South Africa

Le Riche Wines Excels with Another Pair of Affordable Icon Cabernet Sauvignons – Tasting the 2021 and the 2022 Releases Alongside Each Other…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Predictably, the Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon often occupies the majority of wine critics’ column inches, garnering high 90+ point scores on a seemingly regular basis… and not just from local critics either. Both the 2020 and 2021 releases have picked up scores from 97 to 99/100 points from UK as well as respected American critics. So, of course it gives me even more pleasure to review the “other” Cabernet Sauvignon produced by this iconic Stellenbosch producer.

The fruit for this “regular” Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from selected vineyard sites within Stellenbosch, with a conscientious mixture of cool gravelly slopes facing the cooling False Bay and rich red granitic soils located around Stellenbosch to ensure a harmonious and accessible balance of aromas and flavours in the final wine.

Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.23% Abv.

2.1g/l RS| 5.9g/l TA | 3.77pH

The 2022 Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon is an attractive and sumptuous pure Cabernet Sauvignon expression brimming with perfumed fresh violets and rose petals, grilled herbs, black cherry compote, black tea and creme de cassis. There is a real fleshy tenderness to the wine that shows a deliciously accessible Cabernet fruit typicity, laced with cherry tobacco, mulberries and Black Forest gateau nuances. Medium bodied with a harmonious integrated freshness and a mouth watering salinity following to an expansive finish with majestically subtle sweet mineral tannins, this wine has everything you could possibly want from an affordable, pure fruited Stellenbosch Cabernet. Drink this beauty on release and over the next 8-10+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14.39% Abv.

1.6g/l RS| 5.4g/l TA | 3.70pH

This quintessential classically styled Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 exhibits attractive aromatics of shaved lead-pencil infused with black berries, black cherry, moist tobacco, iodine and precocious fragrant notes of violets and white spring flowers over graphite and a granitic minerality. The palate is medium bodied with incredibly fine-grained tensile tannins and delectable mouthwatering acids that really bring this wine to life. After a few hours of breathing, the wine unfurls to reveal an incredibly well integrated oak profile, restrained enough to let the inky, saline crème de cassis and black cherry fruits really shine in the glass. There is an effortless sense of power, mid-palate tension and textural precision but also a delicacy and purity. Such a wonderfully fresh, vibrant, elegant expression of Cabernet Sauvignon that celebrates the charm and purity of a cooler, slower ripening vintage like 2021. A stylish classical red wine that will continue to reward the drinker for at least 10 to 15+ years after vintage. A truly affordable luxury fine wine. 

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Le Riche wines are imported into the UK by Boutinot Wines and are available retail from specialist South African merchants like Museum Wines for around £22-£24 per bottle.

Raats Family Wines Raises the Cabernet Franc Stakes Still Higher with the Release of their Maiden Vlag Vineyard Selection Cuvée 2022 Alongside their Eden Single Vineyard Icon…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

When Bruwer Raats set out in 2000 to champion Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, who would have thought he would be where he is today, having claimed the premium high ground so successfully, consistently producing arguably some of South Africa’s best Chenin Blanc whites and certainly South Africa’s most respected Cabernet Franc reds. Indeed, when it comes to this once quirky Loire red cultivar, Bruwer’s Raats Family Wines Cabernet Franc and Raats Eden High Density Cabernet Franc must surely be regarded as some of the most profound Cabernet Franc expressions produced anywhere in the world today, including in the motherland region of the Loire itself.

Mini Eden Cabernet Franc vertical – 2017, 2020 and 2022.

Over the past decade, the consumer tide has certainly turned back in favour of premium Cabernet Franc, with its delicate floral perfume, subtle leafy red and black fruits, and its suave, elegant sensual texture all built around fine silky tannins and a mouth-watering acidity. The mean, green pyrazines of years gone by have been well and truly banished both in South Africa as well as across Europe where sales of Cabernet Franc wines are once again flourishing. One needs to look no further than the cultivar’s newly found planting popularity in Bolgheri and Coastal Tuscany to witness its broad international appeal in not only Bordeaux blends but in single varietal wines as well.

