The third annual Signature Red Blend Report was recently released by Winemag.co.za – 30 wines out of a total of 68 entries received rating 90 points or higher on the 100-point quality scale.

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Why should South Africa be bound by the Bordeaux model when it comes to creating great blended red wine? Here at Winemag.co.za, we want to promote the idea that potentially anything goes when it comes to blending – all varieties are eligible as long as they contribute to greater complexity in the final wine – and we’ve come up with the collective name of “Signature Red Blend” for such wines.

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A perennial stand-out wine is the Bakermat from Paarl property Joostenberg – 94 points for the 2014 vintage, 92 for the 2015 and now 93 for the 2016, the blend this time around consisting of 43% Syrah, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Mourvèdre and 6% Touriga Nacional. Cellar door price: R210 a bottle.

Offering great quality relative to price, meanwhile, is the Villiera Down to Earth Touriga Nacional Shiraz 2015 – a wine which rated 90 and sells for R56 a bottle from the farm.

By way of benchmarking, there were two French wines in the mix, Chapoutier Rasteau 2015 (available from Cape Town retailer Wine Cellar price at R280 a bottle) and Domaine Grand Veneur Le Miocène 2015 (Wine Cellar price: R470 a bottle). The former, a blend of 50% Grenache and 50% Syrah, rated 89 and the latter a blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre, rated 90.

Wines were tasted blind (labels out of sight) by the three-person panel and the wines to rate 90 or higher were as follows:

93 Babylonstoren Babel 2017 Joostenberg Bakermat 2016 Olifantsberg Silhouette 2015 Org De Rac Die Waghuis Red Blend 2016

92 Donkiesbaai Rooiwijn 2017 Ernie Els Big Easy Red Blend 2016 Fairview Extraño 2015 Glenelly Estate Reserve 2012 Springfontein Limestone Rocks Whole Lotta Love Cape Red Blend 2015 Vrede en Lust Artisan Range Merlot Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Wildehurst Red 2014

91 Bellingham The Bernard Series Small Barrel S.M.V. 2015 Glenelly Estate Reserve 2013 Haskell II 2014 Luddite Saboteur Red 2016 Muratie Melck’s Shiraz Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 Opstal Carl Everson Cape Blend 2016 Leipzig Master Blend 2017

90 Boland One Formation Pinotage Shiraz Grenache 2016 DeMorgenzon Maestro Blue 2015 Domaine Grand Veneur Chateauneuf-du-Pape Le Miocene 2015 Fairview Homtini 2016 Lammershoek Terravinum Reserve Red 2016 Nederburg The Motorcycle Marvel 2016 Rust en Vrede 1694 Classification 2015 Rust en Vrede Estate 2015 Strandveld The Navigator 2015 Thorne & Daughters Wanderer’s Heart 2017 Under Oaks French Flair 2015 Villiera Down to Earth Touriga Nacional Shiraz 2015 Vondeling Monsonia 2015

To read the tasting report in full, go to Winemag.co.za.

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