00:00 – What is an “Ou Treffer”?

00:59 – All about the Ou Treffer vineyards

01:48 – All about Cinsault stems

02:29 – The rest of the winemaking

02:50 – What does the wine taste and smell like?

03:49 – The first and second wave of Cinsault

05:03 – What is Third Wave Cinsault?

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De Kleine Wijn Koop’s Ou Treffer is part of an exciting wave of Cinsaut varietal wines that refuse to be relegated to the realms of “simple poolside quaffer.”

This new breed of deeper, more structured Cinsauts was birthed as a reaction to the oft-simple, sometimes insipid fresh & fruity bottlings that have caused many wine critics to doubt whether Cinsaut will ever be capable of producing genuinely “serious wines”.

Wynand and Anya Grobler – the husband and wife team behind De Klein Wijn Koop (DKWK) – are seeking to break this prejudice, and DKWK is one of a growing number of producers that are convinced that Cinsaut has the potential to play an ambassadorial role for South African in the global wine scene.

If you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription then you’ll have to hunt this wine down in your own time. But until then, here are my tasting notes and some technical specs on the wine in the bottle:

👃🏼  softer nose of fresh cherry and raspberry, salty, orange peel, and some dried herbs

👄 Lighter-footed, but not waif-like. There is a hint of strength in the taut palate. Fine-but-present tannins contain beautifully juicy fresh berry elements. Less the candy fest that cinsaut can so often be, and more about a pleasantly serious fruit core. Cherry and raspberry as per the nose, but also a fuller, softer sweeter red plum that gives some generosity on the palate, as it opens in the glass.

Wine of origin Stellenbosch. 100% Cinsaut from as vineyard planted in 1954. 100% Whole bunch-fermented in open top fermenters, with two punchdowns per day.