The 2012 Family Red Blend, which had just been bottled, has a warm and inviting bouquet of red plums, squashed ripe strawberries and faint touches of fennel. It is well defined and really starts to blossom with aeration. The palate is focused and more tightly wound than other vintages that I have tasted. There is a little more backbone here, more linear than I expected. Dusky red plum and cranberry, salted licorices, fennel and thyme all come together nicely, although I suspect that it will benefit from a couple of years in bottle. Another success for Adi Badenhorst, albeit in a more restrained style. - Neal Martin