Our Wine of the Week is the Bruce Jack Reserve Stream of Consciousness red blend. Founded by the celebrated winemaker Bruce Jack, Bruce Jack Wines is a global wine company specialising in making little bottles of joy.
They are an independent, family-owned amalgamation of brands which celebrate authenticity and provenance. They are different in the way that they source their grapes, communicate about their wine, relate to their customers, and distribute around the world. Ultimately, they believe wine is a historic, sophisticated, intriguing and joyful staple in an otherwise confusing and chaotic world.
“We take our winecraft very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” their website reads. “We believe in having fun, but we also believe in standing up for the underdog and doing the right thing. We believe the best wine always portrays the hallmarks of authenticity and honesty. We believe wine should add joy to life.”
The Bruce Jack Reserve range consists of six super-premium wines that are handcrafted from specially-grown grapes. For this range, the winemaking team uses ancient techniques like open-top fermenters, manual punch downs, and barrel fermentation with wild yeast. The Bruce Jack Reserve Stream of Consciousness is a blend of Cinsault, Shiraz and Grenache.
By way of describing this wine, Bruce Jack writes:
“Sometimes we try too hard. No matter how carefully you bake that carrot cake your mother-in-law’s scowls may never fade, and your mates didn’t laugh at your joke the first time for a reason – repeating that witty pun won’t help, it just makes you look pathetic…
Sometimes we try too hard. Ironically, our insecurity, just like our ego, gets the better of us. This is normal. If it didn’t, we would be narcissistic, which means we would probably want to be a career politician and not a valuable member of the collective fabric that holds the essential good of humanity together.
Sometimes we try too hard… we force things, like relationships that are doomed, like keeping a favourite dog alive when it needs to move on… Sometimes we need to stop trying and let life happen, sometimes we need to become one with the stream of consciousness.”
The Bruce Jack Reserve Stream of Consciousness’ hedonistic nose of chocolate-smothered purple plums, framed by vanilla and Indian spices, introduces a palate of enveloping black and red forest fruit, with brambles and white pepper. This red wine can be enjoyed now or cellared at a cool temperature for 5 years.
The Bruce Jack Reserve Stream of Consciousness is the perfect pairing for sophisticated char siu bao or barbecued pork dishes. Other recommendations include Indian or Malaysian curry, roast aubergine, and ratatouille. In terms of cheese and wine pairing, the best options are conte, gruyere, or mature gouda. Bruce Jack Wines invites you to come and taste the Stream of Consciousness and the rest of their wines at their rooftop tasting centre, Jack @ SKYE, at the Hyde Hotel in Seapoint, Cape Town.
Wine business name: Bruce Jack Wines
Location: The Drift Farm, Napier, Overberg, Western Cape
In Collaboration with: wine.co.za