The UK launch tasting at La Trompette Restaurant in London.

The latest new release tasting took on extra meaning this year with the introduction of Bruwer Raats’ first new wine for almost a decade. It was of course 10 years ago with the 2014 vintage that Raats Family Wines launched the high-density single vineyard Eden Chenin Blanc and Eden Cabernet Franc, which is now finally being joined by the maiden Vlag Vineyard Selection Polkadraai Hills Cabernet Franc 2022, that Bruwer describes as “a celebration of Cabernet Franc… but executed in a new style.” The wine is a blend of two single Polkadraai Hills vineyards, one from lower slope vines planted in 2008 and one from high mid-slope vines planted in 2002. The resulting wine was aged in 33% concrete egg, 33% oak barrels (8% new French), and 33% in large foudre. The new releases are expected to retail in the UK for £75 per bottle for the Vlag and £115 per bottle for the Eden (R1,600 and R2,950 per bottle in South Africa). Both will be extremely tightly allocated as per usual.

Raats Family Wines Vlag Vineyard Selection Polkadraai Hills Cabernet Franc 2022, WO Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

A fabulously rich, perfumed aromatics with plenty of fine detail, revealing an intriguing depth and power but also a crystalline clarity and purity of fruit. There is initially a subtle earthy, savoury black fruited note on opening which soon gives way to more elaborate aromas of pressed violets, cherry blossom, rose petals, thyme and hints of sandalwood and sweet cedar spice. This is an architectural masterpiece with finer lines and a more harmonious symmetry than even Enzo Ferrari could ever have conjured up. Beautifully weightless and texturally caressing in the mouth, the tannins are grippy, incredibly fine grained, but equally silky soft, balancing the complex layers of saline cassis, red currant, and red cherry fruit concentration to perfection. A wine with not only incredible precision but also a vibrant energy that is brought to life by seamlessly integrated zippy acids. Quite simply, this wine is an absolute pleasure to sip and savour. Not quite an iron fist in a velvet glove, but certainly an impressively powerful tannin profile combined with a majestic fruit purity. A Cabernet Franc for Cote Rotie drinkers? Maybe. Drink on release and over the next 10 to 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Raats Family Wines Eden High-Density Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2022, WO Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

The Eden 2022 is another ultra confident showstopper from Bruwer Raats’ tiny 0.2-hectare vineyard. This pristine Eden Cabernet Franc displays the most tantalising intensity and florality on the nose with a notable depth, seductive power and a piercing perfume focus. High toned, lifted and utterly beguiling, the aromatics display an exotic fanned peacock’s tail of pressed violets, cherry blossom and dried lavender over notes of oregano, dried thyme, sweet cherry compote, saline crème de cassis, oystershell, pencil shavings and delicate blueberry rock candy nuances. The palate is always underpinned by incredibly fine tannins but with this 2022, the vivacity, concentration and freshness of the accompanying acids bring immeasurable joy to the palate, seamlessly counterbalancing the complex red and black berry fruit intensity. This wine is all about purity, precision, and persistence, with a mouthfeel texture of silk and the most polished fine-grained granitic mineral tannins imaginable. This is surely as close as you are going to get to perfection with a young, energetic, premium Cabernet Franc in South Africa? Drink on release an over the next 10 to 15+ years. (598 bottles produced.)

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Karoo Hoogland Wines – Impressive New Wines with Altitude and Attitude…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

I was recently introduced to the wines of Karoo Hoogland Winery by wine consultant extraordinaire Adam Mason. I had never heard of the winery before so was intrigued to taste these unique expressions from the Hendrikse family. The Karoo Hoogland wines come from an impressive high-altitude terrain located at 1,100 meters above see level in a semi-desert region.

Here, the Hendrikse family have gone from humble beginnings as fifth generation sheep farmers to vignerons growing vines on incredibly ancient alluvial soils, laden with lime. Each wine in the Karoo Hoogland range represents a zodiac sign of a Hendrikse family member and I recently sampled two vintages of their exciting Shiraz as well as their incredibly accomplished Cap Classique.

