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and consumers to be over 18 years old.
Opaque-red in colour, this beautifully robust wine has a complex nose offering layers of spice, vanilla, white pepper and generous helpings of ripe blackberry and prune. The wine has firm tannins, but with the richness of ripe fruit becomes an almost-seamless, wonderfully elegant expression of our winemaker’s favourite wines of the vintage.
Boasting a long-lasting, memorable finish, this wine has the potential to mature for at least 8-10 years.
Vintage depends on availability and can't be selected.
View all vintage fact sheets / tasting notes here.
Availability of vintages depends on current stock.
Legal restrictions limit the sale quantity to 180 bottles (30 cases) per customer.
Please click here to request the purchasing of larger quantities.
In 1928, our family patriarch, Albertus Viljoen van der Merwe – “Alvi” to his friends – established a farm south of the town of Worcester, South Africa. Alvi’s son, Bertie, started wine production on the family farm and today the award-winning Alvi’s Drift wines are created by winemaker Alvi van der Merwe, Oupa Alvi’s grandson and namesake.
This wine takes its name from Bismarck, our farm’s beloved Great Dane and self-appointed custodian of the cellar. A friendly welcoming party to anyone visiting the farm, Bismarck commanded respect as the undisputed alpha male and leader of the pack. With this wine, we honour his legacy.
Our Albertus Viljoen Icon range showcases full-bodied, barrel-fermented wines of outstanding character and complexity.
ICON RANGE
With an ideal Mediterranean microclimate, an abundance of soils and water from the life-giving Breede River, the Alvi’s Drift winery vineyards are ideally positioned for producing remarkable South African wines of unique character and complexity.
Our vineyards are sustainably fertilised with natural compost produced on our farm. Come harvest time, our grapes are selectively hand harvested in the cool, early morning hours to ensure optimal quality and flavour.
In the Alvi’s Drift cellar, our winemaking team strongly focuses on achieving a fruit-driven expression of the grapes that go into our award-winning South African wines. Borrowing from ancient winemaking methods, all varieties in this blend were vinified and barrel-matured separately, with some varieties undergoing whole-bunch fermentation.
After arriving at the winery, most grape varieties were destemmed and cold soaked for 3-4 days, with a portion of juice drawn off to maximise skin contact and colour extraction during fermentation. This wine was matured in French and American oak barrels for 12 months, then blended before bottling.
