Goats Do Roam Red Wine
Wine: Goats Do Roam Red Wine.
Grapes: shiraz, grenache, cinsault, pinot noir, carignane and others
Region: Western Cape, South Africa
Vintage: 2008
Price: $7.99
In the glass: Goats Do Roam Red Wine is a deep, ruby-red color with a slight violet edge to it, coming from a semitranslucent core out into a fine purplish-red rim definition with medium-high viscosity.
On the nose: There is an immediate warm blueberry pie smell, quite meaty dark fruit like a compote of loganberries, geraniums, roasted meat, a little bacon, boxwood and some hints of earthy fleshy minerals.
On the palate: It is a big mouthful of wine with meaty black and red fruit intertwined with that toasty quality, definite red currant mash, maybe even cranberries through the midpalate, which also gives off hints of the rustic nature of the grape varieties used in this wine. There's a good, solid bright-red fruit-to-mineral finish, and the wine is not as smoky in the fruit as, for example, a pinotage from the same area.
Odds and ends: Goats Do Roam is a play of words on the much-heralded Cotes du Rhone in France. While the wines from Cotes du Rhone are world famous, this wine is from South Africa and draws inspiration from Rhone. The idea is simple: Can a good Rhone-style wine be produced in South Africa? I think the answer has to be a resounding yes. The story goes that goats roamed the property among the vines and, knowing which ones carry the best fruit, started munching away. While that story may be complete baloney, the wine speaks for itself, showing a serious effort by one of the major wine producers in South Africa, which is another up-and-coming contender for good value wines. Goats Do Roam is a blend from mostly unirrigated bush vines, as they are called in South Africa. I was tempted to recommend it with roasted goat, but since that is not common around here, try it with a roasted rack of lamb. Drink it now through 2015.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.
