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00:00 – AN INTRO TO ALLESVERLOREN
00:51 – TOURIGA NACIONAL IS SAMWISE GAMGEE
01:30 – TOURIGA VINES IN SOUTH AFRICA
02:29 – SAMWISE vs RDJ
02:54 – BUT WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?

Allesverloren Estate is the oldest estate in the Swartland. While their reputation as pioneers in the area has faded somewhat, amidst the exciting rise of new wave producers in the appellation, this doesn’t change their OG status, and the fact that they have been growing grapes and making wine long before it was cool to do so in the Swartland. So, are they Swartland Revolutionaries? It would be hard to motivate for that. But do they have a winning recipe for creating classic, balanced, high quality reds made from unusual cultivars? Most certainly. Their Tinta Barocca and this Touriga Nacionale, vinified by winemaker Wilhelm de Vries, are absolute stalwarts amongst the HanDrinksSolo classics.

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👃🏼 Cassis, mint, black cherry, plum, blackcurrant fruit pastille and some tobacco leaf. Hint of oak spice.

👄 Fairly classic Cabernet-like cassis upfront, with some fuller richer softer black plum elements. All this livened up by a bit of black cherry acidity, pleasantly complicated by a hint of herbal, leafy complication. The tannins are superbly fine, but sufficient to hold everything upright. If it weren’t for the lighter tannins, and plummy fullness on the mid-palate, I could mistake this for a rich new world Cabernet Sauvignon any day of the week.

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Wine of Origin Swartland.
100% Touriga Nacional from vineyards planted in 1996. The vines are dryland farmed, and were harvested in mid-february at 22.6 Balling. Fermented in open top tanks over seven days, befdore being allowed to go through full malolactic conversion.