Greg Sherwood MW: Bellevue blind tasting – Stellenbosch property shines again

I’ve always loved a blind comparative tasting. It’s the truest yardstick of quality and style: a level playing field that sets a wine in context, benchmarks a winemaker’s efforts, and rewards those who have the confidence to put their craft forward for scrutiny.

So when Stellenbosch estate Bellevue invited me to a blind tasting of their latest releases, I jumped at the chance. Organised by sales manager Luan Aucamp with long-standing winemaker Wilhelm Kritzinger, a panel of 10 tasters gathered at Cape Town’s stylish Salon Restaurant to tackle six fascinating flights.

Bellevue is one of those historic Cape estates with a textured past, now reinvigorated under new ownership after the Morkel family era. The farm may have slipped off the fine wine radar in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but with the spotlight once again on Stellenbosch’s great heritage properties, Bellevue is reasserting its place through both its pedigree and its remarkable old vines.

Long a “best-kept secret” – selling bulk wine and parcels of prized fruit to some of the Cape’s most famous names – Bellevue is now bottling wines that stand tall on their own merits. Their old-vine Cinsault and Pinotage are rightly celebrated, but the range extends well beyond, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and even a 1976 Chenin Blanc of note.

Just last year at the Old Vine Conference Tasting in London, I was struck by their precision and quality. And more recently, the team had further cause for celebration: three double golds at the Michelangelo 2025 Wine Awards, plus the Cabernet Franc Trophy for the second year running – a fitting accolade for fruit that has previously gone into some of the Cape’s finest bottlings, including those of Raats Family Wines.

The tasting format was simple but compelling: six flights of three wines each, every set including a Bellevue release pitched against two respected South African benchmarks. All red this time, with their old-vine Eselgraf Chenin Blanc sitting it out. My notes and scores, taken blind, follow below – unchanged after the reveal.

Flight One:

Wine 1 – Kaapzicht Rooiland Pinotage 2022, Stellenbosch

Aromatically lifted with cinnamon and exotic herbs, potpourri, fynbos and a delicate wood spice. The palate is plush, fresh and sleek textured with fine chalky tannins, a juicy underlying acidity and real red fruit vibrancy. Finish is warming and generous. 94/100 GSMW

Wine 2 – Bellevue Estate Pinotage Reserve 2022, Stellenbosch

The aromatics of quite exotic with intense black berry, damson plum, blueberries and a hint of cedar and vanilla pod spice. The palate is incredibly plush, sweet fruited and generous, full of silky soft creamy tannins, fleshy red and black berry fruits, finishing with a big concentration and notable length. 95+/100 GSMW

Wine 3 – Beyerskloof Kriekbult Pinotage 2022, Stellenbosch

Beautifully fragrant aromatics of violets, black cherry and black currant. There’s an alluring spicy, earthy note with a touch of boot polish and polished mahogany. In the mouth, this is full, seamless and beautifully textured but also cool, creamy and well balanced. Plenty of blue and black berry fruit concentration supported by freshness and silky soft tannins. Very impressive wine in a more hedonistic style. 96/100 GSMW

An impressive first flight where all three wines shone brightly, showing excellent typicity, richness and exotic opulence but also great balance and harmony. For Bellevue’s Pinotage Reserve 2022, Wilhelm attributes the wines elegance to a long cold extraction process in chilling tanks to help with gentle extraction and fruit balance without any harsher characters that can arise with warmer, more tumultuous fermentations.

Malo was done in barrel where the wine spent 22 months, 60% of which was new in the first year before the wine was racked to older passage barrels for the second year. “Bottling with an acidity of around 6 to 6.5g/l TA is crucial to make the wine mouthwatering and ‘moreish’, rather than dense and weighty. I want to be able to drink more than one glass!” Wilhelm proclaims.

