#355 Mulderbosch Reserve Red Blend 2021
Tasting Notes
👃🏼 The vanguard carries classic cassis notes and black cherry, which you’d expect from a cabernet based blend. But there are those redder notes too; some boiled cherry candy notes. More importantly there is also the slightly more formidable savoury oven-roasted red bell pepper (not to be confused by the raw green pepper).
👄 On the palate, the fruit is still quite tight, but pretty exciting nevertheless. There are touches of blackcurrant fruit, alongside lovely fresh red cherry. Those red fruit elements are super vivid, as though you can feel the cherry skin between your teeth. The Cab franc adds a brightness and elegance that perhaps Cabernet might not have been able to achieve on its own. Towards the finish it becomes more evident that the tannins are still quite firm, and youthful, so if you’re drinking this now, then serve it with some protein.
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An Exciting New Chapter
Mulderbosch are on a hot streak of creativity and renewal. In 2019 they appointed the award-winning winemaker Henry Kotzé as cellarmaster. In 2022, they released a single cultivar Cabernet Franc, which gained a Platter Five star rating in its first vintage. And in 2024, they released an exciting new premium Cabernet Franc-led Bordeaux blend.
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An uncharacteristic departure?
Historically speaking, Mulderbosch has been a white wine estate. Founders Mike Dobrovic and Larry Jacobs exploded onto the scene as a dynamic team of Sauvignon and Chardonnay specialists, who then also (without much fanfare) irrevocably changed the course South African Chenin Blanc with the release of the then paradigm-shifting Steen-op-Hout. The only red wine in their portfolio was a red blend called “the Faithful Hound”, which was deemed ‘not good enough’ bear the trademark cigar-box-sstyle vertical seal of approval. In this context, some have argued that these new wines may detract from the focus on the elements that made Mulderbosch the international brand that it is today.
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A methodical evolution
But a lack of focus is the last thing that die-hard Mulderbosch fans need to worry about. If anything, the team seem to be exhibiting a new-found vigour and drive that is extremely exciting for both their established wines, and these very well received new additions.
For starters, these new red wines have enabled Mulderbosch to release 100% estate-sourced red wines (something previously not possible) and it has seen them registering their Reserve Cabernet Franc as an official ‘single-vineyard’ bottling. This second move is timeous, as the excitement over Stellenbosch Cabernet Franc is on the rise.
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Renewed relevance
Finally, the Reserve Estate Red Blend also serves to put Mulderbosch in the fray alongside Stellenbosch’s leading premium estates in the ‘Bordeaux Blend category; something which is gasthering momentum amongst fine wine lovers in international markets.
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:
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TECHNICAL SPECS
🔬 Wine of Origin Stellenbosch. Vinified by winemaker Henry Kotze. The blend contains 44% Cabernet Franc, 31% Petit Verdot and 25% Merlot.
| Alc 13.5% | Sugar 1.4g/l | pH 3.55 | Acid 5.8 |
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