Dear Friends

We’re over halfway through the year, yet as always it feels like just yesterday we were recovering from the New Year’s celebrations. I guess if you’re enjoying life you’re often recovering from some or other celebration. And you don’t always need an occasion as reason: a special meal or bottle of wine can be occasion enough in itself. The satisfaction gained from being a little indulgent is often just what we need in our ‘fast forward’ lives.

With this in mind, we’ve made this newsletter a little more hedonistic than usual, to help give you some inspiration. After all, this is a great time of year to slow down and spoil yourself. Okay, so there isn’t a bad time of year to do that, but the cold of winter definitely encourages our appetite for good food and wine. If you feel the same way and wish to indulge, try our refined oxtail with roast parsnip recipe below and enjoy it with a bottle of the elegant de Compostella. 

However necessary or unnecessary an occasion is, we actually do have a good reason to celebrate this month. July marks three years of service from our tireless Heritage Square manager, Faisal Khakoo. Though we endeavour to empower employees, Faisal has through his own talent and effort progressed from waiter to manager and become an integral part of the Caveau team. His hard work and passion for the business make an enormous contribution and cannot be understated. Thank you, Faisal. We raise a glass to you!

Until then, keep swirling.

MR founders Bruwer Raats and Mzokhona Mvemve are best of friends as well as winemakers that have already achieved individual success. Raats has done so with his Raats Family label and Mvemve with his Sagila range. Both have worked together previously too, with Raats a consultant to Indaba wines while Mvemve was winemaker there. While Bruwer is perhaps more outspoken and enigmatic, Mvemve has a calm and reflective nature. In 2005 they brought their collective talents together to produce a wine “unapologetic of its origins and proud of its palate.”

The wine is the MR de Compostella 2004, a seductively smooth yet full-flavoured blend of the traditional red Bordeaux varietals, though dominated by Cabernet Franc. Bruwer has carved a reputation as an expert in this varietal through his Raats Family Cabernet Franc. His knowledge of where to source the best available fruit clearly shows in this blend. The winemaking pair blind-tasted wine made from several choice vineyards and selected the best for the final blend of Cabernet Franc (33%), Petit Verdot (18%), Malbec (17%), Merlot (16%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (16%).

The name refers to a constellation of stars, which perhaps provides some indication to the high expectations both Mvemve and Raats have for de Compostella. Their efforts have already met with significant acclaim. James Molesworth of Wine Spectator called it his “best South African red” after a recent visit in April, quite a feat for a maiden release.

Collectors and top restaurants quickly bought out the barely 200 cases that were produced, despite the rather hefty price tag. And quite justifiably, when one considers how highly this vintage has been touted. All the signs suggest that de Compostella will soon become a modern icon for South African wine.

Jean’s Thoughts
It is about time that South African Wine Makers produce high world ranking wines. Bruwer and Mzokhona joined the short list.
This wine has a huge aging potential, as a true Bordeaux character. Very elegant, great value for money in the price range.

Brendon’s Thoughts
Magnificent, it’s just plain beautiful. This wine is about how it makes you feel when you are drinking it, it’s an experience that makes you sit back and think, this is what life should be about. I love it.

At Caveau: Please enquire for availability.

To continue our indulgent theme this month, we’ve managed to get hold of some magnum bottles of delicious Vriesenhof Cabernet Sauvignon 2001. We are offering it as our monthly special to you this month.

Each year, the winemaking team at Vriesenhof, led by Jan Coetzee, tastes the various Cabernet vineyard blocks to determine which are special enough to makeup the year’s Cabernet bottling. This wine is a rarity. Made only in magnum (1.5 litre) bottles, of which only 2,750 are made, the wine is intense, dark and complex with serious ageing potential. Though a wine with the tannins and structure to cellar for a long time, its elegance and softer mouth feel do encourage a sampling now.

We are privileged to offer Caveau subscribers the Vriesenhof Cabernet for only R140 per magnum bottle.

Should you be interested in purchasing this wine for your own private collection or just to enjoy with friends and family, please feel free e-mail your order to:info@caveau.co.za

"Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life's most civilized pleasures." - Michael Broadbent