Treinspoor Running the Rail – 6 x 750ml

The legendary bottlings 1972, 1974 and 1978 Tinta Das Baroccas by the Swartland Winery with 40+ years of ageing we tasted when I arrived in the Swartland made us aware of the potential of this grape. Ultimately it gave birth to the first Treinspoor bottling in 2011 to highlight the historical thread of the grape and also to, in a way, draw some of the historical greatness into the future. Of the Portuguese grape varieties, it is the shyest bearer and thus lost much of its position in modern times as money became the variety of choice.

It took some time to dwindle through all the variables of farming, and vinification of this historic grape and much was learned in the past decade.

The age-worthiness of the grape is unique, and even during fermentation and ageing, it becomes apparent that this grape has a big game mentality and can go the distance in every way. For this very reason, in 2016, we decided to hold back some of the stock to enable us to build up a vertical for release this year to raise awareness as to the capacities of this marvellous grape.

This case is a starter pack, and we suggest adding on to these for, ideally, the best time to start opening these wines is with eight years of bottle ageing and onwards. Thus it is a bit of a “get-out-of-jail ticket” for those that have opened their bottles too early.

For some new members on our list, this is also a small way to buy up some time.

Tinta or nothing!