The Finest Of Its Kind,It's All About Balance
A Red With Spectacular Power And Finesse
Sara (Palate Extraordinaire), Dave (Sr Wine Advisor) and I went to a tasting about two weeks ago and our goal was two independently pick our top three favorite wines in ascending order of the tasting. There were hundreds of wines from all over the world. Dave has more of a new world palate and Sara has more of an old world palate and amazingly all three of us selected the same wine as the number one wine of the tasting. The 2009 Rudera Syrah from Stellenbosch South Africa beat out wines that were double and triple the price. The wine achieved what every great wine strived for and that is balance. Balance on the bouquet of wood and fruit. Balance on the palate of concentration and elegance, power and finesse, of flavors wood, fruit, spice and acids all coming together without any one dominating the other. This is breathtakingly good at the price. Typical of South Africa it combines the best of both worlds, superb new world fruit matched with old world structure and elegance. South Africa is the oldest of the new world wine regions with a definite French imprint. Rudera is in Stellenbosch which is like South Africa's Napa Valley. We are finding spectacular quality from South Africa between the twenty to the thirty dollar mark. These wines rival wines from other countries that are far more pricier. Rudera is an ultra premium boutique winery famous for their Syrah and Chenin Blanc. The wines are made as natural as possible, letting their spectacular vineyards and terroir do the talking. Wines are made unfiltered and unfined and from extremely low yielding vines. The man behind Rudera is Jasper Raats who is one of the Rockstar winemakers of South Africa getting huge press by Spectator and Parker. This wine stands out among the masses. If you love big reds of superior quality, Spain, Cali, Argentina, Rhone or Rousillon, this wine will blow you away!

Tasting Notes: A lively ruby red color and a violet rim. This elegantly fragrant wine displays a smokey, spicy and concentrated nose with hints of plums, loganberry fruit dark chocolate and coffee. Soft, ripe dark berry fruit on the palate with a smooth tannin structure and a lovely long creamy finish. The wine drinks like it's at lease double the price.