Zevenwacht is a privately owned estate specialising in the production of innovative hand crafted wines. It’s fairly large for a private enterprise, about 450 hectares with 200 hectares under vine. The other 250 are dedicated to their associated enterprises all surrounded by beautiful parkland. They have a restaurant, accomodation and spa, with a chef school, a cheesery making cheese from Friesland milk, and of course a wine tasting room. They offer various functions on the estate from conferences to weddings!  Their wines are quite special. Wine maker Jacques Viljoen uses tried and tested old school methods but also embraces modern technology and innovation. The result is wines with a classical elegance and modern twist. Every single one of their wines that I’ve tried has been excellent.

What’s it like?

Again, as with the Rhone blend, Zevenwacht only produce 1200 bottles of this superb wine. The blend is made up of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Specific bunches of grapes were earmarked for this wine from three specific vineyards. Each grape variety was vinified separately then aged in new and second fill French oak for twelve months before blending to create the finished wine which was further aged for another four months prior to bottling. It’s a beautiful wine, structured and complex, with strong fruit flavours and vanilla and cedar wood tones on the long finish. It’s very good indeed, showing that South Africa is well and truly up there with the best from the rest of the world. By all accounts Jean Daneel is a big fan of this wine, and he makes some of the best reds to come out of South Africa.

How much? Where can I buy some?

You can buy the  Zevenwacht Z Bordeaux Blend from www.goodwineonline.co.uk if they have any left, at £19.95