Stunning sirens
UK-based South African wine brand Stormhoek certainly talk a good game. Do their wines match up to the largely self-generated hype?I was sent through their two new 'Siren' wines. I was gobsmacked by their appearance. They look absolutely stunning. I showed them to Fiona, and she agreed. They bottles are made from clear glass, but rather than have a standard punt at the bottom they've got a lovely solid sort of chunky glass foot to them. It's hard to describe properly, but it looks impressive. Label design is spot on. Visually, these wines are incredibly appealing, and despite what we'd like to believe, appearance matters a fair bit.
The bottles are screwcapped, but Stormhoek have done their closures homework and the caps have the saranex-only liner. On the back label there is an innovative freshness indicator, telling punters when the wines will drink best.
Reassuringly, it's not just style without substance. The liquid in the bottle is impressive, as I hope my notes below indicate. At £7.99 these are very good value.
Stormhoek The Siren Pinotage 2005 Western Cape, South AfricaBeautifully packaged in clear glass, this Pinotage has a ripe, sweet, subtly meaty nose with bright red fruits and a subtle green herbal edge. The palate is juicy and vibrant with nice ripe juicy fruit and some meatiness. It's a very well mannered Pinotage and the trace of greenness works well in combination with the chocolatey richness. Quite delicious. Very good+ 87/100 £7.99
Stormhoek The Siren Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Western Cape, South Africa
Full, perfumed, fresh grassy nose with lots of fruit. The palate is zippy with nice balance between the ripe fruit and the grassy freshness. A stylish, full-flavoured Sauvignon with real appeal. Assured winemaking here. Very good+ 88/100 £7.99
Stockists lists: Sauvignon Blanc (Define Food and Wine, Cheshire; Imbibros, Godalming; Vineyards, Sherborne; BV Liquormart, London; The Vineking, Reigate; Worth Brothers, Lichfield; Vinology, Stratford-upon-Avon; Magnum Wine, Swindon; EWGA, Silverdale, Lancashire; Wines in Cornwall; Wines of the World, Earlsfield, London; Denby Dale Wines, Yorkshire; Harrogate Fine Wines.
Pinotage (Define Food and Wine, Cheshire; Imbibros, Godalming; Vineyards, Sherborne;
BV Liquormart, London; The Vineking, Reigate; Worth Brothers, Lichfield; Vinology, Stratford-upon-Avon; Magnum Wine, Swindon; EWGA, Silverdale, Lancashire; Wines in Cornwall;
Wines of the World, Earlsfield, London; Denby Dale Wines, Yorkshire; Harrogate Fine Wines)
Labels: Pinotage, Sauvignon Blanc, south africa
posted by Jamie @ 7:45 PM
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4 Comments:
It is with a sense of pride that I say that it really great to see a South African wine challenging the norm, being incredibly innovative and embracing the future.
Be it the freshness indicator, the glass bottle or using a blog format to launch and catapult their wine to an international audience - their 'vibe' is very cool - and whats more, the wine inside lends its weight to all these factors!!
All I can say is, well done Stormhoek and lets get rid of all the sh*te South African wine that is being shamelessly flogged at the likes of Sainsbury's and Tesco - they are far from a good indication of how great and world class our wines can be.
Viva weird and wonderful boutique wines from SA, viva.
Interesting Jamie,as I have yet to taste a Stormhoek wine that I would wish to have in my cellar.However,as I respect your palate,I shall seek out these wines here,and let you know what I think of them.
Fuck all of you that critisize any wine with any experience.Why should you think you have the right to judge from the side line when you are not even in the game.[In the game means on the fucking field.]I will only respect people that have worked a few years between the vines in full sun and cold winters and then a few harvests in the cellar to get the true magnitude of wine.Mr.Good I doubt that you have ever perform any of these work duties.You think you are God with the way you judge on which wine is fit and which are foul,to fully understand terrior and wine and appreciate the difference between them you need to come full circle.,other wise shut the fuck up you are in no position to judge.If you think Diemmersfontein has made some of the better Pinotage's out there it proof's my point.A wine that is so manipulated to taste that blow's my mind but being one of your selctions make's fully sence.
So I guess that you will not have the balls to post MY COMMENT but please e- mail me at riaan1977@hotmail.com[ why do you think you can make money on judging other people's products and decide that it's good or bad, let the wine decide not you ,if people like it they buy it if they don't they won't and leave it at the mercy of the customer and producer .Please stop leaching off others products by being a judge, did you even ask the produser if you can judge there wine ,you might have purchased the bottle but that doesn't mean you can build a business on aprove or not aprove it publicly.You are far to remove from wine to have these rights.
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