One of the Cape's best
We've never before made a public offer of the Paul Sauer: our small allocation usually disappears into the cellars of a few loyal devotees. However, in the face of a total ban on local sales of alcohol from March 2020 until February 2021, Kanonkop decided to allocate a larger proportion for sale internationally - we (and our customers) are the grateful beneficiaries of that decision.
A small estate situated on the western edge of the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch, Kanonkop was established as a wine farm in the 1940s, with its first vintage released in 1972. Alongside what are arguably the world's finest examples of Pinotage, they produce exceptional wines from Bordeaux varieties - the Paul Sauer blend, named for their founder, is the zenith of their range. 2019 was a blessedly cool vintage in which the rains finally fell. The vines were so stressed after 4 years of intense drought, however, that they yielded compact bunches of very small grapes, with less juice and less sugar than normal - damaging to yields, but a potent recipe for excellent flavour at lower alcohol-levels... in the right hands. Fortunate, then, that Kanonkop's winemaker, Abrie Beeslaar, has been recognised as International Winemaker of the Year by the International Wine and Spirit Competition on no less than three occasions!
The aromas are wonderful: cinnamon, cloves, dried thyme, ripe plum, dried cherry, purple fruit pastilles, old woodpiles, dust on gravel roads... impressive complexity on such a young wine. The palate is bright and delectably juicy, with blackberry, black cherry, a touch of cassis, liquorice, blueberry pie, pencil shavings and bitumen. Poised and youthful, with superb elegance and length and boundless potential. For me, personally, a revelation: I had always associated the Paul Sauer name with a monolithic Bordeaux blend, one of many produced in Stellenbosch, undeniably of excellent quality, but otherwise lacking in identity. This wine shatters that perception and affirms for me the international respect Abrie Beeslaar has garnered over his long career with Kanonkop. /JH
