2015 Leeu Estates Passant Dry Red
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Tasting notes
35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Cabernet Franc, 31% Cinsault. Grapes chilled, then crushed and destemmed to tank, 25–50% whole clusters are added to the Cinsault and Cabernet Franc. 25 ppm SO 2 is added, and no further additions are made. The must is initially pigeaged once a day. After about 4 days fermentation begins without inoculation, with pigeage twice a day. Temperatures are not allowed to exceed 30 °C. Fermentation lasts 7–10 days. After fermentation, a couple of weeks’ skin contact and the wine is then drained and pressed to barrel. The wines are racked and blended mid-way through the year, and bottled after 18 months in 225-litre French oak barrels, 30% new. Natural cork. Tasted blind. Round, fresh and a bit chewy. Supple but not that interesting. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The 2015 Dry Red Wine has a clean and fresh nose with cedar-infused black fruit. Fine focus and the oak is neatly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied and appears more evolved than the aromatics: soft tannins, perhaps lacking a bit of acidity and it has lost a bit of vigor on the finish. Drink soon. Tasted blind at the 10-Year-On horizontal in London.
Retro font and unusual bottle shape – an echo of South African winemaking history and style. Vines up to 118 years old. Cinsaut (various mutations) and a little Palomonio. Plus one-third Cabernet Franc and one-third Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon has small berries and is usually fermented with the Cinsault, which has more juice with more juice to move it through the system. Cinsault develops glycerol as it ages giving a perception of sweentess. A unique blend. Smoky and sweet. Dark and yet scented on the palate. Utterly distinctive and hard to describe. Dry, grainy texture but with the effortless concentration of old vines. (JH)
Quite a price!!! Very nicely done with no rough edges and masses of pleasure but I do wonder whether it is running before it can walk in terms of price. I’d love someone to pour this for me but cannot imagine buying it myself. (JR)