Roodeberg 1949
£21.00
£28.00 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
Out of Stock
96Decanter World Wine Awards
93Tim Atkin South Africa Special Report
90Tim Atkin South Africa Special Report 2022
Gold medal (96 points) (2017)
Here's a slice of South African wine history in a glass. Roodeberg 1949 is KWV's premium tribute to the country's most beloved red blend, layering dark cherry and blackcurrant over spicy vanilla oak. Medium to full-bodied, polished and built to age. A confident, characterful red for Sunday roasts, special dinners, or sending to a homesick Cape expat.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We love a wine with a story, and Roodeberg 1949 has more than most. This is KWV reaching into its own history and proving the old flagship still has plenty to say. What won us over was the structure: that firm tannin grip and the savoury, spiced edge give it real seriousness, the kind you'd expect from bottles costing a good deal more. It earned a Decanter gold and 96 points, and we understand why. Perfect for the drinker who wants something with provenance and ageing potential. As a limited edition, it won't be around forever, so grab it while you can.
Tasting Notes
A deep ruby pour leads into a generous nose of dark cherry and blackcurrant, lifted by dried herbs and a thread of sweet vanilla from the oak. The palate is where it earns its keep: ripe, juicy dark fruit wrapped in cinnamon and sweet spice, with a firm tannin grip that gives it real backbone. That structure carries the flavour long after the swallow, finishing savoury and lingering rather than sweet. Medium to full bodied, polished, and built to reward slow sipping.
Dark Cherry And Cassis
Ripe dark cherry and blackcurrant form the juicy core, generous and concentrated without tipping into jammy sweetness.
Cinnamon And Sweet Spice
Warm cinnamon and sweet baking spice run through the palate, adding lift and a moreish, savoury complexity.
Vanilla Oak Warmth
Eighteen months in French oak, much of it new, lends soft vanilla warmth that frames the fruit rather than smothering it.
About This Wine
Few wines carry the weight of history quite like this one. Roodeberg has been South Africa's go-to red blend for generations, the bottle that appeared at family braais and Sunday tables long before the rest of the world caught on. Roodeberg 1949 is KWV's premium homage to that legacy, a limited-edition cuvee crafted to mark the brand's anniversary and push the blend somewhere richer and more ambitious.
Pour a glass and you'll see why it matters. Deep ruby in the glass, it opens with dark cherry, blackcurrant and a whisper of dried herbs, then fills out on the palate with cinnamon, sweet spice and ripe, juicy dark fruit. Eighteen months in barrel, most of it new French oak, lends a spicy vanilla warmth and a firm tannin backbone that carries through to a long, lingering finish.
This is a blend in the truest South African sense, drawing the best fruit from across the Western Cape rather than a single patch of soil. KWV works with growers from the cool coast to the warm inland slopes, and that breadth shows in the wine's balance and depth.
Serve it with something generous: a slow-roasted lamb shoulder, a peppery steak, or a mature Cheddar. Drink it now or give it five to eight years to soften further. We ship across the UK, and a bottle this storied makes a genuinely thoughtful gift for anyone who loves the Cape.
Food Pairing
Those firm tannins are crying out for something rich and meaty. Pour it alongside a slow-roasted leg of lamb studded with rosemary and garlic, or a Sunday beef roast with all the trimmings. It has the structure for a peppercorn-crusted ribeye too, and works a treat with a venison casserole on a cold evening. Happy on its own by the fire as well.
- —Slow-roasted leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic
- —Roast beef with horseradish and Yorkshire puddings
- —Peppercorn-crusted ribeye steak
- —Venison and red wine casserole
- —Mature Cheddar with quince paste
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature. Pull the bottle from the rack about 30 minutes before serving so it shows at its best.
Decanting
Give this an hour in a decanter. The firm tannins soften with air and the dark fruit and spice open up, revealing more of that vanilla and dried-herb complexity underneath.
Glass
A large-bowled Bordeaux glass gives this structured blend room to breathe and gathers up its spiced aromatics.
Cellaring
Store on its side somewhere cool, dark and steady. With its tannin and fruit concentration, it will happily develop over five to eight years.
Behind the Wine
Roodeberg 1949 doesn't lean on a single patch of dirt. KWV draws its fruit from across the Western Cape, picking from cool maritime sites and warmer inland vineyards alike, then blending for balance. The Cape's long, dry summers and reliable sunshine ripen the grapes fully, giving you that ripe, juicy dark fruit and firm tannin backbone. Drawing on the strongest sites in any given year is exactly why this blend stays concentrated and structured rather than baked or jammy.
Ageing Potential
Drinking beautifully now, but the firm tannins and concentrated fruit mean it has the structure to reward patience. Cellar for five to eight years and expect the tannins to soften, the fruit to settle into savoury, dried-fruit complexity, and the oak to fold seamlessly into the whole.
The Winemaking
This is a wine built in the cellar as much as the vineyard. After fermentation, it spends a generous eighteen months maturing in barrel, with around seventy per cent fresh French oak doing the heavy lifting. That new wood is where the cinnamon, sweet spice and vanilla notes come from, layered over the dark cherry and blackcurrant fruit. The result is a red with real polish: ripe and generous, but held together by tannins that give it length and the structure to age.
About the Producer
KWV
KWV isn't just a producer, it's practically an institution. Head to Paarl in the Cape Winelands and you'll find one of the largest wine cellar complexes on earth, sprawling across more than 22 hectares. That scale tells you something about the role this co-operative has played in shaping South African wine as we know it.
Founded in 1918 to bring order and quality to a fragmented industry of independent farmers, KWV spent much of the twentieth century as the organising force behind South African wine. Quotas, pricing, export rules; for decades, if you were a Cape wine farmer, KWV touched your business in some way. It's a history unlike almost any other wine producer in the world, and it explains why the name still carries real weight in Paarl and beyond.
Today KWV has evolved into a producer in its own right, making wines, brandies and spirits from that historic Paarl base, drawing on fruit sourced across the Western Cape. What we love about KWV is the reliability. The Classic range covers the varietals UK drinkers already know and enjoy, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz, made accessible and consistent without cutting corners. These are honest, well-made wines for everyday drinking, the kind you can pour on a Tuesday without a second thought.
Then there's Roodeberg, KWV's most storied wine. First released in 1949, it became something of a Cape institution itself, a red blend so sought after in South Africa that it was once rationed among loyal customers. That's the sort of detail that tells you a wine has earned its reputation the old-fashioned way, through generations of drinkers rather than marketing.
We stock KWV because it offers UK customers two things at once: a genuine piece of South African wine history, and wines that are simply good value, easy to enjoy, and true to their place. Whether you're new to South African wine or you grew up with a bottle of Roodeberg on the family table, there's something here worth exploring. Every bottle carries Wine of Origin Western Cape certification, a straightforward guarantee of where it's really from.