Chris Groenewald is a polymath of the South African wine scene, weaving together his background in theology, a deep expertise in blind wine tasting, and a “New Wave” approach to winemaking. Based in the Western Cape, Chris’s personal project, Pounding Grapes, reflects his philosophy of “naked, raw, and natural” wines that emphasize joyful character over any kind of technical rigidity.
As the captain of the South African World Blind Wine Tasting team, Groenewald possesses a world-class palate in anyone’s language, yet his own wines are anything but academic. His portfolio, which includes vibrant releases like the Bringing Back The Joy Skin-Contact Sauvignon Blanc and the Heart Candy Pinotage, focuses on minimal intervention. These wines typically undergo natural fermentation, often utilizing concrete eggs or old oak barrels to maintain fruit purity and texture without the mask of heavy wood.
Chris Groenewald from Pounding Grapes Winery.
Sourcing grapes from premium cool-climate sites like Durbanville, Pounding Grapes celebrates the “natty” wine culture – sometimes cloudy, often pithy, grippy and alive, while maintaining a high level of purity, cleanliness and technical precision. Whether he is reviving boutique labels like Terracura or crushing small batches for his own label, Groenewald’s work remains at the forefront of the Cape’s artisanal revolution, proving that serious wine doesn’t always have to take itself seriously.
Chris was recently in London and hosted an enlightening and informative tasting lunch at Noble Rot Mayfair, where we got to enjoy his new releases which are coming to the UK very soon through his importer, Wood Winters.
Bringing Back the Joy Skin Contact Sauvignon Blanc 2025, WO Durbanville, 12.5% Abv.
Malmesbury Shale soils facing table mountain. 7 days skin fermented, basket pressed into 1 x 500 litre Egg and 1 x 300 litre old oak barrel. Naturally fermented with malo fully completed. The aromatics are dusty and pithy, delicately grassy and herby with crushed Granite, lemon grass, pear and yellow orchard stone fruits. Delightfully fresh and tangy with an excellent fleshy mid-palate core of fruit, finishing with a zesty, intense salinity. Quite superb.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Terracura Chenin Blanc 2025, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.
Chenin Blanc from vines planted in 1998. Basket pressed into one 525 litre egg. Lovely complex bruised yellow orchard fruit aromatics with hints of wet straw, waxy peaches, orange peel and savoury fynbos notes. Delicious weight, fleshy but beautifully characterful with excellent persistence on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Unicorns in the Sky Chenin Blanc 2025, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.
Sourced from the ‘Sky’ Vineyard 75% Chenin Blanc planted 1998 and 25% from Kweperfontein Farm Chenin Blanc planted in 1964. Skin Fermented for 6 days, the Sky portion as per Terracura. Classical, waxy, savoury bruised yellow orchard fruit notes of the Paardeberg but this also has an intense Granitic hit of dusty, stony minerality, dried herbs and peach stone fruits with wet straw and fynbos hints. Incredible balance and restraint, with lovely orange blossom, and tangerine peel complexity.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Fairies in the Garden Semillon Gris 2025, WO Swartland, 12% Abv.
Semillon Gris from the Kweperfontein Farm in the Paardeberg, with 7 days on skins, the big grapes packed with plenty of juice, open fermented and then into an egg and a 225 litre old oak barrel. A more natural leaning expression with delicious savoury notes, sapidity, orange peel, quince jelly and hints of yellow orchard fruits. So effortlessly juicy, tangy and bright, incredibly zippy, energetic and inviting. What an umami tinged complex stunner of a wine!
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine writer Dr Jamie Goode merched up with his Pounding Grape cap.
Just Leave Me Flowers on My Grave Blend Chenin Blanc, 15% Abv.
65% left 3 years under flor (2023), 35% from fresh 2026 fruit. Blended a month ago and due to be bottled end May 2026. Saline and niche, nutty, tangy and umami salty without the cutting intensity of Sherry but with a salty, savoury complexity. The finish lingers – powerful and imposing with a pleasing walnut skin bitterness on the loooong finish. Idiosyncratic but also very delicious.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Heart Candy Pinotage 2024, WO Durbanville, 13% Abv.
North facing vineyard, aged in two 225 litre oak barrels, the wine shows a lifted perfume intricacy and an exotic pink musk complexity, violets and red cherry rock candy notes. Super pure, bright and crystalline, this is delightfully translucent, energetic and vibrant with a smashable drinkability, tangy tart acids and a fabulous juicy length. Superb.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Where the Lines Bend 2025, WO Stellenbosch, 10.8% Abv.
100% Cabernet Franc from the Bottelary Hills, 10 days cold soaked and fermented before being basket pressed into a concrete egg. The aromatics highlight the perfume and crunchy red fruit intensity, sweet cedar, crunchy red cherry and red currants. The delicate cedar spice sapidity follows to the palate with real energy and tension, tart linear acids and a cool, steely, taut focus with a hint of bay leaf spice on the finish. (1,300 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Terracura 2025 Syrah, WO Swartland, 13.2% Abv.
100% wholebunch Syrah, then basket pressed into eggs and 300 litre barrels. Incredibly stalky, smoky, sappy and peppery over a dark fruited black berry, brambly fruit core. This is incredibly Oldy Worldy Rhone style Syrah with a super sleek creamy texture, incredibly finessed tannins with an attention to detail second to none. Wow!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Contact Andrew@woodwinters.com for allocations and pricing.
