L’Avenir, Stellenbosch (South Africa) 2015

This is L’Avenir’s best red wine, just a nose in front of the “Single Block” Pinotage and tied with the wonderful “Single Block” Chenin Blanc.  Blended from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it is admirably complex, with layered flavors and texture and an essentially perfect balance of fruit and oak.  It shows the slightest herbal aromatic edge, which if experienced while tasting “blind” would make one wonder whether it is an Old or New World wine.  Yet this scent is neither vegetal nor remotely distracting…it just makes the wine easier to enjoy and harder to pigeonhole.  Cultured and convincing, this is terrific.