Hazendal Prestige Brut Cap Classique 2017
- 94
- Drink by: 2025-2030
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Immediately attractive with a punchy label designed by South African artist Athi-Patra Ruga, the first in the Stellenbosch estate’s ‘limited-edition artist series’. The vibrant packaging hints to the bottle’s energetic contents. An intense, charged nose of lemon blossom, lime, caramelised ginger spooling into butter and biscuits from seven years on the lees. From chardonnay, and 38% pinot noir, the latter adding brushstrokes of red apple, plum skin to the aromatic tones. The palate is fresh, focused and beautifully dry; disgorged in 2024 with zero dosage, the long-lees ageing imbues all the necessary richness, as well as shapes a fine, well-integrated bubble. Tapering to a bone-dry, precise finish, a rush of clementine, citrus fruit resonates in its echo. Fresh, with plenty more tertiary development to come, this will age gracefully for a number of years.
Multi-award-winning wine writer and critic Malu Lambert writes for a variety of international and local publications. Malu won the title of the Mont Blanc Emerging Wine Writer of the Year at the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards 2019. She also won the Veritas Young Wine Writer in 2015. Most recently she co-authored Klein Constantia: The Home of Vin de Constance, which was the winner of the ‘Discovering and Presenting Wines’ category of the 2023 OIV. Malu writes for numerous South African titles, and was the wine editor of Food & Home for five years. Internationally, she has also written for Jancis Robinson, Decanter, The Buyer, Falstaff, Club Oenologique, Drinks International, Thirteen Barrels, The Japanese Times, and more. She is also a taster on the Platter's Guide, South Africa’s most definitive and respected guide to wine. Malu is a regular on South Africa's judging panels, including Winemag, Wine-of-the-Month Club and was recently the chairperson for the inaugural Fine Wine Awards by Amex. She also judges for Decanter, IWSC and Concours Mondial du Sauvignon.