Tucked in the western ranges of the Barossa Valley near Greenock, the Alkina winery represents a radical shift in Australian viticulture. Established in 2015 by Alejandro Bulgheroni and Amelia Nolan, the estate, whose name means “Moonlight” in a local Indigenous language, is a “new story in an old place,” centered around a core of heritage vines planted in the 1950s.
What sets Alkina apart is its obsessive focus on micro-terroir. Working with world-renowned terroir expert Dr. Pedro Parra, the team conducted an exhaustive geological study, digging over 160 pits to map the complex interplay of 700-million-year-old schist, limestone, and ironstone soils. This led to the creation of “Polygons” – micro-parcels often smaller than 0.3 hectares, each harvested and fermented separately to express its specific geological fingerprint.
Certified organic and biodynamic, Alkina champions regenerative farming and minimal intervention. In the cellar, winemaking is transparent: wild yeasts, whole-bunch fermentation, and the use of concrete tulips, eggs, and amphorae prioritize texture and site-expression over oak influence. The resulting wines, primarily from Grenache, Shiraz, and Mataro, are a revelation, offering a vibrant, ethereal, and structural elegance that redefines the modern Barossa Valley identity. I recently tasted the new release Polygon 3 cuvee in the UK and was suitably impressed. I look forward to tasting their Polygon 5 cuvee as well in due course.
Alkina Polygon No.3 Grenache 2023, Barossa Valley, 14% Abv.
The clarity and crystallinity of the colour is only equalled by the cool purity of the wine’s aromatics that are initially quite restrained and reserved, elegant yet classically restrained, but slowly offering up notes of perfumed violets, fresh orange peel and crushed cranberries over a definite dusty, granitic mineral limestone undertone. Cool, bright and texturally super precise in the mouth, the acids are delicately pithy and slightly rasping without being too tart, merely helping to accentuate the chalky minerality of the limestone tannins. Fabulously tightknit, seamless, and expertly polished, this is one of the prettiest Grenaches I have tasted in a long time. Drink 2026 to 2036+.
In the prestigious landscape of Puligny-Montrachet, Domaine Leflaive stands as the definitive titan of Chardonnay. However, their Bourgogne Aligoté represents a fascinating, ultra-rare departure from the estate’s golden standard. While most of the world’s Aligoté is relegated to high-yield production for casual consumption (famously as the base for Kir), Leflaive treats this “other” white grape of Burgundy with the same biodynamic rigor and artisanal precision as their Grand Cru Batard-Montrachet.
The rarity of this wine is two-fold: geography and philosophy. Domaine Leflaive produces a remarkably small volume compared to their village and premier cru labels. The fruit is sourced from ancient vines, some over 80 years old, planted in tiny, prized parcels that escaped the 19th-century trend of uprooting Aligoté in favour of the more profitable Chardonnay.
Because the estate focuses almost exclusively on its 22 hectares of noble terroir, the Aligoté is often a “hidden” allocation, rarely appearing on retail shelves and typically vanishing into the private cellars of the world’s top collectors. To find a bottle is to experience a masterclass in tension; it is a high-acid, mineral-driven unicorn that proves even Burgundy’s “lesser” grape can achieve transcendence in the right hands.
Delicious stony, flinty reduction on the nose with aromatic layers of pithy white citrus, bergamot, lemon peel, sweet dried herbs and delicate limestone nuances. The texture is full in the mouth, the acids soft and beautifully integrated, deliciously harmonious and elegant, melting into waxy yellow stone fruits that coat the palate. There’s a weightless concentration, a delicate pithiness and a creamy, tangy vibrancy on the fresh finish. Super youthful at 10 years old, this wine is invitingly drinkable and an incredibly charming expression of Aligote. My first time trying it as well!
Few wine regions in the Cape Winelands are as climatically individual as the Elgin basin. Also home of the cash crop apples, the battle for economic supremacy is an on going battle for wine farmers. But there are producers that have doubled down and focused on producing high quality premium Grape cultivars.
Perched 420 meters above sea level on a mountain plateau that forms the coastal edge of the Elgin basin, sits the Iona winery, renowned as South Africa’s coolest vineyard site. Located in the Elgin Valley, this former apple farm benefits from a unique microclimate shaped by the icy Atlantic Ocean and frequent orographic cloud cover.
These conditions ensure a long, slow ripening period, allowing grapes to achieve physiological ripeness at lower sugar levels. The result is a portfolio of elegant, terroir-driven wines, most notably Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, producing wines characterised by bright acidities, mineral purity, and restrained alcohol levels, often drawing comparisons to the fine European styles owner Andrew Gunn is so fond of.
I recently caught up in London with Andrew Gunn’s son-in-law Rob Macdonald, to taste through Iona’s exciting new releases.
Iona Monopole Elgin Highlands Chardonnay 2024, WO Elgin, 13% Abv.
This shows a cool, pithy elegance on the nose with pristine aromatics of lemon and lime cordial tightly interwoven with a pronounced stony minerality. The purity and crystallinity continue to a wonderfully bright palate that is fleshy, concentrated and fully charged showing an electric brightness, tangy green apple and lemon confit notes with a slightly phenolic, herby grapefruit-tinged finish. Surprisingly, this 2024 has wonderful flesh and midpalate stuffing, plenty of concentrated yellow citrus fruits and a delightfully long tangy acidity. A really impressive cool climate Chardonnay. Drink now to 2040+.
