On the 17th of October Jeremy Borg (Winemaker/Owner) and Amanda Irving from Painted Wolf came to presented their wines to us. Jeremy and Amanda are real good friends of Vats! Jeremy was our very last tasting before our first lockdown of COVID in March 2020. Jeremy is massively committed to the conservation of the Painted Wolf and has donated more than 4 million rand towards their preservation. The following is the order in which the wines were tasted, the comments of the tasters and the average scores that wines scored. The names in brackets are the individual names of the particular Painted Wolf that the wines are named after.
1. Sauvignon Blanc (Lightening) 2022
Colour- light green heart, with a golden rim. Nose- citrus, flinty, lemony, lanolin. Palate- crisp acidity, lively minerality, pineapple, citrus, with lemons, soft and fruity.
Score- 16.00.
2. Viognier (Tear Drop) 2022
Colour- light green heart, with a golden rim. Nose- citrus, floral notes with honey suckle, peach and apricots. Palate- crisp acidity, peach, apples, lanolin, nectarine, litchi, nutty, ginger, marmalade and honey, a real fruit bomb!
Score- 16.42.
3. Chenin Blanc (Black Label) 2019
Colour- light green heart, with a golden rim. Nose- citrus, lanolin, honey, nuts. Palate- crisp acidity, honey, nuts, spices, citrus with oranges that linger to the finish, marmalade, peach and tangerine.
Score- 16.69.
4. Chenin Blanc (Lycaon) 2021
Colour- light green heart, with a golden rim. Nose- citrus, honey, floral, with orange blossoms. Palate- crisp acidity, peaches, lemon, orangey, nutty, lanolin, marmalade, quince, pepper and tobacco.
Score- 16.92.
5. The Den Shiraz 2021
Colour- inky dark red, with almost no gradation to a purple rim. Nose- white pepper, spice with cinnamon, cassis, black currant and cherry, caramel, toffee. Palate- crisp acidity, firm tannins, black currant and cherry, nutty with almonds, toffee and caramel.
Score- 16.33.
6. Carignan (Darius) 2021
Colour- inky dark red, with almost no gradation to a purple rim. Nose- menthol, liquorice, violet leaf, plum, red berries and cherries, floral. Palate- crisp acidity, soft but firm tannins, red cherry and berries, spices, bitter cherry, juicy and savoury.
Score- 16.42.
7. Mourvèdre (Black Tip) 2020
Colour- inky dark red, with a slight gradation to a pink rim. Nose- menthol, tobacco, cassis, nutty with almonds, spices, black and white pepper, Eucalyptus. Palate- crisp acidity, firm tannins, meaty, caramel, toffee, spices, nutty, vanilla, black currants and cherries that linger to the finish.
Score- 17.46 (ranked 29th out of 255 wines tasted in 2023).
Real interesting tasting filled with winemaking information on how these unique wines were made. Many of these wines were made with new and old, exciting ways of winemaking styles. Many tasters have never heard of flex cubes or plastic eggs? Great wines with excellent value, and brilliant stories coupled to the wines of the Painted Wolf, whose name was on the bottle. Top wine was the Mourvèdre, followed by the Chenin Blanc (Lycaon) and third another Chenin Blanc, the Black Label! Jeremy sure does make great Chenin Blanc, and that Viognier was also special. Thanks to Jeremy and Amanda for coming back and sharing their lovely wines with us!
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