Karoo Hoogland Capricorn Brut Cap Classique

This is a truly impressive Cap Classique from Karoo Hoogland. Never an easy style of wine to truly master, the unique terroir of this winery lends itself to cool elegance, minerality and classical restraint. On the nose, the aromatics are impressively delicate and pure with plenty of dusty minerality, dried herb intricacy, pithy white citrus, crystallized lemon slices, crushed gravel, and a white citrus blossom complexity … all very compact and tightly wound into an incredibly attractive sparkling wine. The clarity, purity and precision continue onto the palate which shows an accomplished level of winemaking, a notable degree of terroir expression and plenty more pithy citrus, grilled nuts, and crunchy green apple nuances cloaked in a leesy, stony liquid minerality. The acids are sleek, pinpoint, and well-integrated and the mousse sufficiently vibrant, creamy and fine. Ultimately, this is a sparkling wine where less is definitely more, where elegance, minerality and fruit restraint play a winning hand. A really impressive Cap Classique that in my mind rubs shoulders with some of the top producers’ premium South African MCCs being produced in South Africa. Drink now and over the next 5 to 8 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Karoo Hoogland Wines Scorpio Shiraz 2021, WO Karoo Hoogland, 14% Abv.

A 100% Shiraz wine made from a single vineyard and matured in French oak for 6 months. The 2021 Hoogland Scorpio Shiraz boasts and attractively lifted, perfumed aromatics with genteel notes of spicy red apples, incense, pressed violets, lavender, lipstick, red currant and sweet and sour plum with just the faintest earthy forest floor note. Complex and compelling, the palate of the 2021 is equally seductive with silky soft fine svelte tannins, an ethereal weightless mouthfeel, soft delicate layers of red berry fruits, black olive, tart black cherry and a creamy mineral laden length. This is an attractive, cool fruited Shiraz (despite its 14% alcohol), that is tender, texturally very polished and delicately seductive. Drink now and over the next 3 to 5 years. (746 bottles produced.)

(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Karoo Hoogland Wines Scorpio Shiraz 2022, WO Karoo Hoogland, 14% Abv.

The new release 2022 Scorpio Shiraz shows a tangible increase in outright quality, focus and precision, with aromatics lead by sweet lavender, pure red and black berry fruits, Parma violets, sun dried cranberries, red cherry, and raspberry nuances. The fruit purity is next level and the perfumed complexity seductive and utterly hedonistic. As pretty as the nose is, the palate excels in equal measure with beautifully seamless sweet, silky, elegant tannins, weightless red berry fruit concentration, and a texture so fine your senses lose their bearings trying to navigate the start and finish of the wine. Simply packed with pristinely pure fruit, intelligently handled oak, allowing the beguiling dusty, stony, cool slatey minerality to shine through. This is really very classy indeed with a finish simply gob-smackingly delicious! Drink on release or savour over 5 to 8+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tasting Two Exciting New Releases from Reg Holder at Dorper Wines in Stellenbosch…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Always exciting to taste and review new producer’s wines. I’d heard of the Dorper wines but until now had not yet tasted any, so was very pleased to sit down with their white Chenin Blanc and their Pinotage red both from the newly released 2022 vintage.

Dorper is the own label started by winemaker Reg Holder, previously of Delheim winery but who is now also running Lautus De-Alcoholised Wines. The name comes from the Afrikaans word for “dorp” or small town following a philosophy to use small old vine vineyards in and around Stellenbosch town itself that reflect a certain sense of terroir and place.

Dorper Chenin Blanc 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

This is impressive Chenin Blanc from a blend of vineyards in and around the Bottelary Hills in Stellenbosch that were fermented and aged in old oak barrels. The aromatics show an archetypal wet river stone, granitic mineral aromatics intertwined with notes of crunchy pear, white peach, wet hay, and dried herbs with subtle hints of dry bushveld after early summer rains. With a modest 13% alcohol, the palate displays a very decent depth of fruit and glycerol weight in the mouth with yet more wet stone liquid minerality, green pear, pithy apple skins and delicate white citrus nuances. One of the highlights is undoubtedly the wine’s deliciously vibrant tangy acids that carry the mineral laden fruits with notable length on the finish. Quite a serious, grown-up expression of Chenin Blanc for sure. Drink on releases and over 8 to 10+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Dorper Pinotage 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.