A blend of 92% Sauvignon Blanc and 8% Semillon fermented and aged in older 300 and 500 litre French oak barrels. The first impression on nosing the wine is one of impressive complexity but also mouthwatering exoticism with the barrel ageing offering hints of quince and waxy orange peel, dried mango and subtle guava notes before a vein of more savoury, leesy white toast and biscuit kicks in. The palate is full and mouth filling, with the dried mango and papaya notes coming to the fore but certainly not in an obtrusive manner. The balance is simply spot on and the concentration and tangy acidity delicious, finishing with hints of dried herbs and lemon iced tea. This is serious Sauvignon Blanc kit for people who perhaps struggle with Sauvignon’s pungent character. Certainly, a benchmark style in the context of Elgin and the Cape. Drink now to 2038+.
This 2025 Sauvignon Blanc also features 8 to 10% Semillon which is all barrel fermented on top of around a 5% portion of the Sauvignon Blanc to add extra complexity and texture. This wine, from an admittedly superb Cape vintage, has intense, characterful aromatics of grassy gooseberry, yellow citrus and green apple pastille with delicate hints of guava and papaya. The palate is pitch perfect, striking a superb balance between tangy freshness, intense concentrated yellow and green citrus fruits and a subtle, slightly veiled minerality that lurks ever present. Harmonious, elegant and a true delight to drink without being too pungent or tropical. This is certainly a wine to go long on and enjoy over the next two to three summers! (Bottled under screwcap.)
This is an enticing Pinot Noir offering from Iona displaying an impressively classical, Old World Burgundian elegance and focus, with delicious black berry and strawberry fruit notes, damson plum, black currant and a delightful Cotes de Nuits limestone mineral nuance underpinning the wine. The palate fruits are pithy and incredibly restrained and stony, adding handsomely to the feel of tension and linearity in the wine, before a finish of gravelly, powdery tannins, bramble berry spice and a smoky granitic austerity. Really quite superb. One for the Burgundy lovers out there! Drink now to 2034+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Iona One Man Band Red Blend 2021, WO Elgin, 13.5% Abv.
An eclectic blend of Petit Verdot, Syrah, Nebbiolo, Mourvedre and Viognier. Normally led by Syrah at 35% to 45%, but in 2021, the Syrah from Rosie’s Elgin Brocha Farm performed so well that most of it went into the award-winning Solace Syrah 2021. Spicy and broody on initial sniff, the aromatics boast deep dark notes of dried violets, bramble berries, red currants and red plums. There is a hint of sapidity and stalky spice but also delicate herbal mineral nuances. The palate is a little more punchy and imposing, showing notable power and muscle, a dense core of damson plum, blue berries and bramble berry fruits, before a finish that is notably stony, mineral, and picante. Superbly dense, compact and tight knit with a harmonious mouthfeel, this is an accomplished red blend that shares many similarities with the finest reds of the Southern Rhone. Drinking on release but you can expect this to hit its straps at 8 to 10 years old and then go on further.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Iona Solace Syrah 2022, WO Elgin, 13.5% Abv.
Sourced purely from 100% Syrah fruit from Rosie Gunn’s Brocha farm, following on from the block buster, high scoring 2021, this 2022 is really quite a piece of work, with intensity, purity, and superb focus. The aromatics boast cool restrained black fruits, saline black currant, savoury bresaola cure meats, liquorice and a fresh pepper corn spice that follows on to the palate. Compact yet deliciously fresh, the palate displays a firm hand of structure and focus, supported by cool, sleek linear acids that are ever present yet notably integrated, balanced and subtle. This is another masterpiece for Syrah in the context of Elgin and the vintage, just perhaps a touch more restrained than the iconic 2021. Drink this on release to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Iona wines are imported into the UK by Alliance Wines.
The Bellevue Estate in Stellenbosch is the oldest commercial producer of Pinotage in South Africa, having produced both South Africa’s first bottled and award winning Pinotage. Bellevue’s story is one of bold decisions and forward thinking. When Pieter Krige (P.K.) Morkel couldn’t find Gamay vines in 1953, he embraced a pioneering South African cultivar: Pinotage. This decision not only shaped Bellevue’s identity but also contributed to the global recognition of Pinotage as a uniquely South African wine. “We currently work with the oldest average vine age in Stellenbosch with our youngest block 25 years old and our oldest being 73 years old” explains long time winemaker Wilhelm Kritzinger.
Among the Bellevue Estate red range is a very special wine with a profound sense of place from one of the oldest commercial Pinotage vineyards in the world, planted in 1953. When the maiden 1959 vintage won trophies galore, Pieter Krige Morkel was crowned South Africa’s new ‘king of wine’. His hands-off approach then is replicated today by winemaker Wilhelm to let the grace and wisdom of the old vine vineyards shine through.
Beyond their historic Pinotage, the estate also possesses one of the five oldest Cinsault vineyards in South Africa, planted in 1952, which now forms part of their illustrious Heritage range. But in 2026, the Heritage range will be joined by their newly branded 1976 Old Vine Chenin Blanc that used to go into their Eselsgraf Reserve Chenin Blanc. Another sublime highlight is undoubtedly their phenomenal Cabernet Franc, a wine that won the Red Wine Trophy at the Michelangelo Awards with the 2022 vintage, and again last year, with the 2023. In this tasting, I review the new release 2024, and predictably, it’s business as usual. Finally, there is a reason Stellenbosch is known as the “Kingdom of Cabernet” producing some of the most exciting examples of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Cape winelands.
Bright, juicy floral aromatics with green apple, green melon, rock candy and dried hay. Piercing concentration leads the charge on the palate, tangy, fleshy and delicious mouthfeel and weight supported by green apple pastille, pear and white peach. Beautiful typicity with punchy intensity.
