The Iconic Blue Label | Fresh & Dynamic

Tasting Notes

Réserve Exclusive Brut is an iconic Champagne that perfectly encapsulates Nicolas Feuillatte house style. Representing the entire Champagne appellation, every inch of the region comes together to reveal a glorious showcase: light, fresh and vibrant Champagne, effusing intense, expressive fruit, while extensive cellar-ageing brings appealing maturity to perfect style and consistency.

Aromas of juicy pear and crunchy apricot merge and weave in a beguiling fusion around a mass of delicate bubbles, gradually unleashing their true character over time.

Simple in its complexity, refreshing and impulsive, it is fabulously versatile with wildly contrasting flavours, and the ideal partner to pre-dinner nibbles, where Réserve Exclusive Brut encapsulates true Champagne spirit to perfection.

Blend

Aged for 3-4 years in our cellars.

The Chief Winemaker adapts dosage levels to each Champagne in order to enhance its flavours and aromas. The choice of reserve wine is crucial and takes into consideration a whole range of factors, including the proportion of cru wines, year of harvest, grape varieties, and vinification and ageing methods, in order to guarantee the intrinsic style of each Champagne.

Medals & Accolades

• Gold Medal - Sakura Japan Women Wine Awards 2021
• Silver Medal- Mundus Vini Spring Tasting 2022 & Champagne Masters 2022
• Silver Medal 92/100 - International Wine & Spirit Competition 2022
• 92/100 - Wine Spectator December 2022
• 91/100 - James Suckling Tasting June 2022

Specifications

 Thanks to expressive fruit – but without excessive concentration – Château Bonnet's red wine is unquestionably charming. In fact, it is a benchmark in Bordeaux. The wine is best enjoyed on the young side, although the quality tannin ensures good ageing for several year. With its fresh red cherry notes, this wine makes a great pairing for grilled meats and cheese platters.

Tasting Notes

Colour

Deep ruby-red color scattered with purple highlights. 

Nose

The nose is very attractive and fruity, revealing a delicious array of fresh fruit notes (cherry), underpinned by subtle hints of spice.

Palate

This beautiful Bonnet starts out straightforward on the palate, becoming very round, delicious and sweet. Fresh red fruit aromas (cherry) follow through to the palate.

Production

Grapes come from clay-limestone hilltop vineyards of Grézillac in the Entre-deux-Mers. Aged 12 months in 20% new oak barrels.

Rating

• 91 points from Decanter Magazine

Specifications

A very fruity, velvety, rich Pessac-Léognan , with well-balanced tannins.

Tasting Notes 

Colour

Garnet red

Nose

Intense, with notes of fresh red fruits, slightly spicy

Palate

Elegant and balanced, with notes of red fruits, round and harmonious tannins

Estate

Château de Rochemorin belonged in the 18th century to the philosopher, Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, author of the famous Persian Letters. The latter willingly became the ambassador of Rochemorin red wines to his friends, men of letters and other notables, during his numerous trips to Europe, never forgetting to praise the beautiful complexity and the mineral notes on the nose and on the palate balanced and fine, their melted and fine tannins in the finish make them a sure value of the appellation.

The vines of Château de Rochemorin which give rise to this Pessac-Léognan red occupy no less than 87 hectares on a gravel terroir typical of the appellation. Two grape varieties are represented: Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, from vines with an average age of 20 years. The result is a very fruity, velvety, rich wine, with well-balanced tannins.

This vast vineyard is harvested by hand and machine with mechanical sorting for plot vinification in thermoregulated stainless steel vats, before aging for 12 months in barrels comprising 30 to 40% new wood.

Specifications

Tasting Notes 

History

Jeremy Walker founded Grangehurst in 1992, when he converted his fathers’ squash court into a makeshift wine production cellar. He used the ‘squash court cellar’ to make his first 6 vintages, only moving out after the 1998 vintage.

Jeremy was invited to join the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild in 1996 and was one of the longest standing members when, in order to let a young winemaker take his place in the sun, he elected to step down in 2021.

The word “Nikela” (pronounced “Ni-care-la”) is a Nguni (Xhosa/Zulu) word meaning “to offer a gift of dedication, respect or a tribute to one’s ancestors” – this wine being a tribute to winemaker Jeremy Walker’s late parents, Eddie and Betty, who contributed greatly to the establishment of Grangehurst, which was named after their childhood homes – “The Grange” and “Hurst Close” – in England.

Origin

Selected from prime Helderberg and Simonsberg vineyards in Stellenbosch. The southerly summer sea-breezes that blow over the cool waters of False Bay contribute greatly to the quality of the grapes from these vineyards – especially those in the Helderberg.

Fermentation

After destalking and crushing the grapes, the mash was fermented in open tanks for between 5 and 14 days on the skins. The cap of skins was punched down and mixed with the juice 4 to 6 times per day to ensure optimum extraction of colour, tannin and flavours. After completion of the alcoholic fermentation, the free-run wine was drawn off and the skins were gently pressed in basket presses. The press wine was blended with the free-run wine in stainless steel tanks before being transferred to small oak barrels. Malolactic fermentation occurred in tanks and barrels.

Clarification

This wine was clarified according to the natural settling and racking method, which does not involve the use of any fining agents, centrifuges or filters – a natural, unhurried method of clarifying wine.