Flight Two:

Wine 1 – Bellevue Tamara 2021, Stellenbosch

Attractive savoury black currant fruits with aromatics of wet tobacco, samson plum, tilled earth and sweet breakfast tea. The palate is ripe and fruity but also cool, fine and harmonious. Plenty of cedar and spice, fine powdery grippy tannins and a juicy supporting acidity. 94+/100 GSMW

Wine 2 – Hartenberg The Mackenzie 2021, Stellenbosch

Intricate aromatics full of potpourri, musk, red and black berry fruits with a dusting of sweet vanilla pod spice. A very correct, classical wine that doesn’t put a foot wrong. Lovely texture on the palate, fine purity and harmony with a cool, restrained finish. Excellent fruit concentration, a weightless intensity and an impressive finish. 95+/100 GSMW

Wine 3 – Taaibosch Crescendo 2020, Stellenbosch

A hint of reduction still on the nose before saline cassis, violets, salty black currant and some savoury earthy hints. Plenty of black berry fruit on the palate that is dominated by a dusty, savoury minerality, fine spicy dusty tannins, graphite and a long, focused restrained finish. 95/100 GSMW

Another fascinating flight with the Taaibosch winning the prize for elegance and mineral classicism. The Mackenzie had the all-round appeal, and the Bellevue Tamara showed a fine balance between modernity, elegance and classical restraint. As Wilhelm explained, “the Koffieklip and Glenrosa soils at Bellevue tend to emphasize the black currant and cassis character of the fruit’s intensity.” Another closely-run flight with probably the Hartenberg taking the honours with its classical Cape Bordeaux Blend precision.

Flight three:

Wine 1 – Rustenberg Peter Barlow 2022, Stellenbosch

Impressive aromatics showing pink musk perfume, blueberries, sappy spice, sweet baking herbs, black tea and graphite hints. The palate is sleek and intense with lovely focus, creamy dense rich black fruits, hints of tilled earth, finishing with a big concentration and impressive depth of flavour. 94+ GSMW

Wine 2 – Meerlust Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, Stellenbosch

Bright and fresh aromatics showing crème de cassis, salty black currant, a touch of reduction, sweet cherry pipe tobacco, graphite and dried herbs. There is a real precision on the palate, a harmonious mouthfeel and deliciously sweet fruited with silky tannins and great length. This is serious. 96/100 GSMW

Wine 3 – Bellevue Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2023, Stellenbosch

An impressive wine with deep, dark rich aromatics, full of broody black fruits, tilled earth, damson plums, wet tobacco and tannery leather. The palate is plush and fresh showing lovely balance with a silky mouthfeel, a hint of salty caramel oak and a long, intense finish. Plenty of power and precision on this sophisticated offering. 95+/100 GSMW

Interestingly, Oom Dirkie Morkel, the previous owner, was not a Cabernet Sauvignon admirer, preferring Pinotage instead. That has all changed with the new owner who loves Cabernet. This was an impressive flight, with the Meerlust 2021 stealing the limelight with its sublime purity and elegance. But the Bellevue Cabernet, first produced in only 2018, was astonishingly good as well.

Flight Four:

Wine 1 – Raats Family Cabernet Franc 2022, Stellenbosch

A beautifully sophisticated red wine packed with complex aromas of red and black berries, gun smoke, dried herbs, fynbos and tea leaf spice. The palate is beautifully supple and fine, showing chalky tannins, sweet fruits, and a delicately sappy depth of black currants. Silky soft and very long finish. 96/100 GSMW

Wine 2 – Bellevue Cabernet Franc Reserve 2023, Stellenbosch

Hints of exotic fruits on the nose together with tilled earth, black currants, plums, and spicy cedar. The palate is incredibly sophisticated, cool and polished with a harmonious texture, velvety tannins and a weightless concentration on the finish. Very impressive. 97/100 GSMW

Wine 3 – Rainbow’s End Cabernet Franc 2024, Stellenbosch

A ripe youthful expression, purple in the glass packed full of sweet black berry fruits, mulberries and black currant compote. Not a pyrazine in sight. The palate is broad and creamy with a weightless concentration, plush fleshy depth, oak and vanilla spice, and a touch of graphite on the fresh finish. Young but a belter. 95/100 GSMW

A very strong flight that had the tasters swooning. But true to form, the trophy-winning Bellevue Cabernet Franc 2023 showed its class. This winery has some very, very good Franc fruit indeed. If you are a follower of this variety, don’t miss out on this wine. But apparently only 250 bottles left in the country, and it has not even been officially released yet. I hope to track some down in London for sure. South Africa is really excelling with Cabernet Franc at the moment.

