On the 4th of June Fanie Geyser, the winemaker of Landskroon came to present his wine to us. Our first time meeting Fanie and he is an amazing guy, brilliant presenter. His wines are fantastic too!! The tasting was an oenological extravaganza of note. Everybody present was taken on a journey of how the wines are made, cement new and old fermenters, stainless steel, wood of different types. What good lees contact does, old and loads of new information, cellar wise. But, also with a handsome mixture of viticulture and farm information too. We learnt lots about the De Villiers family, I feel that through Fanie, we have got to know Paul and Hugo, very well too. We at the beginning did two flights with the earlier Vintage of Blanc de Noir and Chenin Blanc, I will do the tasting in the order they were presented in. Please note that we score first and then ask the presenter for the price, so tasters don’t have that in mind while scoring. The following is the order we tasted in, the comments of the tasters and the average scores.
1. Blanc de Noir (Pinotage) 2023
Colour- faint onion skin. Nose- shy, citrus, black berries. Palate- crisp acidity, cassis, black currant, black berry, citrus with a tinge of lemon, citrus finish.
Score- 15.929.
2. Blanc de Noir (Pinotage) 2024
Colour- light pink. Nose- Turkish delight, bubble gum, maraschino cherry, red berry, olive. Palate- crisp acidity, caramel, maraschino cherry, red berry, bubble gum, pear that lingers to the finish.
Score- 15.714.
3. Chenin Blanc 2023
Colour- light green. Nose- floral, grapefruit, peach, citrus. Palate- crisp acidity, honey, lemon, grapefruit, peach, dried fruits, with an oily or lanolin like texture.
Score- 15.733.
4. Chenin Blanc 2024
Colour- light green. Nose-candy floss, passion fruit, peach, pear. Palate- crisp acidity, candy floss, guava, peach, lemon, citrus, apples, grapefruit that lingers to the finish.
Score- 15.929.
5. Paul Hugo Red 2022 (50% Cabernet Franc,
30% Shiraz, 20% Merlot)
Colour- dark inky red, with no gradation to a purple rim. Nose- cassis, black cherry, tobacco, coffee, mint, chocolate, spice. Palate- crisp acidity, soft
tannins, nutty with almonds, cedar, tobacco, fresh green herbs, mint, black berries and cherries.
Score- 17.167 (everybody felt the wine needed and extra point for the price, R77!!!!).
6. Merlot 2022
Colour- inky purple-red, with no gradation to a clear rim. Nose- toffee, coffee, vanilla, mint, plum, black currants and cherries. Palate- crisp acidity, firm tannins, coffee, chocolate, caramel, sticky pudding, plum, black currant and cherries, that linger to the finish.
Score- 17.20 (One taster said it was “Paarl sunshine in a glass”)!
7. Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
Colour- dark inky red, with no gradation to a red rim. Nose- liquorice, savoury, chocolate, black cherries and berries. Palate- crisp acidity, firm tannins, chocolate, cedar, tobacco, nutty, black currant, soft black cherries on the finish, accessible but needs time!
Score- 17.40 (upon seeing someone trying to shake the wine up to get the nose, they were asked not to Tornado it , by another taster).
8. Paul De Villiers Heritage Cinsault 2022
Colour- light but dark red, not inky, with slight gradation to clear rim. Nose- fynbos, meaty, Bovril, caramel, almond, red cherry, raspberry. Palate- crisp acidity, soft tannins, strawberry, raspberry, red cherry, black cherry and berry, almond, soft finish.
Score- 17.133.
9. Paul De Villiers Shiraz 2021
Colour- Colour- inky purple-red, with no gradation to a clear rim. Nose- black pepper, smoke, spice, Bovril, cassis, black currant, “Bacon kips” (thanks Jacques Bornman). Palate- crisp acidity, firm tannins, cedar, spice, mint, Eucalyptus(?), leathery, black currant and cherry, cassis, “Bacon kips”.
Score- 17.571 (Eucalyptus? This started is the Eucalyptus vs. Mint argument, which we will visit later).
10. Paul De Villiers Reserve Red 2020 (45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 13% Malbec, 13% Cabernet Franc, 12% Petit Verdot)
Colour- inky dark red, with no gradation to a red rim. Nose- coffee, chocolate, toffee, chocolate, masses of black currant and black cherry. Palate- crisp acidity, soft but firm tannins, cedar, chocolate, toffee, coffee, black currant and cherries, that linger full to the finish.
Score- 18.333 (2nd best wine tasted by Vats in 2024, out of 126 tasted thus far).
The 17.571 score was 11th best for Vats in 2024, narrowly edging out the Louisvale Dominique 2021 and the Anura Malbec Reserve 2021, which scored 17.50. Top wine the Reserve Red, beaten to first place by 0.282, which was taken by Tamboerskloof John Spicer (Syrah) 2017. The Shiraz in second and the Cabernet Sauvignon in third. Five wines in Vats top 25, impressive. The Paul Hugo Red, tied for 24th position, coincidently another Anura Malbec Reserve 2021 (which was tasted on the 30th of January with Dianri Wessels, the higher scoring Reserve Malbec 2021 was tasted on the 19th of March in a Top Malbec tasting). The price points of these wines really needs to be mentioned, excellent quality and just as good prices too. A top 24 wine at R77, really, thanks Landskroon! The tasting was full of in depth discussion about wine, winemaking styles and that Eucalyptus and/or mint discussion. Fanie stated that the Eucalyptus should be mint as that where the wines that have mint flavours on Landskroon, have no Eucalyptus trees anywhere near the vineyards (he is a winemaker with oodles of experience!). But, the discussion is still there, unanswered? What an amazing tasting, with a couple of new sayings “Paarl sunshine in a glass” and “don’t Tornado it”. But thanks to Fanie, kindly assisted by Elvis of Vinimark. Also a big thank you to Oliver Wright for his lovely pics of all our tastings that are on Facebook sites and on our tasting write ups!
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