Bellevue Estate Malbec

£20.00

£26.67 per litre · incl. 20% VAT

In Stock

Malbec made the Argentinian way? Forget it. This is Stellenbosch's wild child, a Cape take on the grape that's bold, smoky and untamed, with rosemary and fynbos lifting plummy fruit. Bellevue have been making wine for over two centuries, and their Malbec has quietly built a cult following. One taste and you'll understand why.

Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.

Region

South Africa

Grape

Malbec

ABV

20%

Oak

IN THE CELLAR The grapes were handpicked and were cold soaked before inoculation. After completing malolactic fermentation in tank the wine was matured in French oak (20% new) for 12 months

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Our Verdict

We listed this one because it does something almost no other Malbec on our shelves does, it tastes of where it's from. The Argentine versions can be glossy and uniform; this is the opposite. There's a herbal, almost feral edge that pins it straight to the Cape, and a softness on the mid-palate that makes it dangerously easy to drink. It's the wine we open when someone tells us they're bored of their usual reds. If you enjoy this, the rest of the Bellevue range, Pinotage especially, is well worth exploring.

Tasting Notes

The nose leads with something genuinely wild, rosemary, fynbos and buchu, the kind of herbal, scrubby aromatics you'd find on a Cape hillside after rain. Then the palate softens into ripe plum and red cherry, plush and welcoming where you might expect grip. Watercress and fresh herbs run underneath, lifting the fruit and giving the wine a savoury bite. The finish is long and gently spiced, with French oak adding warmth rather than dominating.

Wild Cape Herbs

Rosemary, fynbos and buchu give the nose a distinctive scrubby, almost medicinal lift, unmistakably South African in character.

Ripe Plum & Cherry

The palate is generous with dark plum and red cherry fruit, plush and welcoming, balancing the herbal wildness of the nose.

Watercress Lift

A peppery, green-leaf freshness runs through the mid-palate, keeping the fruit honest and adding a savoury, food-friendly edge.

Subtle French Oak

Twelve months in French oak, only a fifth of it new, lends warmth and a whisper of spice without ever stepping on the fruit.

About This Wine

Most people think Malbec and think Argentina. Bellevue would politely disagree. On a family estate just outside Stellenbosch, one with over two hundred years of winemaking behind it, Malbec has been coaxed into something genuinely different: wilder, more aromatic, and unmistakably South African.

Pour a glass and the first thing you notice is the nose. There's a wildness to it, rosemary, the herbal lift of Cape fynbos, a whisper of buchu, that you simply won't find in a glass from Mendoza. Then comes the palate, and everything softens: ripe plums, red cherries, a savoury hint of watercress and garden herbs. Twelve months in French oak (a sensible twenty percent new) adds frame without ever stealing the show. Most of the fruit comes from vineyard blocks alongside the Bottelary River, with one rebel parcel clinging to a south-facing hillside, a small detail that gives the wine its edge.

This is a bottle that wants food, and it wants something with rosemary in it. Slow-roasted leg of lamb, studded with garlic and herbs. A spiced guineafowl. A weeknight shepherd's pie that suddenly feels like an occasion. It's also a brilliant gift for the wine-curious friend who thinks they've tried it all, they haven't tried this. Delivered to your door, anywhere in the UK.

Food Pairing

This is a wine that wants herb-driven cooking. A roast leg of lamb studded with rosemary and garlic, served pink with a sharp mint sauce, is the natural match, the wine's own herbal character mirrors the meal beautifully. It's also brilliant with slow-braised game birds, a Sunday roast with all the trimmings, or a lamb tagine spiced with cumin and coriander.

—Roast leg of lamb with rosemary and mint sauce
—Slow-braised guinea fowl with red wine and herbs
—Moroccan lamb tagine with apricots and coriander
—Sunday roast lamb shoulder with redcurrant jelly
—Grilled venison loin with juniper and thyme

How to Serve

Temperature

Cool room temperature. Pull it from the rack 20 minutes before serving so the aromatics come alive.

Decanting

Worth a 30 to 45 minute decant in a wide-bottomed vessel. The herbal nose really opens with air, and the plum fruit gains weight and roundness once it has a chance to breathe.

Glass

A medium-to-large Bordeaux glass works best, giving the wild herbal aromatics room to lift and develop.

Cellaring

Store on its side in a cool, dark place between 12 and 16 degrees. Stable temperature matters more than perfect conditions, keep it away from kitchen heat.

Ageing & Cellaring

Drinking beautifully now, with the fruit ripe and the oak fully integrated. The structure will hold for another three to five years in a cool, dark spot, with the herbal aromatics likely to deepen and the tannins softening further. There's no rush either way.

The Land

Most of the Malbec lies on the flat ground beside the Bottelary River, where deeper soils give the vines steady access to water and produce generous, fleshy fruit. One block breaks the pattern entirely, a south-facing hillside that catches cooler light and slower ripening, adding the savoury, herbal lift that gives the wine its wild edge.

The Winemaking

Hand-picked fruit gets a cold soak before fermentation kicks off, a slow, gentle start that draws colour and aroma without pulling harsh tannin. Five days on skins with three daily pump-overs builds structure without bullying the fruit. Malolactic fermentation finishes in tank to keep things fresh, then the wine settles into French oak, twenty percent new, for twelve months. The result is restrained polish: a frame of vanilla and spice that supports the plum and cherry rather than smothering it.

About the Producer

Bellevue Wine

Bellevue is one of those estates that quietly changed South African wine. In 1953, when P.K. Morkel went looking for Gamay vines and couldn't find any, he took a punt on a new local cultivar called Pinotage, and planted some of the first commercial blocks anywhere in the country. Those gnarled bush vines are still producing today, more than seventy years on, twisted by decades of Cape sun and wind. Two centuries of family winemaking sit behind the label, but the philosophy is unfussy: good soils, minimal intervention, and a respect for the old vines that put this place on the map. The Atticus blend, named after one of the estate's prized Arabian stallions, is Bellevue at its most expressive.

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