We recommend the best of South Africa's red blends:
Illustrating that South Africa is one of the wine world’s current hotspots for character and value, with 60% of the wines entered scoring 90 points or more.
Jason Millar, Roger Jones and Victoria Mason MW tasted 90 wines, with 9 Outstanding and 45 Highly recommended
South African red blends: Panel tasting scores
90 wines tasted
Exceptional 0
Outstanding 9
Highly recommended 45
Recommended 32
Commended 4
Fair 0
Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release red blended wines involving any grape varieties, excluding Pinotage, sourced from any region in South Africa
'Consistently high quality'
Abrie Beeslaar, Beeslaar Wines
As exciting and dynamic as South Africa’s new-wave wines can be, this tasting showed that there’s still a huge amount of character, quality and value to be found in the Cape’s more traditional grape varieties.
Stellenbosch blends based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc formed the majority of the wines submitted and were by far the dominant category when it came to the top scores.
The best of these were concentrated, fresh, balanced and structured, exhibiting the steadily increasing quality and confidence of Cape winemaking.
Stylistically, many of these wines were closest to cru classé Bordeaux in sensibility, with some erring towards Napa in their luxuriousness.
Yet most were a fraction of the price of either.
As Roger Jones remarked: ‘Overall, the entries were of a great standard, but what was especially impressive was the price range of the topscoring wines.’
Victoria Mason MW highlighted ‘the consistently high quality across a multitude of vintages with very different characteristics’.
With our nine Outstanding wines (95-96 points) spanning 2020-2023, she noted that many of the best wines possessed ‘inherent energy and brilliant freshness to temper their ripe fruit and natural power’.
Rhône-inspired beauties
Rhône-variety blends also performed well, although in South Africa, the finest fruit from these vineyards tends to go into varietal wines rather than blends.
Even so, Mullineux’s Kloof Street Red, Swerwer’s Swartland Red Blend, Beaumont’s Raoul’s Red Blend and Brookdale’s Mason Road (see recommendations) are high-scoring (93-94pts) and keenly priced arguments for not overlooking
Cape blends based on varieties such as Grenache Noir. South Africa may be the fashionable place to seek out top-notch Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but it’s also firing on all cylinders when it comes to more classic red blends.
In fact, they’ve never been better. If you’ve been snoozing on South African wine, it’s time to wake up and grab your corkscrew.
What to eat with South African red blends, by Fiona Beckett
Gormet cheeseburgers are just one of many food matching possibilities
Given the stellar showing of the classic South African Bordeaux blends, there’s a strong argument for drinking them with meals with which you would be inclined to reach for a claret, or even a Napa Cabernet, with which lead judge Jason Millar makes a favourable comparison.
That’s to say classic roasts of beef and lamb, steak or, for vegetarians, grilled Portobello mushrooms, a pairing I picked up from former sommelier, now winery owner Larry Stone.
Given the price point, they would also be a good companion for a gourmet burger, particularly a cheeseburger, and with the richness and ripeness of the fruit, they could handle a bit of spice, too.
You could think of drinking them with dishes such as the stir-fried chilli ribeye beef I had with a full-bodied Cabernet at Hunan in London’s Pimlico recently.
As far as the Rhône-style blends are concerned, think more in terms of the last slow-cooked braises and stews of the winter, transitioning to early and high summer barbecues – or braais, of course. What better match for a Saffer?
See all notes and scores from the South African red blands tasting
The judges
Jason Millar is a writer, consultant, judge and communicator with a focus on Italy and South Africa. He has a background in buying, importing and sales, and was the top WSET Diploma graduate worldwide in 2016
Roger Jones is the retired former owner of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn restaurant in Wiltshire. He is now a wine writer, judge and consultant with a particular interest in the hospitality trade, and is a DWWA judge
Victoria Mason MW is a wine buyer covering multiple regions for The Wine Society. Formerly senior fine wine buyer at Bordeaux Index, she previously worked in retailer Waitrose’s wine buying team, where her regions initially included Loire and South Africa
South African red blends panel tasting results:
Wines were tasted blind
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