1.8g/l RS | 5.3g/l TA | 3.75pH

This is another Pinotage expression that helps trumpet the stylistic revolution that this cultivar has undergone over the past decade. Made from fruit sourced from two old vine parcels, one grown on decomposed granite soils in the Helderberg and the other on shale soils in the Bottelary Hills, the grapes were destemmed but not crushed, using a portion of whole bunches, this is a lively, perfumed, energetic Pinotage with complex floral aromatics of black and blueberry fruits, hints of black cherry, cranberry and saline crème de cassis nuances. A real cornucopia of flavours and texture, but always siding with fine grained, elegant tannins supported by the most delicious tangy sweet-sour acids. A wine very much centred around the purity of the fruit and the mid-palate harmony with just the most subtle wood spice notes on the dry mineral finish. A complete pleasure to drink! Drink now and over 5-8+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The wines are imported into the UK and are available to trade from Graft Wines.

The Iconic Meerlust Estate in Stellenbosch is Back on Top Form with the Release of their Rubicon 2021 Cape Bordeaux Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Change does not come a knocking too often at iconic estates like Meerlust or Kanonkop. Indeed, these iconic South African heritage estates could fit all their past and present winemakers around one small table in the corner of a good Stellenbosch steak house restaurant and still have a few spare seats. So with the iconic 2021 vintage, we see a bold wine that Meerlust winemaker Wim Truter was solely in charge of without any influence from predecessors.

When I last visited Meerlust a few years ago, I was driven around the expansive property which boasts 65 hectares under vines but I also saw some of the 20 hectares of new plantings that will be coming on stream in the next few years. The Meerlust Estate, held in trust, certainly is not letting the grass grow under its feet.

While winemaker Wim Truter surely knew what he was taking on by applying to be the successor to Chris Williams, he seems to have settled in very nicely thank you… and most people I have spoken to in the fine wine trade feel he is more than adequately equipped and resourced to produce some very exciting wines from this iconic estate. Look out for the Rubicon 2021, which looks set to be release in the UK later in the year but which is already available in the local market.

Meerlust Rubicon Cape Bordeaux Blend 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

A blend of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot aged 18 months in 300-litre barrels, 60% new, this impressive 2021 represents one of the most exciting Rubicon releases since the 2015 and 2017 vintages. The aromatics are mineral and spicy underpinned by layers of blueberry and black berry fruits, salty black liquorice, graphite pencil and sweet sappy cedar, sandalwood and a subtle tobacco leaf spice. Beautifully constructed, the palate is taut but tensile, tightly wound, tight knit and polished, displaying impressive stony polished marble tannins but also a great core of energy. The textural precision is notable showing power, focus and a piercing black cherry and saline black currant intensity with a kiss of nori kelp, grilled herbs and iodine on the long finish. This is a fine wine collectors will want to bury away in their cellars for 5 to 8 years to allow the wine to unfurl further and put on a bit more palate weight. But all the requisite components for another truly classic Rubicon are present. I’ve not been this excited about a new Rubicon release for a long time! Congrats to the whole Meerlust team. (21,000 cases of 6 produced)

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Celebrating World Chenin Blanc Day Tasting Two of the Most Incredible Expressions Produced – Sadie Family Rotsbank 2022 vs Alheit Vineyards Gone South 2022…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

After world Drink Chenin Blanc Day on the 8th of June, it’s important to sit back and reflect on just how far the South African wine industry has come in the past two decades with regards to producing quality Chenin Blanc from unique terroir sites, using incredible old vine vineyard fruit. Some of the expressions being produced in South Africa now by producers like Sadie Family Wines, Alheit Vineyards and others, represent the pinnacle of what is possible quality wise with this cultivar, that was once regarded as a simple work horse variety only worthy of high yields for the purposes of distillation, or at a stretch, bulk white wine production.

