BOPLAAS Family Vineyards has been awarded the title of Port of the Year, and received a five-star rating from the esteemed Platter’s South African wine guide, South Africa’s most influential wine publication. In addition, the celebrated winery also collected Platter’s highest ratings for no less than 10 of its wines.
The top achiever was Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve Port 2020, which follows in the five-star footsteps of the 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2015 vintages.
The winery uses Portuguese varieties and traditional vinification while remaining true-to-style in creating wine that offers decades of enjoyment.
The selected fruit was at optimal ripeness, hand harvested and fermented in lagars. Intense manual pigeage was applied to extract optimal flavour, colour, and tannin prior to fortification with wine spirits. It was matured for a year in old lagar pipes before being bottled, unfined and unfiltered.
Inky black in colour with hints of purple-black on the rim, the wine shows a bouquet of crushed blackberries, tart cranberries, kirsch, and blue vio-lets. Bright top notes of all-spice mingle with fynbos and savoury undercurrents on the palate.
The five-star ports hold special significance for the farm. Boplaas has long championed Portuguese grape varieties and been a leader in the making of local port-style wines. It has won the SA Champion Port Trophy no less than 10 times.
Portuguese grapes thrive in the Calitzdorp region because they are hardier and well-adapted to warmer climates. It is anticipated that they will play a bigger role as the impact of global climate change intensifies.
The story of how these varieties became the focus of the farm begins with an accident. It was during the 1970s that Boplaas patriarch Oupa Danie Nel returned from a Swartland visit with the usual mementos, including a few bottles of Shiraz. Friends and neighbours made short work of the wine, so the decision was taken that this was a variety to plant.
Vines were sourced and established. Only later however was it discovered that his father’s vines were Tinta Barocca and not the intended Shiraz. A trip to Portugal followed and soon the Nel’s had befriended many of the Douro’s top port producers. Over decades they were exposed to fine fortified wines, acquiring the art of crafting them too.
Boplaas wins Port of the year
Micheal Baardman, Margaux Nel (winemaker), and Andries Jacobs with the winning Port and Certificate from Platter’s South African wine guide. Photo supplied