Pieter Ferreira Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs 2012

On the money.

This is categorically the best bottle-fermented sparkling wine I’ve ever drunk from South Africa and given who it’s made by, it comes as no surprise. Pieter Ferreira, after starting his career at Haute Cabrière and then becoming a long-serving key player at Graham Beck, now also has his own label.

Grapes from Darling and Robertson, lees contact lasted five years. Yellow-green in colour, the nose is captivating with green apple and lemon, some smoky reduction that totally suits the wine plus some brioche and ginger. The palate – pure fruit, fresh acidity, fine mousse and a very long finish. Intensely flavoured and properly complex. Dry but not excessively austere. So, so precise. Alcohol: 12.22% and RS 3.86 g/l. Approximate retail price: R430 a bottle.

Editor’s rating: 94/100.

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