791. In the time between 1791 and 1920 it had a different name and was called "Good Success". This name was changed to Warwick by the then owner Alexander Gordon after the Warwickshire regiment in which he served. In 1964, Stan and Norma Ratcliffe purchased the estate and began planting Cabernet Sauvignon. At that time they sold the grapes and did not use them for their own production, even though Norma wanted to. She studied winemaking and a wine cellar was built. The first Vintage from Warwick was 1984. Stan and Norma's son Mike have been at the helm of the company for several years now. He is helped by winemaker Louis Nel.

Warwick wines are certified organic, which means that no artificial fertilizers, chemical pesticides and no pesticides such as herbicides are used. At Warwick, they go one step further and determine the sun and moon phases of the harvesting and pruning activities

93 points - Decanter
"Intriguing, multi-layered nose of violet, crème de cassis, blueberry and black cherry. Palate has impressive focus, with pristine fruit and wonderful textural harmony; class in a bottle!"

Gold - International Wine and Spirit Competition
"Dark ruby ​​color with cream of cassis, subtle herb aromas and flavours. Rounded with good length and balance."

Platter's 2018 South African Wine Guide on the winery
"A new era began with the sale end 2017 of the Stellenbosch family farm where matriarch Norma Ratcliffe made the first Warwick wines in the early 1980s, to Charles Marston and Kishore Bopardikar of San Francisco investment company Eileses Capital. Next came the duo's acquisition of neighboring Distell-owned Uitkyk (with its rare Cape Georgian homestead).Sharing an 18th-century history, the properties combine some 700 hectares of prime Simonsberg-Stellenbosch terroir under the Warwick brand name.Warwick viticulturists Ronald Spies and Marko Roux and Uitkyk's Rudi Buys are replanting some 170ha on Uitkyk and Warwick with cabernet, cabernet franc and merlot, recognizing the area's suitability for classic Bordeaux varieties."

The 2018 Little Johnson Wine Guide
"Famous. The Ratcliffe family's visitor-friendly winery on the outskirts of Stellenbosch offers a very fine Bordeaux blend trilogy: the cask-aged cabernet sauvignon Blue Lady, the fragrant cabernet franc and the luscious chardonnay (with and without wood notes) ."