11 November 2004
Business Day
by Michael Fridjhon
“… I also tasted a couple of new wines from the Whalehaven cellar. This is another winery that recently passed into new ownership. In this case the Bottega family, who had been minority shareholders in the era of founder-winemaker Storm Kreusch, bought out their colleague in order to rejuvenate one of the oldest Walker Bay cellars. Their own vineyards, which lie between Vergelegen and Sir Lowry’s Pass, were also producing grapes which needed a home.
Whalehaven Wines will continue to be made from bought-in fruit while produce from the Bottega vineyards will be sold under the Idiom brand label. I liked the 2004 Whalehaven Viognier Chardonnay – a wine with delicious notes, tropical whiffs, finesse and food friendly textures. Given Viognier’s propensity to yield quite alcoholic wines I thought that the Chardonnay had managed to conceal quite a lot of the “bite”, which is a dead give-away of high harvest sugars.
Still, for me, the standout wine was the 2003 vintage if Idiom Sangiovese. Although it was quite oaky, with smoky – almost bouillon – notes, the tannins were fine, dense and elegant, and the wine had a very Tuscan finish. It was the best South African Sangiovese I have tasted so far. It supersedes the need to buy Chianti for something to marry the flavours of Italian cuisine. “
