Vergenoegd has – for a long time – been known for little more than being “the estate with the ducks”. And for good reason, because for a long time, the ducks were – arguably the most exciting thing going on there.

But there has been a delicious little revival going on, with really diligent soil study, widespread replanting of vineyards, and the arrival of an energetic new winemaker in Vusi Dalicuba.

For those who might be skeptical of an estate’s ability to re-invent itself, you might be pleased to hear that one of the lead consultants on the project was Kanonkop’s famous winemaker Abrie Beeslaar.
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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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👃🏼 The vanguard carries a mix of lovely, deeper ripe fruit – some cherries and some wild blackberry – but also some surly spice elements of pepper, black olive tapenade, and an ever so subtle herbal element (perhaps comes from those dried stems that were thrown back into the ferment).
👄 A fairly tidy mix of red and black fruit; the sweeter blackberries and red plum fruit are kept fresh by touches of sour red cherry. These notes are all wrapped up in a fairly velvety mouthfeel, possibly induced by a touch of malolactic conversion. Those hints of pepper that we smelt on the aroma definitely deliver on the finish, pleasantly mixing spice in with those plusher fruit elements.
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