The Chenin Blanc Day Taste Off…

So, what better way to celebrate this truly unique cultivar than by tasting two wines from 2022 that have recently captured the imagination and interest of fine wine buyers and collectors the world over. Firstly, the Rotsbank Chenin Blanc 2022 that represents the maiden release under the Sadie Family Wines label of this Swartland vineyard.

Eben walking the Rotsbank vineyard thick with cover crops.

The Rotsbank vineyard is located in the Paardeberg in the Aprilskloof on a rock shelf just behind the back entrance of the Sadie Family farm that barely has 30 – 50 cm of soil in most parts. It is incredible to think that this vineyard survives year after year. Many of the roots in the soil have found cracks in this rock shelf, and the limited natural growth of this vineyard makes for incredibly concentrated fruit. Since 2008 Eben Sadie has wanted to produce a pure Swartland Chenin Blanc, but the 2022 vintage materialised as the first after he was very fortunate enough to get the opportunity to purchase the vineyard.

The Rotsbank Chenin Blanc vineyard in the Paardeberg, Swartland.

After harvesting, the Rotsbank Chenin Blanc grapes are placed in a cooling room to reduce the temperature since the average temperatures at harvest are often 35 degrees C or more – pressing warm grapes comes with a series of problems. They then do whole bunch pressing, a process that takes about 3 hours, during which time there is a margin of settling of the juice in the collecting tank. The juice is then transferred to two old foudres for fermentation. The wine is left in a cask on the fermentation lees for the first 12 months and is bottled directly from the fine lees. Only about 60ppm of sulphur is added two weeks before bottling.

The declassified Magnetic North 2022

The second wine tasted comes from the other great white wine maestro, Chris Alheit, who has over the past decade and a half, established himself as one of the most sought after premium white wine producers in South Africa. Magnetic North is also, like the Rotsbank, a single origin Chenin Blanc wine. Since its maiden vintage in 2013, this wine has become a perennial star in the Alheit line-up with an almost mythical reputation. Every vintage the wines manages to combine power and finesse in a way very few other Chenin Blanc vineyards from anywhere (not just the Cape) are able to do. So when Chris Alheit decided to “declassify” the Magnetic North for the 2022 vintage on account of it not having the requisite power and structure expected of a Magnetic North Chenin Blanc, a lot of eyebrows were raised.

But did the Magnetic North 2022 merit declassification? The grapes come from two ungrafted Skurfberg vineyards which Chris Alheit felt weren’t quite up to standard in 2022 and subsequently decided to release the wine as “Gone South” selling for almost half the price of a bottle of Magnetic North. For many, like Christian Eedes, the editor of Winemag.co.za in South Africa, it was considered Chris was perhaps being a little too overcautious, and a mega score of 98/100 was bestowed on the declassified Gone South 2022 regardless. So, what better two wines to examine in minute detail and put through their paces in a head-to-head, sighted, taste-off!?

Alheit Vineyards Gone South Chenin Blanc 2022, WO Citrusdal Mountain, 13% Abv.

A profound expression of Chenin Blanc that boasts complex aromatics of dried herbs, fresh hay, fynbos, crushed gravel, grated lemon peel and pithy yellow orchard stone fruits. A beautifully elegant harmonious creation with delicacy and finesse, incredible balance and harmony, and an impressive concentration of white peach, honied pear, and a beguiling liquid minerality with a classical saline maritime kiss on the finish. A very fine wine that is so deliciously mouthwatering and drinkable now. Outstanding.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Sadie Family Wines Old Vine Series Rotsbank Chenin Blanc 2022, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.

