Kanonkop Wine Estate : Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Beginning with tart red fruits and a dusty mineral edge, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon offers notes of black cherry and spiced plum. Medium-bodied and showing a ripe, fresh fruit profile, the palate delivers fine-grained tannins with a dusty mineral tension. It finishes long and spicy, with persistent pencil-lead nuances. A well-made, sturdy wine, it produced 72,000 bottles from wine that rested in 50% new French oak barrels for two years.

In 2023, Kanonkop (owned by the fourth generation of the founding family, brothers Johann and Paul Kriege) celebrated 50 years of wine; the inaugural release being the 1973 vintage of this Cabernet Sauvignon. Joining in 2002, Abrie Beeslaar soon became only the third winemaker in the farm’s history, replacing Beyers Truter (1981-2003) who followed Kanonkop’s first official winemaker Jan Boland Coetzee (1968-1981). Of the estate’s 95ha of mainly dry-farmed vines, 35% are Cabernet Sauvignon, averaging 30 years, from Simonsberg in Stellenbosch, used for this varietal cuvée as well as Kanonkop’s flagship Paul Sauer Bordeaux blend. This 2019 was fermented in open-top concrete vessels then aged for 24 months in French oak barrels, 50% new and 50% second fill. Tina Gellie: Gorgeously seductive with its satin mouthfeel, silky tannins and flavours of smoked meat, saddle leather, green olives, plum skin sappiness and black fruit richness. Like diving into a cool, deep, dark pool. Beautiful freshness, length and composure – pitch perfect for drinking now but will age very well. What a belter. Anne Krebiehl MW: Smoke and earth, tobacco, the palate is dense but super-elegant, unravels like silk. Fine tannin, savoury umami edges, yet such salty, gorgeously ripe fruit. Altogether brilliant, with a lovely, serene balance – the ideal of proportions. Michaela Morris: Aromas are open, a bit flinty, but the palate is where it’s all happening: starts seductive but finishes serious, in the best possible way. Still needs time. The nice, savoury herbal character promises much. Nominated by Malu Lambert.

A textural, well-balanced red with aromas of red berries, earth, cedar and baking spices. Medium to full-bodied with fine, firm tannins. It has a powdery texture at the centre-palate and juicy cherries and red berries intermingling with the spices, bringing plenty of vitality and poise. Long, focused finish. Drink or hold.

Full bottle 1,376 g. Lots of information on the back label! Vines are 27 years old on average, yielding 4 tons/ha. The grapes spent 55 days in open fermenters with punchdowns every two hours! Aged for 24 months in French barriques (50% new). Transparent garnet. Light nose. Salty-balsam-savoury notes but just a tad pinched. I'm sure in a South African context this looks good but it's a bit austere to shine internationally, I'm afraid. (JR)

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which comes from what Abrie Beeslaar described as a "difficult vintage," has quite a reductive bouquet of black plum, touches of orange rind and pine, all tightly wound at the moment. The palate is a little more open, with pliant tannins that frame the layered, toasty black fruit. Grippy tannins build toward a sinewy finish. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon that deserves four to five more years in bottle.