Barrel Maturation

The various component wines – Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Shiraz, Merlot and Mourvèdre – were matured in 225-litre French oak barrels for 29 months.

Bottling

Bottled at Grangehurst using a gentle gravity flow filling system. The wine flowed from the elevated bottling tanks through a cartridge filter to the hand filler and into the bottles. This was the only stage during the entire winemaking process that the wine was filtered.

Specifications

Tasting Notes

Specifications

Tasting Notes 

History

Jeremy Walker founded Grangehurst in 1992, when he converted his fathers’ squash court into a makeshift wine production cellar. He used the ‘squash court cellar’ to make his first 6 vintages, only moving out after the 1998 vintage.

Jeremy was invited to join the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild in 1996 and was one of the longest standing members when, in order to let a young winemaker take his place in the sun, he elected to step down in 2021.

The Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend has been part of the Grangehurst range since our maiden vintage in 1992. As a young wine, still in barrel, the 1992 vintage was adjudged the SA Champion Wine. The 1993 vintage was Wine Magazine’s first 5-star red wine and the 1995 was a Platter 5- star wine. Other vintages of this wine have also been highly regarded, and Grangehurst Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is a fine quality Bordeaux-style wine with a good track record.

Origin

Selected from prime vineyard areas in Stellenbosch viz. the slopes of the Helderberg Mountain and the Simonsberg. The southerly summer sea-breezes that blow over the cool waters of False Bay contribute greatly to the quality of the grapes from these vineyards.

Fermentation

After destalking and crushing the grapes, the mash was fermented in open tanks for between 8 and 14 days on the skins. The cap of skins was punched down and mixed with the juice 4 to 6 times per day to ensure optimal extraction of colour, tannin and flavours. After completion of the alcoholic fermentation, the free-run wine was drawn off and the skins were gently pressed in a basket press. The press wine was blended with the free-run wine in stainless steel tanks before being transferred to small oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation occurred in tanks and barrels.

Clarification

This wine was clarified according to the natural settling and racking method, which does not involve the use of any unnatural fining agents, centrifuges or filters. This method of clarifying wine prevents it from being stripped of flavours.

Barrel Maturation

The various component wines were matured separately in 225 litre French oak barrels for 27 months prior to blending.

Bottling

Bottled at Grangehurst using a gentle gravity flow filling system. The wine flowed from the elevated bottling tanks through a cartridge filter to the hand filler and into the bottles. This was the only stage during the entire winemaking process that the wine was filtered.

Specifications

A very classy St Emilion Grand Cru.

Tasting Notes

Juicy red and black fruits with some drier cedary streaks on the palate. A classy, complex wine with fantastic structure and a long-lingering finish.

Producer

Domaines Bouyer was a group of two top Bordeaux estates that by 2008 covered 18 hectares in Saint-Emilion. The Saint-Emilion properties Château Milon Grand Cru and Clos de la Cure Grand Cru have been in the Bouyer family for over seven generations, before being joined in 2010 by the newly purchased 56 are (0.56 hectare) Clos 56 in Pomerol. In the capable hands of Alexia and Pierre Bouyer, the domaine takes an ecological approach to the running of the estates aiming to bring out the best of their terroir marked by the fullness of ripe Merlot with intense red fruit aromas underpinned by delicate tannins.

Production

A portion of the vines are situated on the Saint Christophe des Bardes plateau and the rest are situated on the plateau of Saint Etienne de Lisse, covering a total area of 7.5 hectares. The vineyard has clay topsoil over limestone sub-soil. Vines are 25-30 years old with a vine density of 6600-9000 vines per hectare. Grapes are harvested both by hand and machine, yielding 35-40 hl per hectare. Vines are pruned in single guyot and leaf thinning and green harvesting is carried out. Prefermentation cold soaking. Vinification in tank with punching down and 3-4 weeks post-fermentation maceration in temperature controlled tanks. The wine was then matured between 12 - 15 months in barrel (new). Cellar potential between 10 - 15 years.

Specifications

Tasting Notes

Colour

Elegant pale-pink color, evoking a rose petal.

Nose

On the nose, Miraval Rosé shows all its elegance: beautifully fresh, it exudes aromas of fresh fruit, currants and fresh rose with a zest of lemon.

Palate

The refinement continues in the mouth with beautiful liveliness and gourmet notes that subtly balance the mineral and saline notes. An irresistible wine that ends with a long finish with lemony notes.

Vinification

The grapes are harvested exclusively in the morning and sorted twice. Destemming. ‘Pressurage direct’ for Cinsault, Grenache and Rolle. The Syrah is vinified partially using the «saignee» method. Vinified in temperature - controlled stainless steel vats (95%) and in barrels (5%) with batonnage.

Producer

Tucked away in its own private valley in the ancient village of Correns – the first organic village in France – Miraval covers 500 hectares of land in the heart of Provence. The magnificent Chateau is set in a cirque surrounded by ancient woods, olive trees, vi­neyards and abundant water supply. Lush wildlife combines with the beautiful Provencal climate and quality Mediterranean lifestyle to reveal an enchanting oasis. Miraval's exclusive valley location embodies an exceptional terroir. Terroir is the expression of the soil, the climate and the history of the land – the essence of the wine. At an altitude of 350 meters the vines are privileged to enjoy warm, sunny days and cool nights, bringing freshness and balance to the wines. 

Specifications