Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/551222
august 2015 / the tasting panel / 63 Anthonij Rupert nes and Protea Dawie Botha, who has a degree in science and agriculture from the University of Stellenbosch and has worked harvests in France and the U.S., is currently making the wines, along with Assistant Winemaker Mark Van Buuren (Protea Chenin Blanc). Botha and Buuren work in the winery's gravity-fed, state-of-the-art winery, which came online in 2005. Look for the Anthonij Rupert 2011 Optima ($39.99) and the Anthonij Rupert 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon ($79.99). Optima, a Bordeaux-blend, offers complex tobacco and cigar box spice notes, ripe black berry fruit and is smooth and lush on the palate—a wine with elegant tannic structure that will age well. The Cabernet Sauvignon is equally complex and boasts more black cherry and baking spice notes—a powerful and generous wine that will continue to age gracefully. And in 2013, as a kind of nod to South Africa's national flower, Rupert introduced Protea (pronounced PROH- tee-uh), which, since its launch, has become one of the fastest-selling Chenin Blanc wines in the U.S. The Protea 2014 Chenin Blanc ($17.99) is from bush vines in coastal vineyards, and the pack- aging, which is unmistakable, was designed by Mark Eisen, who has created notable works for Absolut Vodka, General Motors and the Olympics. Eisen wanted to "make the bottle more of an object of beauty." His designs, inspired by Italy's Murano glass, grace the bottles of all Protea wines. Another wine to look for is the Protea 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon blend ($17.99), made in a style that will appeal to lovers of Napa Valley Cabernet—plush, ripe, juicy, decadent mouthfeel, gripping tannins and a pleas- ant, lingering finish. For more information about Terlato's South African wines portfolio, visit www.terlatosouthafrica.com. Founded in 1694 this property lies beneath the aus- tere and imposing peaks of the Groot Drakenstein mountains in the Franschhoek wine valley. The earth here is not only rich in granitic soils, which produce robust and expressive wines, but also is rich in history, dating back to another high-ranking official of the Dutch East India Company, one Simon van der Stel, who granted the property, then known as L'Ormarins, to a young man named Jean Roi. Though not much is written about his proprietorship, the property changed hands several times, and by the early 1800s, families in and around Franschhoek were using the cellar and production facility there as a kind of early-day custom crush. In 2003, Johann Rupert, owner of such global luxury brands as Cartier, Dunhill and Montblanc, became the proprietor and renamed it after his late brother, the former proprietor, while also investing in a new winery to honor his brother's name. Their father, Dr. Anton Rupert, had acquired the historic L'Omarins property in 1968. View of Riebeeksrivier area in Riebeek Kasteel from the L'Ormarins Vineyard, where Anthonij Rupert Wines cultivates high quality Rhône varieties. State-of-the-art Anthonij Rupert winery at L'Omarins, built in 2005. Jean Roi. Though not much is written about his proprietorship, the property changed hands several times, and by the early 1800s, families in and around Franschhoek were using the cellar and production facility there as a kind of early-day custom crush. In 2003, Johann Rupert, owner of such global luxury brands as Cartier, Dunhill and Montblanc, became the proprietor and renamed it after his late brother, the former proprietor, while also investing in a new winery to honor his brother's name. Their father, Dr. Anton Rupert, had acquired the historic L'Omarins property in 1968.