KWV The Mentors Petit Verdot 2020 (FWA)

KWV The Mentors Petit Verdot 2020 is produced by KWV, one of South Africa’s most established wine producers, whose historic cellar is based in Paarl. Within this large winery lies a much smaller experimental space known as The Mentors Cellar, where limited-production wines are crafted from carefully selected vineyard parcels across the Cape winelands.

The Mentors range was created to explore varieties and vineyard sites capable of producing distinctive, terroir-driven wines. Winemaker Izele van Blerk works closely with KWV’s viticultural team to identify small parcels of exceptional fruit. For this wine, grapes were sourced from Stellenbosch vineyards, where the region’s warm days, cooling ocean influence and decomposed granite soils allow Petit Verdot to ripen fully while retaining structure and aromatic intensity.

In the cellar, the fruit was hand-sorted before fermentation and then matured for 18 months in French oak barrels, 70% of which were first-fill, building depth and complexity while preserving the variety’s naturally powerful character.

Colour:
Deep, inky ruby with a dense core, typical of Petit Verdot’s naturally intense pigmentation.

Nose:
Perfumed aromas of red berries and cranberries lead the bouquet, layered with sweet spice, black olive and subtle anise notes.

Palate:
Rich and concentrated with flavours of plum, dark cherry and blackberry. The wine shows firm, structured tannins balanced by juicy fruit and well-integrated oak, giving both power and elegance.

Finish:
Long and structured, with lingering dark fruit and savoury spice carried by a persistent tannin backbone.