Fine wine collectors can anticipate a special edition from The Mentors wine stable with a limited edition of 1.5L magnum bottles released in October 2022. Only 200 magnums of The Mentors Perold 2019 were made to commemorate the visionary Professor Abraham Izak Perold, who was vigilant about diversifying the Cape’s viticultural offering. The wine honours Prof. Perold for the giant he was, his significant contribution to KWV and for leaving behind ground-breaking, leading to the success of the South African Wine Industry today. As a magnum, the wine emphasises the rarity of the larger-than-life personalities who supported his vision for Pinotage as an indigenous varietal and, subsequently, others to now thrive.
Joining KWV in 1928, Prof. Perold’s vast contribution as a botanist and wine scientist sowed the seeds for a trajectory of excellence to blossom. The Mentors range was born from the same continuous pursuit of quality and experimentation to raise the bar and elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary.
After Prof. Perold left his university residence at Welgevallen, four Pinot Noir-Cinsault seedlings awaited their fate in the overgrown garden. Aware of his experiment but by mere serendipity, University lecturer Dr. Charlie Niehaus cycled past his house in 1935 and rescued the plants from imminent shovels. Over the decades, the enigmatic Pinotage grape rose as a raconteur and a dignitary example of a variety capable of producing fine wine. Its ability to evoke a magnitude of styles and blends intrigued The Mentors team and reignited the Perold flame to create a Cape Blend worthy of praise.
This limited release also highlights The Mentors’ ethos, where quality is unequivocal, keeping the world engaged with the ingenuity sprouting from South African soil. The Mentors Perold 2019 is an authentic and unapologetically ultra-premium benchmark for South African wine, an ambassador that masterly expresses terroir. Its intense fruit purity is poised on a foundation of freshness and latent power that will define its depth with time without forfeiting its persistence, concentration, structure, texture, and lucid colour.
Since its maiden vintage in 1996, this blend was intended to showcase a discernible blend of varieties and regions recognised as forerunners of individuality and consistent quality. The Mentors Perold 2019 consists of the outstanding quality of fruit hailing from exceptional sites in the Swartland, Stellenbosch, Paal, Wellington and Darling, utilising the individual qualities of 39% Pinotage, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Shiraz and 13% Petite Sirah.
Two Pinotage vineyards are featured in the blend. The Swartland component contributes to the wine’s concentration and intensity of flavour, while the Darling portion adds dark fruit and grippy tannin. Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from three blocks in the Helderberg ward in Stellenbosch, adding bright red fruit with lively acidity, structure, and dark fruit. The third block ensures a cooler note of pencil shavings and fynbos. A unique site with two different clones of Shiraz in Paarl seasons the wine with warm spice and a medley of red and dark fruit, whereas the Swartland Shiraz adds an undeniable structure and flavour concentration. Completing the wine is a niche touch of Paarl-sourced Petite Sirah, adding to the golden thread of perfume, complexity, depth and structure, the ultimate aim of wine with such stature.
The bunches were handpicked and sorted with scrutiny before a combination of whole-berry fermentation and judicious extraction methods honoured varietal typicity and terroir expression. The oak barrel regimes have been fine-tuned over the years to play a supporting role. After fermentation, the best wines from each varietal were selected for 12-months of barrel maturation, followed by a second selection process where the best wines are singled out for a further six-month ageing period. The final wine is then carefully blended to capture each cultivar’s essence and allowed to mature for another 12 months to marry as one.
What presents itself is pure elegance and power – a wine that entices you with the timeous discovery of every layer. Made in a modern style, its tannin is ripe and velvety, its fruit vibrant and alluring, and its finish a complete delight as it engulfs your palate with the same staying power as the legend’s memory it celebrates. As a limited edition, these 200 magnums encapsulate The Mentor teams’ unscrupulous dedication to sharing the best South Africa offers.
For more information about KWV The Mentors, and to shop online, visit www.kwv.co.za.