B Vintners Liberté Pinotage, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2020

Producer Profile

In celebration of their Bruwer family heritage cousins, Bruwer Raats and Gavin Bruwer Slabbert created Bruwer Vintners Vine Exploration Company in 2014.

Their guiding mission is to craft exceptional wines showcasing their heritage, the unique terroir and, through this, create a new future for South African wine. “We’re storytellers, always eager to honour our Cape heritage and historically-linked varieties. However, there are learnings to be taken from the past too, and it is important to incorporate these lessons today in order to produce finer wine for tomorrow’s wine drinkers,” explains Gavin. The result is a range that carefully balances two realms of the winemaking spectrum. By honouring the heritage of the Cape and incorporating innovative and minimal intervention winemaking techniques, B Vintners allows the vineyard to tell the tale, expertly crafting the most honest expression of the fruit of the vine. Today, B Vintners is an award-winning, terroir-driven range that blends a bit of the past and present to bring you a taste of the future.

Viticulture

The old vineyards are planted exclusively on decomposed granite soils, they are high-lying and in close proximity to the ocean. This combined with the philosophy of picking grapes when they are fresh and ripe, extracting flavours optimally, as well as using good judgement when integrating oak, is extremely important when crafting this special wine.

Winemaking

After fermentation the wine is aged in French Oak, 25% of which is new oak for 16 months.

Oak Ageing

Time: 16 Months
Type: French
% wine oaked: 100
% new oak: 25

Tasting Note

Elegance, freshness and finesse is key, still remaining concentrated and age able. Flavours of fresh cherries, blackcurrant and potpourri reveals itself first, with subtleties of dried herbs and spice lending complexity. The palate follows through with fruit concentration, intricate and dense structure, while hints of savoury and spice gives dimensions. The lingering taste of blueberries, is a great reminder of the wines complexity.

Food Matching

Lambshank, wild mushroom risotto or aubergine and red lentel curry

Awards

Vinous 92 Points
The 2020 Pinotage Liberté has a well-defined bouquet that blossoms in the glass: dark berry fruit, pressed flowers and hints of potpourri. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, well-structured with slightly grainy tannins, fresh and quite saline with a touch of white pepper on the finish. Superb. 92 Points, NM, August 2022.
Tim Atkin South Africa Report 2022 92 Points
Fans of the lighter, more Pinot Noir-influenced style of Pinotage may be surprised by the concentration and intensity of this example from the Polkadraai Hills, but I admire its ambition. Fermented with 50% whole bunches, Liberté has raspberry, plum and bramble fruit, fine oak and a spine of acidity and tannin. 2023-28. 92 Points, TA, 2022.