Not since the release of the 2021s has there been a South African harvest that has created as much excitement among producers and consumers alike as the 2025 vintage. When you taste this stunning hand harvested bush vine Chenin Blanc you really see the vintage in all its glory, the aromatics deliciously pure, vibrant and lifted, bursting with complex layers of green apples, white peach rock candy, talcum powder, and a delicately sweet fynbos spice after its rained. The palate is pure, intense, and concentrated with a chiselled, tangy fresh acidity that coats the mouth, preparing your taste buds for bursts of Granny Smith green apple fruits with a splash of tart yellow grapefruit citrus. Crisp and pure yet crystalline and textural, this wine is like a very well-tuned orchestra with every instrument playing in perfect harmony. Drink this stunner before it sells out.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Heritage Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2025, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
This delightful new 2025 Chenin Blanc definitely sings the praises of this exceptional vintage in the Cape, boasting exotic aromatics of Muscat grape jelly, green honeydew melon, white peaches, and honeysuckle over complexing hints of wet straw and savoury leesy nuances. With such a ripe concentrated vintage such as 2025, you get to experience the full breadth and depth of this Old Vine Chenin Blanc that’s expertly balanced with tangy fresh acids, a delicate sweet and sour vibrancy together with a gently Granitic mineral salinity. Supremely harmonious and balanced with a majestic textural elegance, this youthful wine should develop a real personality with a few more years in bottle. This is another superb embryonic blockbuster from Bellevue. Drink from 2027 to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Pinotage 2020, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
Classical aromatics of savoury earthy black berries, cured meats, tilled earth and sweet Christmas spices. Acids are bright and the red and black fruits crunchy and intense, the mid-palate sleek and savoury. Punchy, approachable, and easy drinking.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Malbec 2022, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
An exotic terroir driven aromatics laced with Buchu, fynbos and Eucalyptus complexity with black sappy berry fruits, chocolate peppermint crisp and dried herb spice. The acids are crisp and fresh, the black sappy berry fruits minty and attractive with brightness, a lifted black fruit energy and a sleek, mineral-tinged powdery tannin finish.
33/33/33 – new, second, 3rd fill oak barrels used for ageing the 40% Pinotage, blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The aromatics show an attractive melange of creamy sappy black berry fruits, packed with earthy dried herbs, granitic minerality and savoury meaty hints. The acids are tangy and energetic, the red and black bramble berry fruits creamy, extracted and fine grained, finishing with serious power, minerality and length. Classy wine that punches above its weight.
The only thing possibly more exciting than a top Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch is a full throttle, five cultivar Cape Bordeaux Blend, and this 2023 is an assemblage of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. The aromatics have many of the earthy, loamy, freshly tilled earth notes of the pure Cabernet Sauvignon but then reveals multiple extra layers of sweet violets, white blossoms, sweet black currants, black cherry and a delicate graphite minerality. The palate is plush, polished, and focused with a textural generosity consistent with the 2023 vintage, with all fruit brought in before the late season harvest rains. Once again, the mouthfeel is creamy, supple, and fine grained with sweet pliable tannins, soft well integrated tangy acids and a long, delicately toasty, brûléed finish. The oaking is expertly managed, marrying pure, plush fleshy fruits, leaving a sensation of hedonistic harmony and balance on the finish. A supremely well-constructed wine that also has legs for further beneficial ageing. Drink now and over the next 10 to 12+ years. Such a delight to drink.
Aged in 50/50 new and second fill French oak barrels for 22 to 24 months. The aromatics are deep and broody with layers of black berry, creme de cassis, damson plum, mulberry, tilled earth, vanilla pod and sweet Christmas spices. The palate breadth and balance is impressive, dense, tight grained, harmonious and intense without losing balance and elegance. This wine ticks a lot of boxes and shows a lot of commercial appeal.
Aged in 60% new and 40% second fill French oak barrels, the aromatics are pure and regal, a Cabernet Sauvignon expression that shows why Stellenbosch is truly world class. Deep, dark black fruited aromatics with creme de cassis, black cherry, and spicy mulberry with Christmas spices, hints of tannery leather, black chai tea and cigar box. The acids are fresh and crystalline but tightly interwoven with structured black fruits, subtle hints of leafy, earthy dried herb spices, finishing with length and intensity and a subtle mineral undertone. Very classy indeed with plenty of stuffing for a cooler, fresher vintage.
