SOMMELIER RETREAT

The 2016 Delaire Graff Botmaskop will take you on a walk through the mountains and lush valleys of South Africa. This Bordeaux-styled red wine is a blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec, and it's named after the Botmaskop mountain peak that the Delaire Graff estate sits on in Stellenbosch. Made during a difficult year for South Africa, which had very little rainfall and unusually hot temperatures that didn't drop during the night, it still has pleasant freshness and shows full phenolic ripeness, due to the vineyards' higher elevation and the cool breeze coming from the Atlantic Ocean. It's loaded with notes of ripe blackberries, cassis, roasted red peppers and olive tapenade. It's dense but approachable and has abundant but silky tannins. It's earthy and dark on the palate, with notes of wet potting soil, moss, cedar and seaweed.