ABRINA 2004

Accompanied by an abundance of grace and on a mission to test the quality of my new ABRINA Bordeaux style blend, I ended up in a meeting with Sommelier Francois Briel and the management of the Sandton Towers Hotel in Johannesburg. They are busy compiling their new wine list and amped to do well in the 2006 Diners Club Wine List of the Year Award. With guys like Thabo Mbeki, Richard Branson and Bill Clinton staying there, they cannot afford to list something if it does not compete with the best in the world.

For all practical reasons they were finished with the wine list and busy preparing it for printing. They had been tasting a lot of wines up to that point, and to bring in “BLANKbottle” at that stage were mere suicide. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, they loved the ABRINA blend and will be listing it.

ABRINA – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec & Cabernet franc.

My personal favourite wines come from the Hemel and Aarde valley. The problem, however, is that it is very difficult to get your hands on the stuff! Following a series of events, I found a small batch of Merlot aging in French oak for sale at one of the wineries on the top of the mountain. That was exactly what I needed to add an interesting dimension to the new wine, adding nice fresh fruit to the blend and softening the tannins. Finally, with 40% of the blend from the Hemel and Aarde Valley and the rest from the Simonsberg mountains, I was content with a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet franc.

Tasting notes:

BLANKbottle – ABRINA blend. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet franc & Malbec. Concentrated refined dark fruit with marvellous spicy richness. Excellent light toned yet full-flavoured with velvet tannins in perfect balance. 60% of the fruit from the Simonsberg and 40% from the Hemel and Aarde Ward, Walker Bay, Hermanus.