I’ve always wanted an underground lair, and if you feel like filling it up with a few thousand litres of tasty red wine then, by all means, go right ahead.

Franschhoek isn’t suffering from a shortage of wineries, and props to the locals who brave the hordes of Capetonians getting jolly every weekend.

Guilty as charged, and you know you are, too.

There’s only one winery in the area that’s boasting a massive underground tunnel, and Wine Mag went off to explore what all the fuss is about.

They seem suitably impressed:

Every year brings something new at Boekenhoutskloof, it seems. On a recent visit I was particularly keen to see the completed semi-subterranean barrel cellar, reached by a 65 metre underground tunnel from the winery.

I first saw it a year ago as an enormous excavation; then late last year when it was completed but empty of barrels – though the remarkable mechanism to hold and manage all the barriques was fitted; and now, when a good number of the barrels and foudres are in place.

It’s going to take a few more years for the full complement of 96 foudres, 2500 litres each, on two levels, to be in place. I can’t believe that any other cellar in the country, and not many in the world, will have a show of oak anything like this.

Winemaker Gottfried Mocke is already rather blasé about riding around on his machine with which he can rise and attend to barrels on their – as yet – three levels (two more to come), each barrel capable of being independently moved without disturbing the others.

He says it’s all working well, and to the outsider it’s certainly impressive. Typical of Marc Kent’s Boekenhoutskloof, every detail has been considered, not least from an aesthetic position.

Under Kent’s guidance, Boekenhoutskloof has become one of the most successful private wine producers in the country, and some of his flagship reds score remarkably well amongst luxury red wine aficionados.

Take for example The Journeyman, and in particular the 2015 vintage. Last month Wine Cellar held its biannual “Luxury Red Taste-off”, with experts blind tasting 10 wines with an average price of R1 328 a bottle.

Told you it was luxury, and The Journeyman 2015 scored a whopping 94/100 rating.

Not bad – no wonder there’s such a rush to snap it up when it becomes available.

You may struggle to get your paws on that wine, but Wine Mag have a few other recommendations to look out for going forward:

The Syrah (80% from Porseleinberg vines, 20% from the abovementioned Goldmine) is beautifully bone-dry, and seems more tannic than the 2015.

…the wine that I probably most admired (well, it was certainly the most approachable too) was the [2016] Semillon, from three old Franschhoek blocks as usual. Gottfried’s managed to contain the oak that this wine sometimes shows in infancy, and it already has a subtly expressive perfume. The structure is also delicate – both steely and lacy. It’s going to be a wonder.

Given their reputation, and the continued success of their wine range (Porcupine Ridge, Wolftrap, Chocolate Block and more), we would expect nothing less from Marc Kent and co.

[sources:winemag&winemag]