A thoroughly compelling offering from Eben that justifies his passion to make this his first single varietal Swartland Chenin Blanc in his range. Showing a hint of flinty reduction, the stony mineral characters give way to notes of wet hay, wet wool, quince puree, peach and honey, and the typical savoury bruised yellow orchard fruit character so common in Swartland. The massive concentration suggests a higher RS than the 1.5g/l level but obviously it’s simply the incredible dry extract that highlights the wines intensity, power and persistence. A flirty, opulent offering of old vine Chenin Blanc that has found a perfect home in Eben’s famous old vine series collection… the first new addition in 13 years. Bravo Eben!

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Alheit Vineyards Gone South was only released cellar door to the local South African market for circa £20pb (R495) but the other Alheit wines are available in the UK on allocation from Dreyfus Ashby. The Sadie Family Wines are available on allocation from FMV, the wholesale trade arm of Berry Brothers & Rudd for circa £50pb.

Big Can Be Beautiful – Tasting the 2019 Holden Manz Big G Cape Bordeaux Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Holden Manz, based in Franschhoek have always made bold, opulent, hedonistic wine expressions, and in doing so, have cultivated a very loyal following around the world with wine lovers who like a little more meat on the bone. Winemaker Thierry Haberer may have deep Francafile roots but his wines are anything but lean, mineral and austere expressions, instead he embraces a pleasurable, accessible opulence allowing the wines just enough rein to point their noses towards a riper, bolder, more fruit forward style while simultaneously never losing sight of the terroir and minerality of the wines’ Cape wineland heritage.

Among the rather extensive Holden Manz range, it is probably the Big G Cabernet Sauvignon based red blend that has proved to be one of the estate’s most popular wines. Plush, dense and fruit forward, this is also a very serious wine for the money that certainly would not look out of place in a line-up of premium Napa Valley Meritage red blends.

Holden Manz Big G 2019, WO Franschhoek, 14.5% Abv.

3.2g/l RS | 4.9g/l TA | 3.77 pH

Always one of the estate’s most popular wines, the high anticipated Holden Manz Big G 2019 is finally release and boy what a cracker it is. A blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc, which were all handpicked and hand sorted to select the very best fruit for this cuvee, before being fermented using natural wild yeasts with a 10% portion in new oak barrels. The aromatics are seductively dark and broody with layers of ripe black berry compote, damson plum, black currant, cedarwood and sweet Christmas spices. In the mouth, the wine is super plush, seductive, and wonderfully round, coating the palate with notes of hoisin plum sauce, sweet cherry tobacco, and exotic black and blueberry fruits, that are enveloped by the supplest of silky ripe tannins. Beautifully balanced and fresh yet delightfully intense and concentrated, this is a very voluptuous Cape Bordeaux Blend with focus, power and poise. I absolutely love it… as I’m sure all devoted Holden Manz fans will too. Drink now and over the next 8 to 10 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Holden Manz wines are available to trade from Vindependents and retail by the bottle from specialist merchant Museum Wines.

Another Exciting New Release Old Vine Sauvignon Blanc 2023 from Terre Paisible Produced by Legendary Winemaker Adam Mason…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The multi-talented Adam Mason is making quite the name for himself as one of the most highly regarded and respected consulting winemakers in the South African winelands at the moment. His current winemaking projects include Vriesenhof Estate in Stellenbosch and of course Terre Paisible in Franschhoek. The old Vigne d’Or farm has now been rebranded Terre Paisible with massive international investment going into the property to build a state-of-the-art Wellbeing Heath Spa / Clinic surrounded by a premium wine estate.

While grapes are currently being bought in from Stellenbosch to produce their red and Rosé wines, Adam has free run with two Sauvignon Blanc vineyards, one younger and one Old Vine Certified – one of only a handful of Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in the Cape with this distinction. The results from this old 1987 vineyard are indeed very impressive. I first tasted a tank sample of the 2022 vintage with Adam at Cape Wine in October 2022 and then the finish bottling in March 2023. Certainly no doubting the quality and uniqueness of this vineyard site and resultant wine.

Adam Mason showing his new vintages of Terre Paisible at 67 Pall Mall private members club in May 2024.

