Unlabelled

With no label or as much as an indication of country of origin on the bottle, we hadn’t the foggiest idea of what to expect. Though to be honest, I was leaning more towards the worst case scenario. Pulling the cork out, it read Camberley and 25883 RX. The former declaring it from Stellenbosch, South Africa. The later… your guess is as good as mine.

The colour was deep and dark red turning towards brick-red suggesting about 3 to 5 years old. The nose was clean, riddled with strawberry and plum jam. Clear mocha and earthy aromas. While lingering in the back was a slight burnt rubber character. The entire wine was overt but not over done.

The jam continued on the palate, with succulent well-defined tannins. Hot with a generous amount of alcohol, they together gave it a rough texture. Despite this, it was a pleasant drink as the fruit reappeared (this time more raspberries) in the middle of the palate, cancelling out the sourness.

Taking it all into consideration (heavy tannins, burnt rubber, mocha aroma, deep colour and the producer), I suspect it might have been a Pinotage. (Who doesn’t like a little bit of blind tasting?) It was definitely in its prime and shouldn’t have been aged much longer. Although it lacked enticing complexity or subtle finesse, it made for some good drinking…