A timeless classic
Full-bodied but easy drinking, there’s some complexity and interest in the interplay of texture and flavour, oak influence in the aroma and the spicy cedar notes on the palate, with lots of dark juicy fruit.
Definitely one for the “classy and affordable” category.If one needed another reason to give this previously unattainable wine a try, look out for the bottle neck tags to enter a competition, running until end July, to win a seven-day “reunion on Réunion” for four people, or a share of R250000 worth of wine goodies like Le Creuset corkscrews and Riedel glasses.Strange to think that until the early 2000s, there was a South African red wine that few South Africans had ever tasted.
Unless you had a friend-of-a-friend who knew someone with an “allocation” from the KWV, you were unlikely to have ever sampled Roodeberg.Made for export-only in the days when the KWV held the local wine industry in its regulatory grip, Roodeberg gained cult status, which vanished pretty quickly post-apartheid when KWV converted from a co-op to a private company and its products became widely available on local shelves from 2004.
Most of the Roodeberg output is apparently still exported and it has added a rosé and a white blend to its range, along with two upper-end red blends, the Roodeberg Reserve (about R100) and the Platter 4-starred Dr Charles Niehaus at around R250.
Strangely, but perhaps to set it apart from the rest of KWV’s vast wine range, the ‘KWV’ part has been dropped from its name and branding.First made in 1949, Roodeberg may have lost its iconic standing but it remains a classic of South African wine, and priced between R60 and R85, a good buy for winter fire-sides and hearty meaty meals that pair well with its blend of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
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