Cape Heritage, Sweets, Fortifieds and Spirits
Timed Online Auction, 7 - 14 August 2023
Cape Heritage
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
About this Item
This wine has been checked and re-corked by Amorim cork under supervision of auction curator Higgo Jacobs, assuring provenance, quality and long life. Seal code fU-406529, wl-265496, RW-077811 can be traced on Amorim Recorking Directory
Maiden vintage of Nederburg Baronne, Nederburg's legendary cellarmaster at that time, Günter Brözel, created Baronne to meet the unexpected demand and shortage of red wines in the 1970s, with palates changing from fortified, sweet and quirky white wines, offered since the mid-1900s. This sudden demand for red wine was exacerbated by the fact that in those years, 80% of the planted varieties in the Cape winelands were white grape varieties with little red available. Brözel managed to secure Cabernet and Shiraz vineyards to produce his Baronne red blend.
To introduce an element of plushness to the wine and spicy warmth to lift the firm backbone of Cabernet Sauvignon, Brözel decided that Baronne would contain an element of Shiraz, the famous Rhône variety. Brözel's credo was that Baronne would never be a wine of high alcohol or hard extraction that would lead to the tough tannins. Just a 'continuously renewable style of quality and perception'.
Provenance
The Distell Tabernacle - Stellenbosch
Critics Ratings
'Maiden vintage - quite a youthful colour, medium red, with just a touch of a brown edge. The first swirl in the glass reveals beautiful sweet red fruit, nuttiness, mushrooms and that typical Nederburg richness of mature red wine. The wine surprises on the palate with a long silky smooth taste. The red fruit with that touch of sweetness carries on rounded by gentle tannins. Here is balance, elegance and a richness that pleases the palate. A prime example of a mature red wine with still lots of life. - Tasted at 50th anniversary tasting - very good.' - Bennie Howard CWM (Mar 2023)