I caught up with Adam again in Franschhoek in March 2024 and had a sneak peak at all the new Terre Paisible releases that are currently enroute to market. But with Adam over in London again in May, I took the opportunity to retaste the full Terre Paisible range of wines and once again, the Les Dames de ’87 Old Vine Sauvignon Blanc 2023 was another knockout expression of Sauvignon Blanc. For a grape that divides so many wine drinkers’ opinions, the Terre Paisible flagship cuvee certainly does not have to try very hard to make friends! Whether you are a New World or an Old World Sauvignon Blanc lover, you can’t help but be seduced by this impressive wine.

Terre Paisilble Les Dames de ‘87 Old Vine Sauvignon Blanc 2023, WO Franschhoek, 13% Abv.

An attractively bright, pale golden bronzy yellow, the vibrancy on the nose is delectably enticing, packed full of pithy white citrus, yellow grapefruit peel, salty brine, spicy lemon grass essences, and a dusty crushed granite minerality. This beautifully pure and precise 2023 Sauvignon Blanc has an even stronger terroir footprint than the highly rated 2022 vintage as winemaker Adam Mason continues to familiarise himself with this special site’s terroir characteristics, and as such, the 2023 boasts a more classical crystalline varietal typicity and less struck flint and smoky reductive nuances. Superbly balanced on the palate, there is a mouth-watering old vine intensity and concentration of white and yellow citrus, gooseberry, quince jelly and spicy dried herbs. This is a wine with great presence and impressive complexity that will appeal to lovers of top French Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé from the Loire Valley. Drink on release and over the next 6 to 8+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Terre Paisilble wines are imported into the UK by specialist merchant Museum Wines and is available retail for circa £36 per bottle.

Jasper Wickens Reaching New Quality Heights with His Two Old Vine Masterpieces – Tasting the Tiernes Chenin Blanc 2021 and Wolwekop Semillon 2020…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

It’s always exciting visiting producers in the Swartland, whether it’s Eben at Sadie Family Wines, the Mullineuxs at Roundstone, or Adi Badenhorst at Kaalmoesfontein. But I certainly love how Jasper Wickens continues to beaver away producing some of the most exciting white and red wines on the market at the moment. Of course, there is plenty of competition in the Swartland, but Jasper’s wines continue to represent incredible value for money in an era when prices of the top wineries’ wines have continued to rise and rise.

If we are honest, Jasper is still a genuine Swartland young gun… not just being under 50… but under 40 years old! Full of energy, ideas and ambition, Jasper’s Swerwer brand is an incredibly exciting array of wines that continues to improve year after year, as he fine tunes and experiments in the winery to make ever more exciting wines. There are few more exiting Old Vine Chenin Blancs on the market than his Tiernes and with the Wolwekop Old Vine Semillon 2021 about to be released in the UK market, I thought I would take another look at these two exceptional white expressions that typify the supreme quality of premium fine wines in the Swartland.

Tasting the 2022 Tiernes with Jasper in March 2024. More excitement to come!

JC Wickens Swerwer Tiernes Chenin Blanc 2021, WO Swartland, 13.5% Abv.

A visit to the Swartland Waterval farm of Jasper and Franziska Wickens is always enlightening. But it is only when you walk around the upper reaches of the farm, high up in the old vine Tiernes Chenin Blanc vineyard planted in 1983 that you see, smell, and taste the true terroir of the decomposed Granite-rich soils of the Paardeberg. Planted on deep granitic deposits, these vines yield an exceptional expression of Chenin Blanc that in cooler, fresher, more crystalline vintages like 2021, reveals the true majesty of this cultivar. Bright, fragrant and notably mineral on the nose, the aromatics display a complex interwoven array of white blossom, peach stone, green pears, waxy green apple skins, wet hay, sweet baking herbs, fynbos, crushed granite and dried lemon peel nuances. In the mouth this medium-bodied wine simply shimmers, illuminated by its fresh vibrant acids and an intense, concentrated, harmonious melange of nectarine, peach and pear fruits infused with a salty liquid mineral essence that grows incrementally in the glass as the wine continues unfurls. This is an incredibly special wine graced with a real presence, finesse and stand apart greatness. But you do need an extraordinary vintage like 2021 to realise this kind of exceptional quality and also an agile, skilled, artisanal mastermind like Jasper to capture its essence and bottle it for others to experience. Drink this beauty on release and over the next 10 to 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

JC Wickens Swerwer Wolwekop Old Vine Semillon 2020, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.

