Graham Beck The Joshua 2003 Barrel Selection – (91% Shiraz and 9% Viognier) – while this is intriguing stuff, South Africa doesn’t offer the fruitiest concoctions of wine; this is no exception. There’s a strong note of spearmint leaf, dried as well as fresh, rubber eraser and other such wild non-fruit characteristics. Add a note of bacon, some sweet toast and coffee notes, and, well, you start to get the idea that this is complex. Then add black plum, black cherry and licorice and it gets even crazier.
The mouth is South African dry: tangy, slightly bitter from green leaves and dried leaves, more spearmint along with vanilla and other sweet barrel notes. Sweet black raspberries meet rubber tires is happening too. But I would gladly drink this again. In fact, I would insist that you do too, at least if you want to see how South Africa has wines of true personality on offer. Honestly, I could smell this wine for hours (actually, I did for days) and not tire of it. (No) pun intended.