Description
The 2019 Oude Nektar is a Bordeaux-style blend, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from one of Stellenbosch’s highest vineyards at 550 meters. This vineyard, with its stony decomposed granite soils and perfect afternoon sun exposure, produces grapes that benefit from slow ripening, resulting in concentrated flavors. The wine is aged for 20 months in French oak, with 70% new barrels, ensuring a complex yet refined profile. The Cabernet Sauvignon contributes intense cassis aromas with unique citrus-rind notes, while a touch of Petit Verdot adds depth. Despite the drought conditions, the 2019 vintage yielded low alcohol wines with a perfect balance of fruit, acidity, and tannin, offering a firmer tannin structure yet maintaining the elegance typical of Jonkershoek Valley wines.
Food Pairing: This wine pairs beautifully with grilled meats, venison, or rich stews.
Producer Profile
The origin of the winery is serendipitous, but the story of the founding family is more complex. South African patriarch Hans Schroder (b. 1938) was raised in Stellenbosch but spent much of his adult life abroad. In the 1960’s while attending university in Japan, Hans met and married fellow student Midori Maruyama. At the time, their marriage contravened the apartheid regime’s Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act so the young couple settled in Japan. They remained in Tokyo for the next 30 years where they raised three daughters—Marie, Lisa, and Miki. Fast forward to the late 1980’s — the end of apartheid was inching closer and Nelson Mandela’s release was imminent. Hans and Midori decided it was time to return to South Africa and be part of the positive change. They purchased the Oude Nektar farm in 1989 and focused on growing grapes.
Eldest daughter Marie and her American husband Jose also relocated to South Africa to join the family. Jose, a graphic designer by trade, originally intended to open a studio in Cape Town but plans were thwarted when he discovered his passion for wine. With an artisan’s attention to detail and a purist’s approach in the cellar, Jose slowly developed the wines to where they are today. He continues to design all his own wine labels.
Tasting Notes
Greg Sherwood 97+
There is no doubting that the Oude Nektar 2015 and 2017 were soaring creations of note. But when you taste the 2019 block buster from Rudger van Wyk, you realise that this is yet another epic wine where the vintage and vineyard held hands to give the winemaker something really very special to work with. The aromatics are classical and beautifully straight laced with notes of rose petals, violets, pencil shavings, grilled herbs, black berries and raspberries bursting to the fore before hints of smoky fireplace embers, sweet tobacco leaf, iodine and graphite nuances. An intense full-bodied palate is simultaneously lithe and light on its feet with a striking elegance and a vibrant core of earthy black currant and black cherry fruits embraced by silky soft powdery tannins. An impressively regal Cabernet Sauvignon with a sensual core of fruit, bright integrated acids and a supple, harmonious saline finish. A beautiful wine with class written all over it. Drink from 2025 to 2045+. (Only 3,275 bottles produced.) [Greg Sherwood MW, 05/06/2023]
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2045
Decanter 98
[Decanter, 12/01/2023]
Tim Atkin 97
What a wine! What a vintage! And to think that this stunning site between 550 and 600 metres was replanted after a fire as recently as 2009. Marrying Cabernet Sauvignon with 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, it’s one of the great Cape reds. Far from a blockbuster, it’s nuanced and refreshing, with incredible perfume of fynbos and cut grass, fine-boned tannins and a long, stony finish [Tim Atkin, 30/03/2022]
