Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW on Cabernet Sauvignon

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

With the fourth annual Cabernet Sauvignon due to go live on Wednesday next week, it was gratifying to hear Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW and editor-in-chief of The Wine Advocate and eRobertParker.com, speak so highly of the category during the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show.

In addition to Cab, she also judged Pinotage and Shiraz and while she discerned “ripening issues” and flavour compounds that “were not fully expressed”, she was impressed with the former.

“Cab is a fussy variety – it’s a lot more difficult to ripen than Shiraz and yet South Africa seems to get this right. There are so few places that can make great Cab and it’s really exciting finding a region that can,” she said.

Perrotti-Brown had tasted old Cabs from the 1960s and 1970s at the old wine tasting as a curtain-raiser to judging and said these “were as youthful as great Cab from anywhere” and added that age-worthy Cab is a “great gift to the wine world.”

“If you can make great Cab, why wouldn’t you? It’s in high demand around the world – it shows everything from site through vintage variation to the winemaker’s signature,” she said.

“Cab is a pinnacle wine. It can make a name for South Africa and you can take your place next to Napa, Bordeaux and Margaret River. It will ensure you end up in the great cellars and on the great winelists of the world”.