by Elona Hesseling
The current 2009 vintage of the Simonsig Tiara illustrates just how constantly innovation takes place at this winery with the first time addition of Malbec to the blend.
When tasting this flagship Bordeaux-style blend across several vintages, one thing undeniably remained the same since 1990 – the overall high quality. Cellarmaster Johan Malan has been driving this evolution since the eighties, joined by red wine-maker Debbie Thompson in 1999.
The Simonsig Tiara-team: Debbie Thompson and Johan Malan.
Debbie explains that the aim with the Tiara is to achieve femininity, finesse and elegance – “basically, a princess with a lot of guts”. Each vintage was made according to the strengths of that year and the quality of the different components. The grapes were also harvested according to taste and phenolic ripeness – thus the evident variation of alcohol from 12.6% to 15% throughout the past 19 years.
According to Johan, this can also be ascribed to the widespread criticism experienced in the nineties towards greenness in red wines, which led to a trend of picking the grapes later, inevitably resulting in a higher alcohol. “Acidity in red wine was also very high in those days,” Johan remembers. “We used to raise the acid to a specific level across the board, without even evaluating the wines separately.”
Luckily, this did not negatively impact the 1990 or 1995 on show – both have good acid and tannin structures, especially for their age, but are balanced and complex. The 1990 even more so than the 1995, with lovely fruit flavours, sweet leather and an intriguing smokiness.
My favourite of the day, however, was the 2005 vintage. It is a soft wine, with earthy, cedar and floral aromas, pure black-and red berry fruit on the palate and a good structure. According to Debbie, this was a superb vintage, especially for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which makes up 94% of the blend.
These wines are definitely worth waiting for. The current 2009 sells for R175 per bottle and although it expresses lovely blueberry and cigar box flavours, with a soft and fresh finish, it is not nearly at its peak.
Paired with venison loin and a port sauce, prepared by chef Lucas Carstens at the Cuveé restaurant, the wine opens up even more – but if there is one thing I learned from the wines and team at Simonsig, it is that good things take time. So I will lay down my bottle, remain patient and wait for the princess to work her magic.
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