Ian Naudé Merlot 2011 Stellenbosch South Africa 75cl

Ian Naudé is one of South Africa’s most respected winemakers, a specialist in old-vine fruit with more than thirty years behind him and a long spell as cellarmaster at Adoro before launching his own family label. Neal Martin has called him one of the Cape’s unsung heroes. His reputation rests on restraint and character, which makes this particular Merlot an intriguing outlier.

This is a Merlot from Stellenbosch, rounded out with a small splash of Grenache from the same vintage. Where much of Naudé’s later work is pale and low in alcohol, this is an older, fuller style, weighing in at a hefty 15.5% and given an unusually long maturation in oak, staying in barrel until 2018.

The 2011 vintage gives the wine real age. More than a decade on, this is a mature bottle to be enjoyed for its developed, savoury complexity rather than for primary fruit. Older single-parcel wines like this are really bought for the extra layers only time in bottle can deliver.

Expect intense dark fruit, chocolate and warm, savoury spice, with the extended oak lending structure and a lick of cedar. There is a leathery, tobacco-like maturity now sitting alongside the fruit. The palate is rich, dense and long, its warmth balanced by the freshness and grip Naudé is known for.

This is a big, serious red for the table. Decant it and serve with slow-cooked beef, venison or a mature hard cheese on a cold evening. It is a wine to linger over rather than open on a whim.