Donald is originally from Durban in South Africa and with in-depth knowledge of the South African wine industry that will be the focus of his articles.
Read more about Donald Griffiths and see other articles by this author.
In my humble opinion, this wine represents the best value-for-money of any South African wine, red or white. If you don’t know a lot about wines from that part of the world and want to give your taste buds something new to try then this is hard to beat. It comes from a wine estate of tremendous pedigree as Kanonkop is regarded as being a South African equivalent to a Premier Cru or First Growth Chateau and has won plenty of international wine awards – the 2009 IWSC Dave Hughes trophy for best SA producer being one. Put simply, you know when you buy a bottle of Kanonkop you are not going to get a bad bottle of wine.
The Kadette is Kanonkop’s second label. Many wine estates around the world have a second label which they release if that particular vintage isn’t deemed to be up to scratch. Many famous Bordeaux Chateau release a second label wine that bears no resemblance in name to the premier label so that the premier name (often the Chateau’s name – Margaux for example) is not devalued in any sense. Second labels can also be a blend of an estates primary varietals – this is the case with Kanonkop – and as such represents very good value.
The Kadette is a blend of pinotage (39%), cabernet sauvignon (32%), merlot (20%) and cabernet franc (9%). The grapes come from vines as old as 30 years in the Simonsberg part of Stellenbosch, South Africa’s most famous wine-making region. The fruit was picked at a yield of 6 tons per hectare and fermentation takes place in open, concrete tanks at 29 celsius for up to 5 days. The cap of skins on the juice is punched down vigorously over this period every 2 hours to extract the maximum amount of colour and tannins. The wine is then matured in second and third-fill French Nevers oak 225 litre barrels for 16 months.
The wine is opaque and a dark, inky red in colour with adequate amounts of alcohol (14%) in evidence. On the nose there is a barrage of different flavours – banana mingled with sweet and sour black berries and plenty of peppery spice. On the palate you get the benefit of all 4 grape varieties used – the wine is full-bodied, mouth-filling and well-rounded and has plenty of fruit with ample smoothness but just enough tannin and oaky complexity to give it a solid backbone. The finish is long, dry and spicy. It can be drunk now but will also lay down well in the proper conditions and may even improve over the next 3-5 years.
Food matches include red meats, pasta with strong meat/tomato-based sauces and certain spicy dishes – it goes quite well with strong red meat curries. It also goes well with strongly-flavoured mature cheeses.
Marks out of 100 – 90
Available from The Wine Society for £ 6.95 per bottle – an absolute bargain. At that price I’ve just bought a case…
