2001 Vergelegen Estate Premium Red

(70% cabernet sauvignon with 26% merlot and 4% cabernet franc; aged for 22 months in 90% new oak) Ruby-red. Knockout nose shows an almost candied fruit character: black raspberry, plum, cedar, smoke, tar and roasted oak. Wonderfully sweet, broad and lush but with firm underlying spine and no sense of excess weight. Like the 2001 cabernet, this saturates the entire palate. Incredibly suave and polished wine, with outstanding volume, sweetness and persistence. From a single, warm site.