Persistence, patience and the pursuit of crafting an authentic Cape fortified which can be cellared with confidence for decade’s lies at the core of Boplaas Family Vineyards efforts in crafting our Cape Vintage Reserve Ports. Cellared for a decade in our temperature controlled vinotique, the Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve Port 2002 has only now started to show its true potential unfurling its multitude of flavours, developing tertiary nuances and characteristically dry finish. This wine is a testament to the continued efforts in crafting fine wines, which the Nel’s of Boplaas began way back in 1880. Crafted from low-yielding, hand harvested, old vine Touriga Naçional, Tinta Barocca and Souzão fermented in a traditional Portuguese lagar (concrete open-top fermenter) with intense manual pigeage to extract optimal colour, flavour and concentration before being fortified at the opportune moment with wine spirit to retain varietal integrity, freshness ensuring decades of cellaring potential and enjoyment. The Touriga Naçional and Tinta Barocca originated from ungrafted vines planted back in the 1980’s by Boplaas’s patriarch, Danie Nel, in the deep ancient alluvial Klein Karoo clays, while the Souzão originated from a single vineyard along the banks of the Gamka. Only 500 cases of this fine wine were crafted. Awarded a Veritas double Gold and 5 Star rating from Platter’s South African Wine Guide in 2004; while a decade after harvest this wine clinched the museum class at the 2012 Cape Port Producers’ Association “Port & Wine Challenge”, as well as receiving the only gold medal in the museum category at Veritas 2012. This wine is only now, after a full decade, exhibiting its full array of aromatics, complex nuances with enough tannic grip and structure to reach optimal maturity over the next twenty years. Only 24 bottles of the Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2002, each individually packaged in a wooden gift box, will be made available at R1000 p/b from our cellar door in Calitzdorp, while the rest of remain in our vinotique. Additionally, a limited pre-release offering of twenty cases of the Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve Port 2009 and Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve Port 2010 will be made available to the public at R150 p/b – both these fine wines were awarded double gold at this year’s Veritas awards and offer exceptional cellaring potential over the next half century. For enquiries, please contact Boplaas Family Vineyards on 044-2133326 or correspond via email with Margaux Nel to ensure an allocation of this fine Cape fortified.