The Bottelary ward of Stellenbosch is prime Cabernet Sauvignon country and this delightful 2023 is a very classy expression, the aromatics deep, sumptuous and complex. There is an extra dimension of ripeness and density on the 2023 nose with deep, savoury tilled earth aromatics that melt into notes of wet tobacco leaf, earthy black currant and damson plum fruits with just a hint of pressed violet perfume. In the mouth, this wine is broad and creamy with the texture of velvet that is caressed by soft silky tannins, sweet fleshy black and blue berry fruits before a dusty, wet stone graphite-laden minerality on the finish. The extraction is expertly handled offering a plush, luxurious, fleshy depth of fruit with a genuinely accessible, generous opulence. So delicious already, why keep this too long in the cellar when you can enjoy its tangy, vibrant, fleshy opulence now. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Reserve Collection Cabernet Franc 2023, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
Aged in 100% New French oak for 20-21 months. Shows classic Cabernet Franc notes with great varietal typicity – cedar, spice, tree bark, dried herbs and perfumed black berry fruits. The palate is cool, crisp and distinguished with sweet baking herbs, earthy leafy spice, tea leaf, lead pencil and tangy fresh black berry fruits on the finish. Tight knit, grippy, densely fruited and quite complete for the vintage. Undoubtedly among the top expressions of Cabernet Franc in SA!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Reserve Collection Cabernet Franc 2024, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
The Bellevue Estate’s Cabernet Franc quality is synonymous with premium quality winning multiple awards year after year. This 2024 is another outstanding example that combines the vintage condition’s translucent fruit purity and freshness with the winemaker’s pinpoint precision to yield a wine of outstanding beauty. The aromatics are stand out, supremely plush, perfumed and layered with sweet violets, sappy cedar, and cinnamon spices over hints of tea leaf, red currants and blue berries. Cool, precise, and attractively chiselled, there is a real elegant classicism to the texture, with satin soft tannins, bright lemon-like tangy acids and a long, piercing red fruited persistence on the finish. What a truly magnificent wine. Get your hands on a bottle at all costs! Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Heritage Range Cinsault 2024, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
Undoubtedly, one of the most famous premium Cinsault reds produced in South Africa, this 2024 shows intricate, complex aromatics laced with rose petal, potpourri, raspberry herbal tea, red cherries, fynbos, dried herbs, dusty stony minerals and intricate Turkish delight nuances. The palate is tight knit, compact and intense, deliciously sweet fruited, incredibly concentrated and intense with a sleek, harmonious mineral texture. A phenomenal expression of old vine Cinsault that combines power, intensity, precision and purity. Simply breathtaking. Drink now to 2050+.
Few Pinotage wines are as evocative as the Old Vine wines from Bellevue Estate. Incredibly deep, dense, dark black fruited aromatics reveal notes of violets, black berries, chocolate peppermint crisp, sweet raspberries, berry herbal tea and white pepper notes. On the palate there’s a pronounced menthol brightness and tart berry freshness together with delicious, sweet Christmas spices, delicate fynbos hints and exotic Asian spices. Beautifully powerful with immense drinkability and accessibility with an underlying seriousness. This is premium Pinotage… but not as you know it. Drink now to 2041+.
The 2023 Reserve Pinotage is an impressively complex expression of this grape from one of South Africa’s finest proponents. The aromatics are deep and broody, revealing layers of polished mahogany, bay leaf spice, vivid black and blue berry fruits, mulberries, and subtle caramelized vanilla oak spice nuances. The palate is full, fleshy, and noticeably broad and glycerol with a vivid acid frame that balances the sweet black fruit concentration with a beautiful freshness and supple, delicately creamy tannins. A bold, fleshy, opulent style of Pinotage with plenty of character and seductive charm. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Bellevue Estate will be available in the UK soon from South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.
Celestina represents a deeply personal project by famous Cape Town wine personality Caroline Rillema, a legendary figure in the South African wine industry and the founder of the renowned Caroline’s Fine Wine Cellar in Cape Town. Situated in the cool-climate Cape Agulhas region near Baardskeerdersbos, this little boutique estate is among the smallest and most intimate wine projects in the Western Cape.
For years, Caroline Rillema has served as a tastemaker and curator for the finest wines in the Cape and with Celestina, she brings that refined expertise and talent to the vineyard. Since its first vintage in 2009, Celestina has been celebrated as a noteworthy expression of its unique southern coastal terroir. This signature wine is an elegant white, being an equal parts blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, that perfectly captures the distinct grassiness, minerality and salinity of the cool, coastal maritime climate of the Agulhas Wine Triangle.
While the wine was historically crafted in collaboration with neighbouring cellars, a significant milestone was reached in 2023 when the first vintage was vinified entirely in Caroline’s own on-site cellar. Caroline kindly forwarded me a sample of both the 2023 and the 2024 to taste and review on my recent trip to Cape Town and this transition highlights the evolution of the Celestina brand from a passion project into a focused, small-scale production of exceptional artisanal quality. For Caroline, the Celestina project is more than just a bottle of ‘hobby project’ wine, it is a testament to a lifetime spent in the company of great South African winemakers and fine wine.
Celestina Agulhas White 2024, WO Cape Agulhas, 13.5% Abv.
A beautifully bright, crystalline pale canary yellow colour, the aromatics on this 2024 are stunningly pure, fresh and vibrant, bristling with all the maritime energy you would expect, or at least hope for, from a premium Cape Agulhas coastal white. Never prickly, simply zippy and spicy, the aromatics are seamlessly layered with gooseberry, greengage, lemon grass, lemon peel and delicately savoury, mineral nuances. The palate boasts an energy and fruit concentration that bursts out the glass – tangy, unctuous, and beautifully intense. This vintage is definitely more intense and decidedly punchier than the 2023 and is an admirable addition to the cool climate coastal repertoire of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon whites from the Agulhas region. If you are looking for more than primary Sauvignon Blanc, this is your medicine! Drink on release and over the next 3 to 5+ years.
Not only is Bellevue Estate in Stellenbosch the oldest commercial producer of Pinotage in South Africa, having produced both South Africa’s first bottled and award-winning Pinotage in 1959 from vines planted in 1953, it is also the producer of one of Stellenbosch’s most exciting Old Vine white wines – the Heritage Chenin Blanc 2025.
This hand harvested single vineyard Old Bush Vine Chenin Blanc was planted in 1976 and was barrel fermented in French oak barrels to compliment the fruit concentration, richness, and intensity of the Old Vine fruit. With only 1,088 bottles produced, this is sure to be one of the most exciting new releases on the South African market in 2026.
