Our Wine of Week is Tokara Director’s Reserve Red 2020, a highly acclaimed Cabernet Sauvignon-led Bordeaux blend from Simonsberg.
Tokara is an esteemed family-owned wine and olive estate just outside the town of Stellenbosch. The estate derives its name from the founders’ children, Thomas and Kara. Located on the upper slopes of the Simonsberg mountain, Tokara’s vineyard and olive grove overlook two of Mother Nature’s most awe-inspiring sights, False Bay and Table Mountain.
Because of its unique location, the climate, geography and soils combine to produce perfect grapes. These grapes are then hand-picked and gently transported to the state-of-the-art cellar, where the exceptionally skilled winemakers transform the fruit into award-winning Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc wines. Their premium Director’s Reserve range of wines focuses on Bordeaux-style blends. Handpicked from a single vineyard, it’s an elegant and layered range.
It includes a barrel-fermented white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and a classic Bordeaux-style red blend. Only the very best and most expressive parcels are used to create these iconic blends.
Tokara Director’s Reserve Red
The Director’s Reserve Red, Tokara’s Cabernet Sauvignon-driven flagship, is a formidable wine that continues to grow in stature since the first plantings on the slopes of the Simonsberg 25 years ago. Highly acclaimed with prestigious accolades and impressive scores from leading local and international wine judges, the Director’s Reserve Red represents everything Tokara exemplifies – refinement, elegance and balance. It is the embodiment of Tokara’s red vineyards in every respect.
“From the initial plantings until today, 25 years later, the sites and cultivar selection have been chosen with this wine top of mind. As a five-way Bordeaux-style blend it is a repository of the best of each variety, combined in a stylish and long-lived wine. Enjoying meticulous attention to detail throughout the vineyard and winemaking processes, this wine is an annual testament to the achievements of a remarkable family who have teed up for the long game in the world of fine wine,” says winemaker Stuart Botha.
GT and Anne-Marie Ferreira, who celebrate Tokara’s 25th anniversary this year, have seen their vineyards consistently produce exceptional, world-class wines. The Director’s Reserve Red is one of four expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon and the very first wine released under the Tokara label. The farm’s original focus variety shone through for Tokara at the recent 2024 Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters competition where the Director’s Reserve Red 2021 brought home the Master’s Award for Bordeaux-style blends.
The hallmark of this consummate blend of predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with Petit Verdot, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec in a supportive role, is its absolute fruit purity and focus. Complex aromas of dried tobacco leaf, subtle violets, dried currants, five spice and graphite prevail on the nose. Richly textured, sumptuous and full, it enters the palate with incredible clarity and focus leaving a mouthful of dark cherries, blackberries and ripe plum skin, and a lengthy finish.
This resonant complexity makes it a sumptuous food wine. It melds beautifully with a juicy grilled rib-eye steak adorned with a luxurious bearnaise sauce and dauphinoise potatoes. The wine’s remarkable ageing potential is bolstered by consistent 90+ scores year on year in Winemag’s 10-Year-Old Wine Report. Wine lovers will soon be rewarded as winter approaches with the release of the award-winning 2021 vintage. The wine will also be available in magnums.
Wine estate name: Tokara
Location: Simonsberg, Stellenbosch, Western Cape
In Collaboration with: wine.co.za
