Black Marble Hill Syrah

In 1797, over a hundred years after the first Europeans began to settle in the Paarl area, Petrus van der Merwe built his home on the farm Rhebokskloof. The building has since been restored to its original Cape Dutch splendour and the distinctive gable still bears his initials, as well as those of his wife.

Between the First and Second World Wars, the area known as Rhebokskloof was divided into six separate farms. In 1986 the farm was returned to its original size when new owners took ownership of one of the six farms, and subsequently bought back the other five pieces of land. In 2006 Rhebokskloof was sold once again, but this time to a group of South African businesspeople, who have since been restoring the farm to its former beauty.

Rhebokskloof’s flagship wine, Black Marble Hill Syrah 2008, won gold in the Syrah du Monde competition in France. And are voted among the best syrah wines in South Africa.

The wine have dark plum aromas, aromatic spice and black pepper nuances from the barrel aging, this wine confidently reflects bold and generous Shiraz styling. Smooth-textured and with juicy palate appeal, it can be enjoyed now or aged for a further few years.

This wine can be bought in Sweden by Gastro Import wine selections (me)

How much are you willing to pay for a bottle of wine?

How can you explain the cost of a bottle of wine? What does it takes to produce a bottle for

1000 € to a bottle of 6 €

I always get this kind of questions on every of my many tastings from ordinary wine drinkers who try to understand this issue.

You can always talk about quality, cost of grapes, marketing and many other things but when it comes to what’s inside the bottle then it starts to be difficult due to that is the only thing that matter, right? Does the wine taste good or not is the key.

A very clever friend of mine that knows things way above my head about wine and wine production told me that there is no wine in the world that can cost more than 50 € to produce no matter from where, that fore sure put different perspective when you see wines that cost 400 € and more on realise, those producers laugh all the way to the bank.

 In vino veritas

Riedel glass Yes or No

Do you need different wineglasses for different wines, the answer is ultimately yes you do and you should to get the most out of your wine.

The glass manufacturer Riedel from Austria have made a special packaging of five different glasses that are made for to bring out the special character in the specific wine type, Riesling, syrah, cabernet S, pinot N and chardonnay.

I have been using Riedel for many years now and also when I do glass testing with people who are all amazed when they find out the difference of how the wine turns out in the nose and pallet, you should try it if you can, even a bad wine gets better for all of you who cant resist to drink wine from a BiB.

PS. I can tell you a lots of stories about Riedel glass where

A hallelujah moment.

Hrvatska vina / Wines from Croatia / Viner från Kroatien

English:

I have been fascinating of Croatian wines for some time and If you are a fan of BIG red wines then 2008 Zlatan Otok “Zlatan Plavac Grand Cru”, made from Plavac Mali grapes, is the wine for you.

They say it’s Croatia’s rarest wine, it enjoys a cult status and comes from vineyards on steep southern slopes of Hvar island (Sveta Nedjelja) with yield of only 0.5 kg per vine, Explosion of ripe, almost dried black  (plums, blackberry) earthy leather, cigar smoke in the nose, in the mouth again ripe fruit, chocolate, plenty of extract supported by solid freshness. Finaly this wine will last for ages.

I was very curious to try Zlatan Plenković’s new wine that he made from the most popular grape variety in America, Zinfandel or in Croatian Crljenak.

The nose was fantastic of mature dark red fruit with a beautiful taste of ripe red fruit, apple smoke, cinnamon, and cloves with a lingering long finish with nice tannins, great wine.

The only negative thing must be the price that is high and when you fight with wines from other countries you have to take this in consideration.

Hrvatski:

 Ja sam bio fascinantan hrvatskih vina za neko vrijeme, a ako ste fan Big crnih vina pa 2008 Zlatan Otok "Zlatan Plavac Grand Cru", od grožđa Plavac Mali, vino je za vas.
Oni kažu da je Hrvatska u najrjeđih vino, on uživa kultni status, a dolazi iz vinograda na strmim južnim obroncima otoka Hvara (Sveta Nedjelja) s prinosom od samo 0,5 kg po lozi, eksplozije zrelih, gotovo suhe crne (šljive, kupine) zemljani kože , cigara dim u nosu, u ustima opet zrelo voće, čokolada, puno ekstrakta podržano čvrstim svježine. Na kraju ovo vino će trajati dobi.
Bio sam jako znatiželjan pokušati Zlatan Plenković je novo vino da je od najpopularnijih sorta u Americi, Zinfandel ili na hrvatskom Crljenak.
Nos je bio fantastičan zrele tamno crvenog voća s prekrasnim okusom zrelog crvenog voća, jabuka dim, cimet, klinčić i uz dugotrajan dugim završiti s lijepim tanini, velika vina.
Jedina negativna stvar mora biti cijena koja je visoka i kada se bore s vinima iz drugih zemalja, morate uzeti u obzir.