Bellevue Estate’s longtime winemaker, Wilhelm Kritzinger.
As I have a much bigger red and white wine multi-vintage tasting assessment on the impressive wines of the Bellevue Estate being published very soon on A Fine Wine Safari, I thought it would be suitably fitting to give this impressive new release its own individual preview. Due to be released in April/May in South Africa, if the wine gods are kind, hopefully a few bottles of this impressive wine will find their way to UK shores before selling out!
This delightful 2025 Old Vine Heritage Chenin Blanc definitely sings the praises of this exceptional quality vintage in the Cape, boasting exotic aromatics of Muscat grape jelly, green honeydew melon, white peaches, green pear and honeysuckle notes over complexing savoury leesy hints and wet straw nuances. With such a ripe concentrated vintage such as 2025, you get to experience the full breadth and depth of this Old Vine Chenin Blanc that’s expertly balanced with tangy fresh acids, a delicate sweet and sour vibrancy together with a gently Granitic mineral salinity. Supremely harmonious and finely balanced with a majestic textural elegance, this youthful wine should develop an unquestionable starlight personality with a few more years in bottle. This is another superb blockbuster from the historic Bellevue Estate. Drink from 2027 to 2040+. (1,088 bottles produced.)
It seems almost implausible that what feels like only a few years ago, Restless River proprietor Craig Wessels, t-shirt and baseball cap adorned, was running around the London wine trade proposing his unique new style wines from his farm in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley near Hermanus. But of course, it wasn’t ‘just a couple of years ago’. Having just barrelled down his 22nd vintage, winemaker Craig will soon be back in London again to present 10 significant vintages which will chart the history of his acclaimed Cape Cabernet Sauvignon, Main Road & Dignity. How time flies!
While Craig’s Cabernet Sauvignon is undoubtedly the most unique and individual red fine wine to emerge from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley since Tim Hamilton Russell bottled his early 1980 versions of Cabernet Sauvignon, or Grand Vin Noir as he called them, from his newly established Hamilton Russell Vineyards estate, it is Craig’s premium Chardonnay, the Ava Marie, named after his daughter, that has made waves around the fine wine world as it quickly took a seat at the table of some of the greatest Chardonnays produced anywhere. Again, it also seems like only yesterday that I was sitting in a wonderfully buzzy Cape Town restaurant with Cathy van Zyl MW and Lynne Sherriff MW, forming a rare in-situ trio of South African Masters of Wine, sipping on Craig’s maiden 2012 Ava Marie produced from some of the oldest Chardonnay vineyards in the Cape, which was touted at the time as one of the most exciting new Chardonnays on the market.
The Restless River wines are more “formal jacket and tie” in quality these days, but the odd baseball cap still lurks…
Time has indeed moved on, and those Chardonnay vineyards planted in 1998/1999 are still producing some of the Cape’s most iconic Chardonnay. Large parts of the two vineyard blocks of the Main Road & Dignity have also recently been replanted, and I look forward to hearing a full update from Craig as he shares the defining moments, challenges, and his evolving understanding and knowledge that has shaped his winery and vineyards over the last two decades.
A great lunch tasting with Craig Wessels at London’s premier South African eatery… Kudu on Moxon Street.
At the end of January 2026, I caught up with Craig on one of his lightning tours of Europe, and had the pleasure of his time, mano-a-mano over lunch, to taste through his range of new releases, including his incredibly exciting new ‘baby cuvees’ of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, bottled under the newly adopted “Klein Hemel” label.
Restless River ‘Klein Hemel’ Pinot Noir 2024, WO Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, 13.5% Abv.
Using a 20% new oak portion, this is made in exactly same way as the bigger brother ‘Le Luc’ cuvee. A mix of vineyards, 60% on Granite and 40% on Shale, sourced from four different sites with vine age ranging from five to nine years old. Subtle and fragrant, this shows beautifully elegant ethereal notes of sweet red cherry, bramble berry and cranberry spice. This wine has a texture of silk, sultry and elegant with soft tight grained tannins and a compact, red berry fruited Granitic finish enlivened by a bright acidity. This is undoubtedly more Cote de Beaune than Cote de Nuits in style and absolutely delicious already. Drink now to 2032+.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Restless River ‘Le Luc’ Pinot Noir 2023, WO Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, 13% Abv.
With 30% of new oak barrels used, this 2023 Pinot is a seriously mineral, spicy expression packed full of struck flint, crushed gravel and limestone minerality. Underneath, there are complex notes of bramble berries, wild strawberry, and tart cranberry with a light ethereal concentration with an effortless shakshuka mixed spice note on the finish. Very classy indeed. Drink now to 2034+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Restless River ‘Main Road & Dignity’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, WO Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, 13.7% Abv.
The 2023 will be the last use of Main Road vineyard grapes before its grubbing up. The 2022 utilises a 30% new oak portion also using fifth and sixth fill barrels for 24 months before an extra two years aging in barrel. This 2022 is very similar in character to the fresh 2013 vintage with a cool, sleek elegance, aromatics full of sweet cedar, dried herbs, tea leaf and graphite. The palate is sleek and silky, beautifully supple and elegant with soft silky tannins, crisp intricate acids, and fabulously accessible fleshy black berry fruits. If this silky 2022 ages as well as the 2013, drinkers are in store for another classically styled blockbuster. Truly classy. Drink now to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Restless River ‘Klein Hemel’ Chardonnay 2024, WO Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, 13% Abv.
