Stark-Condé,
Oude Nektar
Cabernet Sauvignon,Malbec,Petit Verdot,
Coastal Region,South Africa,
- Greg Sherwood: 97
- Jancis Robinson: 18
- Tim Atkin: 97
£75.50
Bottle size: 750 ml,
In stock
Stark-Condé were named in the ‘First Growth’ category of Tim Atkin’s special report on South Africa in 2019 whilst winemaker Rudger van Wyk was named Young Winemaker of the Year 2019. All in all they’re very much an estate on the rise and we’re very excited to welcome them to the Museum Wines portfolio.
Tim Atkin scored the 2017 vintage Oude Nektar with 97 points and exclaimed “What a wine! What a vintage!” whilst John Platter gave it the coveted five star accolade.
This is the fourth vintage of this wine after re-planting in 2009. Their idea has always been to make what is essentially a single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from this unique vineyard, however they’ve also blended in barrel selections of the best of their other vineyards. The Cabernet has a very intense cassis aroma with unique citrus-rind notes. It has a firmer tannin structure than many of our wines, but still with the elegance for which Jonkershoek Valley wines are known.
In The Cellar
All of the grapes were hand-picked in mid-March. This was our last vineyard to pick. The grapes were cooled overnight and then de-stemmed and carefully sorted. Fermentation was in small-lot open tanks. The wine was cold-soaked for two days before fermentation began. We did punchdowns 4-6 times a day during the vigorous part of the fermentation and then 2 times towards the end. After about 10 days on the skins, the wine was pressed and racked to barrel for malo-lactic fermentation.
In The Vineyard
This wine is based around the highest elevation vineyard on the farm – at 500 meters arguably one of Stellenbosch’s highest Cabernet vineyards. Originally planted in 2003, it burned down in 2009 and was re-planted. It is an ideal combination of soil and site. It has a very stoney decomposed granite soil with a clay subsoil and it has an almost perfect aspect towards the afternoon sun. This aspect and elevation means that the vineyard receives almost 45 minutes more direct sunlight than Stellenbosch average.
Bottle 3,313 of 4,617. A very interesting block, I'm told. 580 m asl, Stark-Condé's coolest block of Cab, but it gets a half hour of more sunlight every day. 2017 was a beautiful vintage – 28–32 deg C during the day and down to 9–11 at night. So staggeringly different from the 2018. I've decided to keep my slightly incoherent original tasting note here, unedited, because it's honest, and when I tasted this wine on the second and the third and the fourth day afterwards, it was the same every time. A dancer. Cashmere. The fruit on this is exquisite. See-through. Pomegranate. So so so fine. I’ve found less words with this wine, yet loved it more. Purity of fruit, a thinker, on a rock by itself watching the sunset. Introvert and fragrant and my god this guy [Rüdger Van Wyk] does storybook tannins. This beauty stole my heart. - Tamlyn Currin.
