Aslina Wines - Cabernet Sauvignon Stellenbosch 2020 (750ml)

  $30.00

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Producer	Aslina Wines
Country	South Africa
Region	Western Cape
Varietal	Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage	2020
Size	750ml

An amazingly talented and pioneering figure in the South African wine industry, among the very few and the first Black female winemakers in the country. When I first tried her Cabernet I was blown away, quite literally dropping everything to look up who made this gorgeous wine. Perhaps the finest Cabernet under $30 we sell and could challenge many bottles priced much higher. A quintessential example of the grape at its peak. As Eric Asimov of the times put it, "That’s why this wine was so memorable. In a universe of generic inexpensive cabernets, it was lovely: pure, dry and savory, with flavors that encompass the fruit, tobacco and herbal spectrum that can make cabernet so distinctive.”

This Cabernet Sauvignon contains a small amount of Petit Verdot, and is a full-bodied wine with hints of minty characters, cigar box and lots of dark fruits. Bold palate with chewy tannins. The drought improved grape concentration and flavors. 16 months in 225L barrels of used oak. Handpicked, distemmed, crushed, no extended skin contact, malolactic fermentation in barrels,

Ntsiki grew up in Mahlabathini, a rural village in Kwazulu Natal, and matriculated from high school in 1996. Having spent a year as a domestic worker, she was awarded a scholarship to study winemaking in 1999. She graduated in 2003 with a BSc in Agriculture (Viticulture and Oenology) at Stellenbosch University and joined boutique winery Stellekaya Wines the following year. 

Ntsiki’s ambition to create her own wines grew following a collaboration with Californian winemaker, Helen Kiplinger, as part of Mika Bulmash’s Wine for the World initiative. In addition, she has consulted in France, making wine under Winemakers Collection in Bordeaux. 

​Finally, she sits on the board of directors for the Pinotage Youth Development Academy, which provides technical training and personal development for young South Africans in the Cape Winelands, preparing them for work in the wine industry. The programme offers them the unique opportunity to emulate her own considerable success.