Oude Nektar Cabernet Sauvignon 1988
By Christian Eedes, 14 October 2024
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A bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon 1988 from Jonkershoek property Oude Nektar drunk recently still had its Wine of the Month Club neck tag that was affixed to it in 1990 announcing it as Best Joint Selection 1988 – 1989 (Out of 14), and it read as follows: “A very good example of New World style Cabernet bursting with freshness, ripe fruit and sweet spicy oak… (t)uck away until 1992 and it should give great pleasure to around 1998/2000.”
According to Platter’s 1991, the Jonkershoek property Oude Nektar was “in the throes of a massive face-lift” – businessman Hans-Pieter Schröder had returned from Japan to acquire the property from the Peck family, Peter Peck the winemaker of the 1988. The guide’s rating for the 1988 was 4 Stars – “In a New World style, a major quality leap from previous softer, less complex vintages.” Today, Oude Nektar is home to Stark-Condé, run by American José Conde and his wife, Marie, daughter of Schröder.
Matured for 11 months in French and some American oak, the 1988 is today immaculate and suggests once again that Jonkershoek is a special site for Cabernet Sauvignon in the local context. Crimson with a transparent rim in colour, the nose shows cassis, violets, potpourri, oak spice and pencil shavings, a little bit of leafy character but no overt herbal/tomato leaf character as some wines of that era can show. The palate is medium bodied but the fruit is intact, the tannins still in place, fine and intricate. Pure, balanced and showing everything you want from a mature wine rather than any decay or decrepitude. Well balanced and altogether rather lovely.
CE’s rating: 97/100.
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Kwispedoor | 14 October 2024
All this, a quarter of a century after the maximum suggested drinking window. Proof again that magic sometimes happens after many years. You’ll definitely experience way fewer disappointments if you drink wines young, but the magic that only age can bring will also pass you by…