This enticing Swartland single vineyard old vine Semillon planted in 1963 shows a brightly polished bronze colour in the glass before delightfully lifted aromatics of sweet yellow honeysuckle, lemon custard, lemongrass, iced tea, white pepper, lanolin, dry bushveld and a dusty granitic mineral spice. Like the nose, the palate also reveals an incredibly plush, harmonious integration with seamless layers of textural and flavour complexity. In true old vine Semillon fashion, the flavours coat the mouth from corner to corner, lingering to display a cornucopia of honied yellow fruits, lemon pastille, pineapple confit, glacé orange peel and a subtle savoury, buttery, pithy white citrus spice on a long, dreamy finish. This really is an astonishingly delicious and profound expression of old vine Semillon that comfortably rubs shoulders with some of South Africa’s greatest expressions, most notably from the Swartland and the Franschhoek Valley. Definitely a savouring, cerebral style of Semillon but also one that every connoisseur will want to have in their cellar. Drink on release or cellar for 10 to 12+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Swerwer wines are imported into the UK by specialist wine merchant Museum Wines and retail for circa £36pb.

http://www.museumwines.co.uk

Jessica Saurwein’s Continued Success On Her Pinot Noir Voyage – Tasting Her New 2022 Releases…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Jessica Saurwein set off on a pretty difficult mission a few years ago… to try and conquer Pinot Noir in the Cape winelands and produce some noteworthy examples. She of course was not expecting an easy ride from this heart break cultivar. But these are not just wines with pretty labels, they are excellent artisanal examples of premium Pinot Noir that have cultivated a growing and committed following.

The 2022 vintage releases are another pair of beauties, with very little to separate the two wines quality wise. The vintage offered all the building blocks for some quality wines from these Cape South Coast vineyards in the Hemel-en-Aarde and Elandskloof. Jessica herself was very pleased with the vintage and the resultant wines and I am sure followers are going to be well impressed once again.

Saurwein Om Pinot Noir 2022, WO Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, 14% Abv.

Another attractive Walker Bay Pinot Noir from Jessica Saurwein made from top pedigree fruit sourced on the Place of the Gods Farm in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge ward at 300 metres altitude. The wine was aged for 10 months in 228 litre French oak barrels with a 16% new barrel portion. Always a little more savoury and earthy than the Kaaimansgat vineyard expression, this 2022 reveals expressive notes of stewed strawberries, sweet bramble berry spice, red plum, wet peat, and delicately fragrant sweet rose petals. The palate displays impressive concentration of earthy red cherry, red currant, and raisined cranberries with a delicate dusting of sweet exotic spices and pomegranate complexity. A very pretty wine that shows more pure fruited fragrance and finesse over muscle and power while retaining a well-defined, elegant structure with beautifully refined acids. A truly delicious wine to drink over the next 3 to 5+ years to enjoy its purity and precision.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Saurwein Nom Pinot Noir 2022, WO Elandskloof, 14% Abv.

The ‘Nom’ cuvee from Jessica Saurwein always seems to lift and carry the extra perfume and aromatics of the Elandskloof Pinot Noir fruit to another level. This 2022 is no exception with a nose packed full of pressed rose petals, musk and sappy spice, iodine, wild strawberry, cherry, and a definite earthy, bramble berry spice nuance. The palate is broad, full and finely textured boasting a delicate weight of fruit and dry extract together with fine mineral tannins enlivened by a bright, crisp acidity and a taut, determinedly focused finish. A very well-crafted expression of this cultivar that as always, will appeal to true lovers of Burgundy. Drink now and over the next 5 to 8+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Saurwein wines are imported into the UK by Swig Wines and retail for circa £45pb inc.