Description
Aged for 17 months in French oak barrels, 35% new, this Cabernet Franc shines with a light crimson red hue. The nose is perfumed and mineral, offering savoury red fruit, cigar box notes, and a touch of oak spice. The palate is poised and elegant, with lush red fruit, cranberries, and beautifully integrated mineral notes. A dry, powdery tannin structure and hints of cedar and tobacco leaf add depth and balance, creating a refreshing, vivid expression of Cabernet Franc that exudes style and sophistication.
Food Pairing: Pairs wonderfully with beef, lamb, venison, and poultry.
Reviews
JancisRobinson.com 17
Fruit from Helderberg, Stellenbosch. Vineyards on west- and north-west-facing slopes on decomposed Tukulu granite. 420 m above sea level. 9 km from False Bay. 17 months in French oak barrels, 35% new. Sumptuous nose of redcurrant, red-cherry, blackberry fruit and oregano. Very, very aromatic – heady scent of armfuls of crushed herbs. Orange peel. And very, very succulent – the fruit glows, spills, bleeds into every tiny crevice and crack of tannin and acidity. Glossy and glamorous. Napa-esque without the excess. I’d love this with duck a l’orange. (TC) 14% [Tamlyn Currin, 10/10/2024]
Anticipated maturity: 2024-2031
Greg Sherwood 95+
"It is impossible not to be positively influenced by the 2021 vintage on this new release bottle of Cabernet Franc! Fortunately, the Mira 2021 delivers in spades, boasting rich, intricate aromatics of floral perfume, berry fruit, and oak spice. The bouquet leads with a medley of pressed violets, cherry blossom, and sweet cedar spice before ripe, bright notes of wild strawberry, red currant, and red plum surge to the fore. The oak is delicate, caressing, and finely integrated, expressing itself with a delicate spicy sapidity and a gentle vanilla pod kiss. On the palate, the wine is impressively silky, smooth, and harmonious, with bright, racy acids underpinning weightlessly textured layers of red currant, blackberry, and boysenberry fruits. A wonderfully precise, articulate wine that continues Uva Mira’s sterling reputation for producing premium, eye-catching Cabernet Franc wines in the Helderberg. Drink on release and over the next 10 to 12+ years." [Greg Sherwood, 22/02/2024]
Producer Profile
Given owner Toby Venter’s assumed need for speed, as CEO of LSM Distributors, responsible for Porsche and Lamborghini in South Africa, as well as the owners of Kyalami race track, his purchase of Uva Mira Mountain Vineyards in 2013, up against the slopes of the Helderberg seems in direct contrast to this high octane lifestyle.
Everything in wine is time. Uva Mira is named for a famous star in the constellation of Cetus (a Greek sea monster who was offered the princess Andromeda to appease Poseidon but was slain by Perseus either by sword or using Medusa’s head which turned him to stone – the details are complicated and murky). The giant red star named ‘the wonderful’ or ‘Mira’ in Latin undergoes a 332-day cycle of fading into obscurity, becoming bright, and then fading again (over almost a year), drawing parallels between winemaking and stargazing. The patience inherent to growing grapes, understanding the terroir, blending, and maturation, the once-a-year opportunity to harvest, and the celebration once you can taste the literal fruits of your labour – explains the name Uva Mira, Latin meaning The Wonderful Grape.