TOKARA rounds out acclaimed Reserve Collection with long-awaited Cabernet Sauvignon

Wednesday, 7 September, 2016
TOKARA Wines
Almost two decades after the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted high on the Simonsberg slopes of TOKARA, the estate has expanded its acclaimed Reserve Collection with the long-awaited release of the TOKARA Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2013.

The Reserve Collection is dedicated to showcasing the unique terroir of TOKARA’s vineyards and specifically the varietal character expressed from these vineyards.

“In terms of style our ranges cater for different occasions,” explains Miles Mossop, winemaker for TOKARA, who says the Reserve Collection acts as the transition between the everyday wines of the TOKARA wines, to the flagship Director’s Reserve range. “The Reserve Collection is a more complex offering; these are wines to be enjoyed with cuisine, and wines that can be aged.”

“The wines in the Reserve Collection are always made from our own grapes,” adds Miles Mossop, winemaker at TOKARA since 2000, and the current chairman of the Cape Winemakers’ Guild. “Cabernet Sauvignon is a star performer in Stellenbosch and the Simonsberg, where our vineyards are planted, producing truly outstanding Cabernet.”

While Cabernet Sauvignon vines were first planted in 1997 on the TOKARA Estate, it was only in 2013 that the quality of fruit was at the desired level to release a single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon as part of the award-winning Reserve Collection offering.

The TOKARA Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is largely blended from three vineyard blocks on TOKARA’s Simonsberg estate. Planted at altitudes ranging from 170 to 380 metres above sea level, the west-facing vineyards gifted the vines with precious extra hours of sunlight to aid in the long, slow ripening that leads to true phenolic ripeness.

Not that Mossop is beholden to working with distinct vineyard blocks.

“In the end we’re trying to express Cabernet Sauvignon from our estate,” says Mossop. “I believe you gain more complexity, and a more complete wine, if you blend from across the vineyards you have to work with.”

The TOKARA Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon certainly offers a superb glimpse of how the estate’s unique terroir balances Old World elegance and New World expression in Cabernet Sauvignon.

“We’re a New World producer and can’t move away from that, so the wine has nice fruit concentration with relatively supple tannins. But then it’s also fairly classic and Old World in style,” adds Mossop, who has worked harvests in France, Italy and Australia.

Much of the wine’s complexity comes from carefully planned diversity in the vineyards, with a variety of clones contributing fruit expression, tannin and structure that come into harmony in the final blend.

And for Mossop, a Stellenbosch graduate who holds double B.Sc degrees; in Oenology and Viticulture, as well as Geology and Geo-chemistry; the creation of the final blend is about science more than art.

“Though the process is creative by nature, unlike an artist who may indiscriminately apply paint to a canvas to see what emerges; I tend to approach blending in a more orderly manner to pre-empt the final outcome,” explains Mossop. “I start with the most structured wines, because I want my Cabernet to have longevity, then I’ll improve on it by bringing in wines that are more perfumed and offer dark fruit concentration. Then it’s simply about combining those elements in a harmonious way.”

That harmony and perfection were certainly worth waiting for, and the TOKARA Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is set to become a benchmark for quality Cabernet in Stellenbosch.

Only 7500 bottles of the current vintage have been released, with sales focused on cellar door sales, specialist wine shops, duty-free outlets and the restaurant trade.

TOKARA is open 9am-5pm weekdays and 10am-3pm on Saturdays and Sundays. For further information visit www.tokara.com, email wine@tokara.com or phone +27.218085900. Follow TOKARA on Twitter @TOKARA_ZA and like them on Facebook www.facebook.com/TokaraSA

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TOKARA Winemaker Miles Mossop
TOKARA Winemaker Miles Mossop

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