The Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report 2015
By Christian Eedes, 13 May 2015
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The fourth annual Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report is now out. This involved putting together a line-up of 60 of South Africa’s most high-profile examples, either currently available or soon to be released, and then subjecting them to a blind tasting.
Wines to rate 90 or higher on the 100-point scale were as follows:
93
Waterford Estate 2012
Wine Cellar price: R185
92
Le Riche 2012
Wine Cellar price: R200
91
De Trafford 2012
Price: R265 (due for release in July)
Graham Beck The Coffeestone 2013
Price: R250
Laibach The Widow’s Block 2012
Wine Cellar price: R235
Nederburg II Centuries 2010
Price: R280
Oldenburg Vineyards 2012
Price: R200
Rust en Vrede Single Vineyard 2012
Price: R850
Vergelegen V 2011
Price: Due for release in August
90
La Bri Limited Release 2012
Price: R195
Spier Woolworths Reserve 2012
Woolworths price: R129.95
Stark-Condé Stellenbosch 2012
Price: R165
Warwick Blue Lady 2012
Wine Cellar price: R260
To read the tasting report in full, download the following: The Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report 2015
To view a photo album of the awards function, CLICK HERE.
To buy a 6-bottle mixed cases featuring Le Riche 2012, Laibach The Widow’s Block 2012 and Warwick Blue Lady 2012, CLICK HERE.
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Lindi Scholtz | 13 May 2016
When will the 2016 results be available please. I am updating the SA Wine Industry Directory and we are almost going to print with ou 2016/17 edition.
Thank you
Regards
Christian | 13 May 2016
Hi Lindi, Results out on Thursday, 19 May.
Hennie Louw | 18 May 2015
Glad to see La Bri up there. The vintage before the 12 was just as good and also scored top 10, even top 2, if I am not mistaken. Only negative is the price hike which sort of doubled. We had a Cab evening for some of the trade in the Southern Cape, trying to pick up differences in teroir, and I discoverder that on average the Platters ratings for Franschhoek Cabs, seems to do even better than Stellenbosch. Must admit that I did not do an in depth evaluation. It made me have a different perspective on Franshhoek Cabs. Just some useless information on cabs, I treasure the Conradie(Nuy Valley) Cab as one of the better cabs outside St’bosch.
joe | 14 May 2015
Thanks for the replies, Christian and Christo.
I think I’ll have to try the Le Riche standard vs Reserve myself 🙂
Christo le Riche | 14 May 2015
Hi Joe
Thank you for the kind comment. Regarding the Reserve points, I am not too worried about it. We have been tasting the Cab and Reserve side by side this last week and I am still convinced it is the better wine. However, it needs a good decanting for a couple of hours. Also, our 2011 also struggled a bit at the Cab report last year, but opened mid July and scored a Platter 5 star.
Christian, thank you for another good report and the work you are doing for SA Cabs!
Christian Eedes | 14 May 2015
Hi Joe,
Re the Kanonkop, RP scored it 85, JP scored it 85 and I scored it 87 and we all had issue with its “green” character – is leaf-roll an issue here?
Re the Le Riche Reserve, RP and I both scored it 87 while JP scored it 82 and here the wine felt a bit underdone (despite an abv of 14.8%) – Le Riche are undoubtedly one of our top Cab producers but I have a sense they are undergoing a period of re-inventing themselves and are struggling with stylistic issues.
Re the Stark-Conde Three Pines, RP scored it 81, JP 76 and I scored it 82 – the feeling was this wine was attenuated and hard on the finish (it might well be just a young wine going through an awkward phase).
As for different results on a different day, I’m sure this would be the case to some extent – wine judging is not a perfect science but I don’t buy the idea that it’s all totally random – the Cab Report has many of the same producers coming out tops over its four years of existence.
joe | 14 May 2015
Interesting. I’m pleased to see Le Riche up there. (Or maybe I shouldn’t be: it’s perhaps better for me if I fewer of us enjoy their wines!)
There were many strange scores though. What happened with the Kanonkop, which this blog usually enjoys? There’s also pretty large variance within producers (uncorrelated with price), e.g., Le Riche 92 vs Le Riche Reserve 84, and Stark-Conde 90 vs Stark Conde Three Pines 80.
Christian, if you did the tasting twice, on two different days, with a random ordering and blind both days, how much change do you think there would be in the scores you give?