2001 KWV Roodeberg

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Midlife 21 years ago

After reading about it here, and seeing it on one or two "house wine" lists as well, I hunted down a bottle of 2001 KWV Roodeberg. Maybe I'm extra sensitive because I wound up paying a local African-themed shop US$16.95 for this wine that appears to be as low as US$9.99 on several internet sites ($11.99 w/shipping). Anyway, the local shop was the only place I could find it and I wanted to try it.

Those of you familiar with this wine:

- It is Cab-based, but no info available as to what other varieties and %s. Any help on that?

- The wine seemed very closed up for the first 30-45 minutes. Not atypical of many reds, but is this your experience?

- It also seemed a bit tart early on (acidic, I guess?) and didn't have much tannin apparent. Possibly do the the blend? Not as complex as I would have liked. Other thoughts?

Sounds like I didn't like it, but I really did .........after a time. I was looking for a good QPR "house" Red, but I'm not sure yet if I've found it. It might help to know if this bottle was typical or not. It looks like I'd have to order out-of-state. Anyone seen this at the $10-$12 price in California?

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st.helier 21 years ago

"Midlife" asked......

The blend over the years has always been flexible - when I was in SA in

1979, there were six ingredients, even including a couple % of Tinta Barroca.

I do believe that recently, Roodeberg is comprised mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot, Shiraz and Ruby Cabernet (C/SxCarrignan)

hth

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Topi Kuusinen 21 years ago

This was my observation as well last weekend. I just felt it was rather tannic to start with, but opened up with much fruit and less tannins in about an hour. I felt it might improve with a year or two more bottle time.

As I mentioned, I felt there were tannins all right but I could taste any over-the-top acids there. I was also expecting a bit more of the wine, especially in the complexity department. That's because I remember having a really good ZA red some time ago with the word "rood" in the name, but I've forgotten the whole name. So, I've been trying all ZA wines with "rood" in the name that I've found.

However, the wine was really quite good and considering the prices in general here in Finland the Roodeberg is rather a good QPR.

Cheers,

-Topi Kuusinen

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LC Geldenhuys 21 years ago

Could it have been the Nederburg Edelrood? This is a 60/40 cab/merlot blend.

BTW, the Roodeberg is indeed Cabernet Sauvignon based, with Merlot, Shiraz and Ruby Cabernet, as st.helier has mentioned.

Since recently, the KWV wines were only exported, hence they acquired somewhat of a cult status in SA as we couldn't easily get hold of any. Nowadays the general feeling seems to be that, although they make good quality wine, it might not quite match the hype it generated while it wasn't available locally. But then you know how people tend to iconify that which they can't have :-) !

Cheers, Lourens

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Topi Kuusinen 21 years ago

Hi Lourens,

I don't think it was the Edelrood, I think I've tried that one as well.

Maybe I should have another go at that one as well, though, having recently noted a couple of bottles in the cellar.

Well, never mind, the search for the good ZA "rood" is a good excuse to open a few bottles, anyway. Maybe I should start a search for good Pinotage as well.

Cheers,

-Topi Kuusinen, Finland

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LC Geldenhuys 21 years ago

Ah - good, if you want to embark on a search for Pinotage, see me reply to Dan today (titled '01 Nederburg Pinotage) for some pointers.

Cheers, Lourens

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2001 KWV Roodeberg

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