Fleur du Cap Series Privée Merlot 2016 Stellenbosch South Africa 75cl

Fleur du Cap dates back to 1968 and the opening of Die Bergkelder, the dramatic cellar carved into the Papegaaiberg at Stellenbosch. Winemaker Kristin Basson leads the range today, selecting fruit from across the Cape winelands to make wines with a reliable sense of polish and place.

The Series Privée sits at the top of that offering. Grapes are handpicked and passed over a sorting table so that only the best berries go into the blend, and here the focus is a single-variety Merlot grown on Stellenbosch soils. It is a more serious, structured take on a grape often treated as easy-going, and the result shows what Stellenbosch Merlot can do at the top end.

The 2016 vintage came from a warm, dry season that concentrated fruit and gave Cape reds depth and colour. Wines from the harvest have generous, ripe fruit and enough structure to keep them fresh. For Merlot, that means real weight without losing the variety’s natural plushness.

On the nose it is brooding and dark, with black and red fruit, mulberry and a chocolatey richness, edged by savoury, almost olive-like herbal notes. There is a graphite, savoury undertone that stops all that dark fruit from turning sweet. The palate is smooth and generous but carried by fine tannins and fresh acidity that keep it composed.

Decant it and serve with duck, roast pork, mushroom risotto or a plate of mature hard cheese. This is Merlot with genuine ambition rather than a soft, everyday pour. It is drinking well now and will hold comfortably for several more years.