For The Love Of Port

Fortified red , 19% alcool , matured in Portuguese oak barrels .
Made from low yielding old vines ( how old ? )
Colour , ruby red , good so far .
Slightly tannic on 1st taste .
After 1 hour no astringency , but an aroma bordering on grape flavored Kool-Aid !!

You may have thought that I only drink Port from Portugal but you'd be wrong. I have also spent a good amount of time in SA touring dozens of wineries and drinking tons of wine and their ports too, as well as blending 5 cuvees to bring to the USA. Two of them wound up as huge sellers. That is the background.

But more importantly, Carel Nels and his lovely wife Jeanne own Boplass (not to mention, they're partners in a holding of 47,000 hectares (2.5 ha to the acre) of land designated for conservation in nearby Rooiberg. But Carel who makes the wine at Boplass, did his Cape WineMaster thesis (the SA version of Master of Wine) on port. His passion has led fellow port makers to hold a famous Calitzdorp port festival (area name in the Little Karoo) and he has headed up the South African Port Producer's Association.

I've never had the 2005, but the 2001 although a youngster at the time (and still is) was fabulous and a near perfect vintage there. Carel and Jeanne have about 70 hectares planted if I am not mistaken. Personally I think they do a better job with their Cape Tawny port than their Cape Vintage Reserve port, but some SA friends disagree with me ... but they never drink Portuguese Port to compare, so I may just be a bit jaded.

They only make their Cape Vintage Reserve a few times a decade, just like the real stuff, when the grapes are plentiful and exceptional in quality. The two best I can remember is the fantastic 1991 and the 1999 was darn close, but I'd be thrilled to try these again!

I am sorry to admit that I don't remember the age of their Touriga Nacional vineyard which is a beauty but the Tinta Roriz averages 30 years old "ungrafted vines!", so not really old vines like some on other parts of their property. Considering that they only make 400-500 cases (at least that was the number earlier this decade during my SA escapades) there wine can certainly benefit from 10-20 years of age in the top vintages.

Although he his good friend with the Symington's, Carel is a very controversial figure in that he does not believe that the SA portmakers should "accept" NOT using the category names made famous in Portugal. He is a very vocal chap when it comes to ignoring EU agreements, at least that was the case 5 and 6 years ago.

Probably a bit more than you ever wanted to know about Boplass, but I have a weak spot for So. Africa that is close behind that of Portugal for me.

Roy , glad for the info .
Dont get me wrong , the cape vintage reserve 2005 was very good .
But after 12 hours of being open , the quality dropped dramaticaly .

I must admit that since the 2003 vintage, I have not kept up with So. African wines in general as I have a slew from the mid-1990s in my cellar that I must drink up before they turn. These were top notch producer's top tier wines ... yet none of my friends has any interest in drinking them.

Very sad indeed. I guess my wife will get another batch in her row in the cellar, but she has had more SA wines than probably any other person in Washington State besides me. I've even heard her say, "I love this Pinotage." It was a 1995 Kanonkop. Now if I could only get her to drink Madeira!

I have a 2nd bottle of 2005 cape vintage reserve port .
I'll probably bring It to the next offline . It's a toss up between Boplaas 2005 and Burmester 1944 Colheita