Taaibosch

There was a point during my morning visit to Taaibosch when, after inspecting the winery and vineyards, we descended the Lower Helderberg Mountains in Shalk-Willem Joubert’s jeep, and I enquired about the price of his wine in the United States? “Between $40 and $50 a bottle,” he answers. I almost laugh at the absurdity of price, perhaps because I am so accustomed to the stratospheric prices found across Burgundy and Bordeaux. “Incredible,” I reply. “Frankly, I was expecting another zero on the end.” Joubert made his name at Rupert & Rothschild for a number of years until he sought a new goal in life. He virtually gave up what would have been a comfortable rest of his career when he found investors and bought the site that had previously made one of South Africa’s most coveted wines, Cordoba. Renaming the Cabernet Franc-based cuvée “Crescendo”, I tasted the maiden 2018 last year in the UK and that was good enough to prompt a visit to the estate 12 months later. Judicious use of French barriques and clever use of foudres and cement, that latter adding brightness to the wine according to Joubert, means that this is not a powerful, overwrought Bordeaux-inspired blend, but rather a wine that exudes finesse and site expression. The sophomore 2019 is a fabulous follow-up and represents incredible value in today’s inflationary market.