Using a 10% new oak portion in 500 litre barrels, the same as for the Ava Marie cuvee, this wine is made from a blend of three Granitic Chardonnay vineyards planted in 2020. The aromatics are lush and expressive with layers of lemon cordial, lime peel, fresh green apple, and white peach. Incredibly cool and crystalline on the palate, this wine shows precision, purity, and a mineral under vein with vibrant tangy acids and real persistence on the finish. Yet again, a wine that totally over delivers. Drink now to 2034+.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Restless River ‘Ava Marie’ Chardonnay 2023, WO Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, 12.7% Abv.
This flagship wine is now made from the oldest Chardonnay vines in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley at 29 years old, lending the wine an extra concentration, weight and intensity. Full of lemon and herbs, lemon cordial and white peach notes that intermingle with fabulous stony mineral nuances. Beautifully full and expressive on the palate, concentrated, this wine is characterful and classy, precise and impressively complex with an overriding supple ease and accessibility. Undoubtedly one of South Africa’s finest Chardonnay expressions produced in the Cape. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Tasting with Craig and the Somm team at Kudu Restaurant, London.
The Restless River wines are imported exclusively into the UK by Liberty Wines.
The Skurfberg Mountain is part of the Citrusdal mountain area and the word Skurfberg (Rugged Mountain in Afrikaans) mainly refers to the edgy and rough appearance of the mountain. The soil is mainly decomposed Table Mountain sandstone formations and tends to be very sandy. It is regarded as a truly great site for Chenin Blanc, and it is most unusual that such a warm and dry area still produces wines with this enormous texture and balancing freshness.
Together, the three low-yielding parcels Sadie Family Wines uses represent the possibilities of the area, each offering something unique to the complexity of the final blend. The one site has huge aromatic fruit concentration; the second offers an earthy character and overt minerality, and the third (the highest, and closest to the Atlantic Ocean) retains amazing acidity and freshness. The three parcels of fruit are vinified separately.
Winemaking: The grapes are picked in small 20kg picking crates and then placed in a cooling room to reduce the temperature. Eben Sadie considers this an essential step in the Swartland where temperatures are often 35 degrees C and more during harvest time; and pressing warm grapes comes with a series of potential challenges. The cooling process is followed up by whole bunch pressing. The process takes about three hours and during this time there is a margin of settling of the juice in the collecting tank. The juice is then transferred to two older foudre where it is left undisturbed until natural fermentation starts. The fermentation process can sometimes take up to 10 or more days to initiate and can last anything from 1 to 6 months, sometimes only finishing during the next spring, by which time the malolactic fermentation would often have come to completion as well. The wine is left in cask on the fermentation lees for 12 months and bottled directly off the lees. They add about 50ppm of sulphur 2 weeks prior to bottling and bottle directly from the cask.
2017 Producer Note:“Skurfberg fruit came in fully ripe in 2017 and produced a very serious wine in the Chenin arena. The aromatics are very spicy, white pepper with some flinty tones that then cross over into again the stone fruit aromas of apples and pear skin. There is also a minerality that is running throughout the wine and not only on the aromatics, but it carries through to the palate. This wine needs a serious plate of food.” ~ Eben Sadie.
Sadie Family Wines Skurfberg Chenin Blanc 2017, WO Olifants Rivier, 14% Abv.
A more creamy expression on the nose, quite leesy and biscuity. Also a bit of delicious pear fruit. Juicy and tangy on the palate, delicately pithy, deceptively grippy but finishes with a cool, vibrant precision. No real rush but keep an eye on it. Drink now to 2034+.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
2018 Producer Note:“The Skurfberg up in the Clanwilliam mountains was definitely the area most affected by the drought. Not only did these vineyards receive less rain, but with half the normal rainfall and the extremely well-drained, decomposed Table Mountain sandstone soils the combination was just suicidal. We only managed to pick 30% of the grapes we collect in a normal year. The wine is unbelievably harmonious and poised and it actually does not show much of the drought other than a slightly lower alcohol level and a higher acidity than normal – we picked earlier to try and save as much of the vine reserves as we could. Drinking this wine is the closest we’ll probably get to walking on crystal.” ~ Eben Sadie.
Sadie Family Wines Skurfberg Chenin Blanc 2018, WO Olifants Rivier, 13.5% Abv.
A very saline, tangy expression of Chenin full of white peach, pear and green apple aromatics. Full and mouthwatering on the palate, packed with pear and peach fruits but essentially a very vibrant expressive and pure focused Skurfberg. Impressive concentration and really no rush if you have in your cellar. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
2019 Producer Note:“Following the trajectory to the northern territories of the Citrusdal Mountain area the Skurfberg yields, just like those of the Soldaat, were suicidally low and we managed to bottle only a third of our usual production. The 2019 displays amazingly concentrated stone fruit and quince flavours with a pronounced mineral note, very good acidity and freshness. In many ways this is one of the purest forms of Chenin we have had in the tank to date.” ~ Eben Sadie.
Sadie Family Wines Skurfberg Chenin Blanc 2019, WO Olifants Rivier ,14% Abv.
A more honied, opulent aromatics with notes of bees wax and melted wax candles. Rich and punchy, this is a block buster from the outset – broad but also fresh and intense but super long on the finish. Wow! A big, big, big vintage. Drink now to 2038+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
2020 Producer Note: “This 2020 vintage of Skurfberg was a very limited production as yields again dwindled down, the drought in the Cederberg Mountains continued and we opted to reduce the yield in order to save reserves. This 2020 is an incredibly compact and viscus expression of Chenin Blanc and the stone fruit and peach skin aromas are followed up by a very mineral expression and some tropical aromas in the background. The tannins are smooth and the acidity is perfectly nestled in between the fruit and the tannin. Please give wine the time in the bottle.” ~ Eben Sadie.
