A Moment In Wine Show 404 Kanonkop Kadette (Cape Blend) Stellenbosch, South Africa 2016

Today we are going to explore a wine from the Stellenbosch wine area of South Africa. Located east of Capetown, this area has been famous for hundreds of years as a fine wine producing region. Americans missed out on these great wines during the economic sanctions on South Africa’s Apartheid era. But the good values of these excellent wines are being appreciated now.

We uncorked a 2016 Kanonkop Kadette red wine blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage, and Cabernet Franc.

It was a bit tight and closed until it had a chance to ”breathe” for about an hour, then it opened up substantially.  It began to release a nice spicy plum, cherry aroma. The flavors were very jammy and fruit laden for a medium bodied wine. It has spent over a year on French oak barrels and that was evident with a pleasant balance of smoky flavor, vanilla, and long spicy finish.

Overall this is a very enjoyable wine probably good for some wine cellar aging, but ready now.

This wine would be good with any grilled meat, and could stand up to a spicy pasta dish.