IBest Red Blend Review
I really enjoyed this bright, medium-bodied red wine from South Africa. A smooth, berry-forward mix of red and black fruits made it delightful both during and after dinner.
Wine review by: Jessyca Frederick |
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About this Wine
Wine: 2021 Red Blend
Blend: 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31.5% Shiraz, 5% Petite Sirah, 2.5% Malbec
Region: Western Cape, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Retail price: $36.99
I consumed it: August 2024
My source: Shades of Vino Wine Club
The Back Label
Discover More
From this wine club: Shades of Vino Wine Club
From this winery: IBest
Region: South Africa
Wine color/style: Red wine
Grape variety or blend: Red blend
Red Blend: What I think
Ibest Wines (named after founder Ingrid Best) is a negociant — this means she finds great grapes or readymade wines and bottles them under her own brand — with a focus on South African wines. We don’t get enough South African wines here in the US (or at least not in California), so I’m always happy to see another importer in the game.
I found the nose full of black fruit, especially berries. It was berry-forward on the palate, and supporting flavors of graphite and black cherry brought a nice complexity to this relatively humble red blend. It was bright, medium-bodied, and had soft tannins.
I received this wine as part of a shipment from The Wine Concierge, and it’s not hard to see why Leslie would feature wines from IBest:
“Ingrid Best founded IBest Wines to help change the way the wine industry looks, feels, talks, and tastes, offering a portfolio of fine wines perfect for the modern-day wine drinker who desires new, dynamic, diverse, and global wines. Ingrid has a clear mission to use IBest Wines as a platform to spotlight and connect global creatives from diverse backgrounds.Ingrid Best founded IBest Wines to help change the way the wine industry looks, feels, talks, and tastes, offering a portfolio of fine wines perfect for the modern-day wine drinker who desires new, dynamic, diverse, and global wines. Ingrid has a clear mission to use IBest Wines as a platform to spotlight and connect global creatives from diverse backgrounds.”
The team on the website is all black women. Their mission does not feel like lip service.
Last updated: September 2, 2024
Notice: I hold no formal wine credentials. I am a wine geek who has consumed 1000+ of bottles from 100+ different wine clubs and 1000s more bottles that didn’t come from those wine clubs. I do not accept payment for wine reviews, and I do not accept payments to influence my opinions. I happily accept free wine (and I buy wine).
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