What to drink in September

September is always such an exciting time of year in the vineyard. With spring knocking on our door, the vines are starting to bud celebrating the start of a new vintage here at De Grendel. At home we are also starting to celebrate the arrival of summer and lighting the first braais of the season as the embers of our household fires are dying.

The perfect wine to be drinking at this time of year is definitely our De Grendel Rubaiyat 2013, which is our classic Bordeaux style blend and a true celebration of wine. The Rubaiyat 2013 is a blend of 62% Petit Verdot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot and 4% Malbec, which is matured in new French oak barrels for 18 months.

With the celebration of spring we see all along the west coast of the Western Cape starting on the farm here at De Grendel the normally green carpet suddenly erupts with pockets of beautiful vibrant colours from the world famous flowers. The different pockets of colours are akin to exploding fireworks in a night’s sky. The image of this is the experience your taste buds will have when drinking De Grendel Rubaiyat 2013. Due to the blend, the different characteristics of each varietal come together and create an explosion of very distinct flavours of graphite, cassis, cedar and liquorice, with a touch of wood smoke.

Our kitchens and meals at home are slowly beginning to change as well. We are storing our slow cookers back into the kitchen cupboards and beginning to cook dishes with less complexity. So out with the stews and curries, and now in comes more classical style food like roast chicken, lamb chops done on a braai, steaks - especially chateaubriand - and for the more adventurous in the kitchen, Beef Wellington (click here for a great recipe to try at home).

De Grendel Rubaiyat 2013 is the perfect wine to be drinking with these dishes as it loves and deserves to be the hero of any dining room table.

Stock up on it here.