On the 17th of September Andrew Lombard returned and presented his Brandevlei Cellars Reserve range and a couple of new Sparkling wines to us. We always love to have Andrew at Vats, his tastings are interesting, filled with wines of extremely good value. Andrew’s tastings are relaxed and real good fun. This tasting, was one of his best in a long time! Below is the order that we tasted the wines in, the comments of the tasters and the average scores.
1. YBY Crystal Dry NV (made by the Méthode Rurale” also called Methode Ancestral technique, the processing of the grapes in the “rural way”? https://yby.one/about/), grapes Airen and Chardonnay sourced from Spain.
Colour- golden, fine mousse. Nose- apple, citrus, litchi. Palate- crisp acidity, sherbet, litchi, pineapple, apples, honey, soft.
Score- 15.17.
2. YBY Rose Dry NV (same technique), grapes Airen, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes sourced from Spain.
Colour- onion skin, fine mousse. Nose- citrus, strawberry, raspberry. Palate- crisp acidity, strawberry, raspberry, sherbet, peach, red berry and cherry that linger to the after palate.
Score- 16.00.
3. BC Tienuur White Blend 2022 (85% Chenin Blanc, 10% Chardonnay, 5% Viognier)
Colour- green with a golden tinge on the rim. Nose- citrus, asparagus, white peach, terpene, hazelnuts, pear. Palate- crisp acidity, terpene, salty, butterscotch, honeyed, pineapple, white peach.
Score- 16.14.
4. BC Halftien Red Blend 2022
Colour- inky dark red, with no gradation to a clear rim. Nose- spice, cloves, black cherry and berry, Christmas pudding, prunes, needs time.
Score- 16.75.
5. Pinotage Reserve 2020
Colour- ink dark red, with no gradation to the rim. Nose- mint, cedar, leather, plum, black cherry, prunes. Palate- crisp acidity, firm tannins, leather, cedar, olives, citrus, black cherry and berry, dark fruits, black currant.
Score- 17.71 (9th best wine for 2024, out of 283 tasted).
The YBY, are made by the Méthode Ancestral, fermented by wild yeast, from grapes that came from Spain? Made in Germany from a winey near the Black Forest. Something like Trevor DeRuise’s Pet Nat? They were definitely different, soft almost Prosecco like. A real good price at R89. Every time we taste the Tienuur white there is huge discussion and variation in score (14 to 18). Some like the wine and others say it is a bit oxidative? The Pinotage Reserve wow, what a wine, scoring in the top ten of Vats for 2024. This wine is also the top scoring Pinotage for Vats in 2024! Andrew’s tasting was a really good one, filled with talk about the styles, the winemaking and stories from the Winery. Thanks to for showing us that unusual very YBY!
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