Clos Erasmus 2023

I tasted a sample of some barrels from the 2023 Clos Erasmus, which is going to be a very powerful wine. The grapes were very small and concentrated after two years of very warm and dry weather when the yields were very small. This is a blend of different barrels that will be fine-tuned with the addition of some other lots not included in this sample, for example a Syrah that is currently aging in an oak vat, and maybe one or two barrels could be discarded and used in the Laurel. This is aromatic and showy, very powerful indeed, right now quite raw and spicy. This has a very pungent note of freshly crushed black peppercorn, with notions of wild berries, herbs and flowers, with lots of tannins, a little more reactive. It's very young and unpolished. The idea is that this should have a longer élevage than the 2022, because the wine needs to be polished. It's ripe, with a little more alcohol (perhaps 15.7%), but there are no notes of over-ripeness. It has more concentration, really full-bodied and needs more time. "Looking at the wine during fermentation," Daphne Glorian explained, "it felt like a wild animal. At times, I feared it was going to jump out of the vat! It had incredible black fruit and always lots of spice." It was a much lower-yielding vintage than 2022, more extreme. It's a big Erasmus in the making, but it's going to need more time. There will be less than 3,000 bottles. When asked about old vintages, she mentioned 2004 with its "heavy rock attitude" but with a little more finesse. "There was a hint of over-ripeness in the 2004 that the 2023 doesn't have," she told me. - Luis Gutiérrez.