This extraordinary vintage delivered a complex, well balanced and medium bodied wine with a savory nose and slight cedar, Boysen- and blueberry character. Ripe, yet soft tannins complement the flavor of plump dark red fruit and ripe black cherries and a lingering, but fresh finish.

The Story of the Longridge Ultra-Premium Misterie 2019

The new Misterie 2019, was released on Monday the 23 rd of September 2024 at an event held at Longridge Wine Estate. It is the 4th edition of this incredibly special wine after it was decided that the 2018 vintage was not up the desired quality.

The release of this new vintage was celebrated with a vertical tasting of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages. This tasting was a showcase of how these wines can mature. All the previous vintages showed incredible freshness, complexity and tension. The guests present unanimously agreed that they still have years ahead of them.

Longridge have been building a reputation for producing world class Merlot for many years now, as can be noted from the list of accolades, including the Top 10 certificate, for producing consistent highly rated vintages.

Jasper explained that in 2011, Merlot was an obvious choice to focus on, if not a commercial one.

In the States still hungover from “Sideways” and generally in SA not a big nor a strong category that is hard to market. However, the soils and climate on the Helderberg is perfect for it. Poor soils on ridges, decomposed granite, with clay subsoil rich in iron, shows similarities to the best parcels in Bordeaux’ Pomerol, the wines of which the Misterie loosely compares with.

The grapes for Misterie are farmed biodynamically and no stone is left unturned in the production of the fruit.

In the winery, ‘soft hands’ are used to preserve its natural lusciousness and fermentation occurs naturally. The maturation in barrel lasts approximately 2 years, where after it is bottled, but aged in bottle for at least another 2 years.

The 2019 again received 95 points from Tim Atkin and he states the following about the wine: Misterie is part of a small coterie of world-class Merlots produced in South-Africa, sourced from a south-west facing vineyard on the False Bay side of the Helderberg.

This wine, its name and philosophy behind it, is still however, best summarized with the words on the backable: ‘A mystery is an enigma, something miraculous and unexplainable with a hint of secrecy. Great fine wine is just the same’