Blaauwklippen is one of the Cape’s oldest wine farms so it’s appropriate that the Cape’s oldest Zinfandel vineyards are found on this historic property. Lest you be thinking it… the vineyards aren’t nearly as old as the farm!
The farm was granted to Dutchman Gerrit Jansz Visscher in 1682, but it was the second owner French Huguenot Guillaume Niel who is said to have named it “De Blaauwe Klippen” after the blueish-grey granite outcrops found on the farm.
The first Zinfandel vineyards were established in 1977 under winemaker Walter Finlayson and the maiden vintage was released in 1980. The wine went on to earn Finlayson the inaugural Diners Club Winemaker of the Year Award in 1981. Despite this early success, it remained a rarity and today there are still only a handful of Zinfandel producers in South Africa. At slightly over 20ha in 2022, it makes up around 0.02% of our national vineyard.
In contrast to its small share of the national vineyard, Zinfandel wines are big and bold with high alcohol levels. The 2019 from Blaauwklippen hits all the expected notes of cherries, plums and spices – particularly cinnamon. I would even describe it as jammy – something I don’t normally mean in a positive way, but do here! A minerally mid palate leads to a long smoky finish.
As for food pairings, I’d definitely consider it for venison, game birds and hard cheeses – especially well-matured ones.
Zinfandel is probably best known from the US where it makes up around 10% of vineyards in California. Recent DNA analysis has shown that it is actually the same grape as Italian Primitivo, Croatian CrljenakKaštelanski and Tribidrag, and Montenegrin Kratošija. I think I’ll stick to calling it Zinfandel or Primitivo; unless I’m dealing with Americans… in which case I’ll do my best to say CrljenakKaštelanski!
Alcohol 14.58% vol | Residual Sugar 2.9 g/l | Total Acid 6.1 g/l | pH 3.51
www.blaauwklippen.com | +27 (0)21 880 0133
#blaauwklippen #zinfandel #stellenbosch #winesbeyondtheusual #vino_obscura