Sadie Family Wines Skurfberg Chenin Blanc 2020, WO Olifants Rivier, 14% Abv.
Wow, what a beautifully fragrant Skurfberg with hints of yellow peach, honey, and buttered white toast. Full, fresh, and fleshy on the palate, this is a powerful, dense expression. Really amazing, this tops the line-up with its structured, balanced by power. A really sophisticated age worthy success for a vintage that often leans to the earlier drinking side. No rush here however. Drink now to 2036+.
The 2025 Bordeaux vintage is defined by a paradox of extreme heat yet produced many wines with surprising elegance. After a mild winter, an exceptionally early and uniform flowering in mid-May set the stage for an accelerated growing season. However, the defining characteristic was a series of intense heatwaves in June and August, with temperatures peaking near 42°C.
The result was a year of remarkably low yields but also intense, pure concentration. Small, thick-skinned berries – particularly in the Merlot – produced wines with deep colour and rich phenolic structure. While the heat initially threatened to block ongoing ripening, critical rains in late August combined with cooler night temperatures preserved a “crystalline” acidity that distinguishes 2025 from the more opulent and hedonistic 2022 vintage.
Key Highlights:
• Quality vs. Quantity: Exceptional aromatic intensity and ripe tannins, though volumes are down roughly -15% due to heat-induced berry shrivelling.
• Terroir Success: Clay and limestone soils (notably in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol) thrived by regulating water stress.
• Style: Early tastings suggest a “modern classic” – combining the power of solar vintages with a refined, fresh finish and moderate alcohol levels (averaging 13.5–14%).
For collectors, 2025 stands as a “vigneron’s year,” where precise harvest timing was essential to balance its natural fruit density with graceful acids.
Petit Cantenac 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 13% Abv.
The 2025 Petit Cantenac stays true to the vintage and displays an incredibly intense, lifted, “crystalline” purity and perfume with piercing notes of violets, crushed red cherries, black currants and red currants with a delicate dusting of leafy spice, freshly cut cedar, and subtle notes of Asian five spice. The palate shows a mouthwatering crunchy structure, tightly delineated acids and a steely tension that envelops the bright red and black berry fruit concentration. The tannins are tense and sinewy rather than muscular, holding the ripe fruits in perfect balance. This is essentially a “modern classic” with a cool demeanour, crunchy bright acids together with a potent, focused depth of fruit. Forward and elegantly accessible in style but simultaneously quite a serious expression. Drink from 2028 to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 92-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Clos Cantenac 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru. 13.25% Abv.
Once again, the 2025 Clos Cantenac Saint Emilion Grand Vin is a 100% Merlot offering that will be aged for 12 months in 40% new oak barriques and 60% in second and third passage barrels. While this wine’s aromatics share an exotic, lifted exuberance with its junior sibling, Petit Cantenac, the perfume and fragrance is that much more intricate, broader, and more intense, showing sweet violets, rich ripe black berry fruits, crème de cassis, blue berries, black cherries and pronounced Christmas gateau nuances. There is a lingering hint of spicy new oak in the background, but this wine is decidedly plush and hedonistic with an impressive classical elegance. The palate is tight knit, cool and incredibly focused revealing a tight grained, stony minerality, hints of cigar box, tobacco leaf, black cherry compote and tart cassis on the finish. This wine possesses all the composure, freshness and seduction of a truly great Bordeaux vintage. Dink from 2028 to 2045+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
L’Innocence de Seraphine 2025, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
Many drinkers imagine Pomerol wines being 100% Merlot, but this example is a 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc assemblage. The aromatics are true to form – lush, plush, exotic and hedonistic with fragrant notes of sweet violets, red currants, black cherries and frais de bois wild strawberries. Complexing veins of black chocolate run deep into the wine, complimented by notes of wet tobacco and dried baking spices. The mouthfeel is full, glycerol and textural revealing hints of vanilla pod spice, picante black berries, creamy tannins and a savoury black liquorice finish. This wine has all the power of Pomerol fruit but with a slightly softer, more integrated, harmonious finish. This wine offers great value for Pomerol lovers. Drink from 2028 to 2040.
(Wine Safari Score: 92-93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Seraphine 2025, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
We often like to compare second wines to their Grand Vins but this Seraphine is in a completely different league. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the wine will be aged in a selection of 300 litre new French oak barrels and amphorae. Thereafter, the wine is racked off into French oak barrels (45% new and 55% second and third fill) where it will be matured for 12-14 months to harmonise further. On the nose, this is pure hedonistic joy – vibrant, lifted and enticingly fresh and perfumed showing bay leaf and thyme spice. Notes of fresh violets, savoury black cherries, earthy loam, and damsons plum nuances melt into earthy black currants and a sappy wood spice persistence. The concentration is notable, the acid freshness and creamy fruit concentration simply breathtaking, buffered by incredibly supple, creamy fine grained tannins. An intricate, powerful, complex expression that is sure to impress Bordeaux lovers! Drink from 2028 to 2040.
(Wine Safari Score: 96-97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
EP and back vintages of Clos Cantenac and Chateau Seraphine are available from specialist UK merchant Museum Wines.
