Groote Kaap (‘The Big Cape’) red is a fruit-packed, inky-dark giant of a wine, made by multi award-winning duo Franz Smit and Jacques Erasmus. The first step was to select a sun-trap vineyard near Montagu, Western Cape (355 days of sunshine a year!). The next trick for a big, rich red like this one is to delay harvest until the very last moment, because optimum ripeness is key. After that, the fruit was picked by hand in the cool first light of morning (this keeps it impeccably fresh and aromatic). Only the fact that leopards roam the vineyards by night prevented the team from an even earlier start! As a result, this hugely popular wine packs a serious punch, but is effortlessly complex too – don’t miss it.