Flight Five:

Wine 1 – Bellevue Heritage 1952 Cinsault 2024, Stellenbosch

A rich opulent wine with a certainly fleshy depth and aromatics of fynbos, dried herbs, bay leaves and Turkish delight. Some earthiness develops. There is an incredible mouthfeel, weightless concentration and a suave breadth and depth of red and black berry fruits. Intense and very long finish. 96/100 GSMW

Wine 2 – Lee Passant Basson Vineyard Cinsault 2023, Wellington

A far more expressive, perfumed aromatics primed with potpourri, dried herbs, Turkish delight and Rose water. A slight smokiness develops. There is excellent depth of fruit, a really cool, creamy, glycerol texture and a fairly classical restraint on the focused finish. 95+/100 GSMW

Wine 3 – Scions of Sinai Heldervallei Cinsault 2024, Stellenbsoch

Pristinely pure aromatics show red berries, strawberry, rose petals and Turkish delight complexity. The texture is impressive and the mouthfeel classical in depth and harmony. Very distinguished style that’s still tight, mineral and should open up further. 94/100 GSMW

This was a bit of a two-horse race between the Bellevue and the Leeu Passant, both of which were really singing. We thought Bernard’s wine might have had a little bit of bottle shock as it seemed unusually taut and restrained, less expressive than when tasted on previous occasions. Delicious none the less.

Flight 6:

Wine 1 – Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage 2023, Stellenbosch

Fabulously deep dark and earthy on the nose which is packed full of bramble berry fruits, sappy spice, red currant compote and potpourri herbal notes with a bruleed edge. The palate is big and intense, concentrated, pithy, picante and spicy with ruby grapefruit, pomegranate, Turkish delight, and cranberry compote on the finish. An interesting youthful bitterness adds interest. Certainly a very serious Pinotage! 95+/100 GSMW

Wine 2 – Lanzerac Wines 1959 Commemorative Pinotage Cuvee 2019, Stellenbosch (made from the 1953 Bellevue Pinotage vineyard)

This is undoubtedly a premium expression of Pinotage. Exotic aromatics are packed with herbs and potpourri, fynbos, mint leaf, five spice and rose petals before ruby grapefruit and blood orange. Super sleek in the mouth with silky tannins, a plush texture and some serious concentration and length on the finish. 96+/100 GSMW

Wine 3 – Bellevue Heritage Pinotage 2021, Stellenbosch

This shows a classical nose of dried herbs, potpourri, red berries cranberry, rose petals and pink musk. The acids are zesty and the palate textured and fleshy, superbly complex with a seamless harmony. Very classy expression with plenty of pedigree. 97/100 GSMW

Six flights and 18 wines later, the lunch gong sounded and we moved upstairs to the Pot Luck Club to unpack the results and put them in context. I love blind tastings at the best of times – even more so when I haven’t selected the wines, which makes the exercise both more challenging and more revealing.

This write-up isn’t meant to read like an advertorial for Bellevue. The point is that the winemaker backed his wines in a tough arena. They didn’t “win” every flight, but they showed remarkably well – especially to tasters who hadn’t encountered them in years.

It takes real confidence to line up your bottles against some of the country’s finest. Looking at my own scores, I was impressed at how high many Bellevue wines landed, particularly given that blind tasting often shaves off a point or two. This is a resurgent estate from the heart of Stellenbosch, and I look forward to more producers showing the same courage.

• Greg Sherwood was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and as the son of a career diplomat, spent his first 21 years traveling the globe with his parents. With a Business Management and Marketing degree from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Sherwood began his working career as a commodity trader. In 2000, he decided to make more of a long-held interest in wine taking a position at Handford Wines in South Kensington, London, working his way up to the position of Senior Wine Buyer over 22 years. Sherwood currently consults to a number of top fine wine merchants in London while always keeping one eye firmly on the South African wine industry. He qualified as the 303rd Master of Wine in 2007.