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.

Dylan Grigg’s Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2021 From the Barossa Valley Helps Animate the Old Vine Story…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

With the Judgement of Wimbledon Blind Grenache Tastings held in London over the past years, I have had the opportunity to taste a lot of very interesting top notch Grenache wines from around the world. This, however, is my first encounter with the wines of Dylan Grigg, but it seems he is a lot more famous than you might initially expect, particularly owing to his research and writings around the study of old vines and their interaction with their surrounding terroir.

Dylan Grigg has certainly made a name for himself since completing his PhD on grapevine age and now divides his time between being an international viticultural consultant and producing wines for his label Vinya Vella. The name Vinya Vella (Vella pronounced ‘Vea’) is of course a nod to Catalonia, and to Spain in general, where Dylan Grigg worked and lived with his own young family after finishing his PhD. Deciding to return to Australia from Spain with his family after Covid struck in 2020, Dylan chanced upon the opportunity to buy an old vine Grenache vineyard in the Barossa Valley, not too far from where he grew up and where his parents still live, his ancestors having settled in the Barossa Valley as far back as the 1840s.

Interestingly, my friend and wine scientist Dr Jamie Goode from Winanorak.com, unpacked some of Dylan Grigg’s more complex theories about old vines and what makes them potentially so special. To quote Jamie writing for his Wineanorak.com… “The first of these (theories) is about epigenetics, and it has best been explored by the PhD research from viticulturist Dylan Grigg. It’s hard to put into simple terms, but basically epigenetics is the way the environment writes itself onto the genetics of an organism. It’s not through changes in the DNA – this isn’t possible. But it’s through changes in the proteins that surround DNA in the nucleus and cause some genes to be expressed or muted through alterations in packing material around the genetic code, such as histone deacetylases. Some of these outside-the-genetic (epigenetic) changes can even be heritable. They help a plant adapt to the environment, and Dylan has shown them to be present in old vines in the Barossa. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that if you take cuttings from these venerable old Barossa vines the epigenetic changes are re-programmed. But if you propagate by layering, they can be preserved.” (Source: www.wineanorak.com – Dr Jamie Goode, the Science of Old Vines, March 2022)

If the science of old vines is all a bit too much for you, maybe settle back and just enjoy a bottle of Dylan Grigg’s exceptional Barossa Valley Grenache that, despite its incredible complexity, is equally easy to understand and enjoy as a wine lover. (The 2022 Vinya Vella Grenache was released earlier this year in Australia along with his enticing Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2023… but the 2021 vintage is still the current release in the UK.)

Dylan Grigg Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2021, Barossa Valley, 14.5% Abv.

The Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Barossa Grenache 2021 is a fascinating wine, vibrant, perfumed and supremely elegant from the first pour, slowly filling out aromatically and fleshing out with time in the glass. Neither overtly sweet fruited nor over ripe, the aromatics are instead incredibly classical and perfumed, exotic even, packed full of violets, rose petals, spicy raspberry, Turkish delight, sweet clove, cherry tobacco, saline cassis, incense, and delicate Christmas spices. On the palate, the wine is weightless and ethereal, seductively elegant with the texture of silk, with delicate svelte polished tannins supported by layers of red and black berry fruits, bramble berries, cola, and salty red liquorice nuances. Knowing how difficult it is to achieve weightless concentration in perfect balance, this is surely where the old vines really start to play their role in elevating the wine to a higher quality plain. I generally love Barossa wines, but this elegantly finessed Grenache expression opens a whole new window for me on old vine quality from Australia. Drink this beauty now and over the next 6 to 8+ years to enjoy its purity and vibrancy.

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

The Grenache retails for approximately Aus$65 per bottle in Australia.

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.

Tasting the First and Second Wines of the Jacky Lorenzetti Bordeaux Stable with Sporting Wine Club…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

As owner of one of Europe’s foremost rugby squads, Racing 92, together with four quality Bordeaux wine chateaux, Jacky Lorenzetti has many commitments on his time, but his love of wine and sport always manages to shine through the pressures of a larger business empire. As President of Racing 92 rugby club, he changed its name from Racing Metro back in 2015 and helped establish it further as one of the most successful clubs in the French Top 14 rugby championship.

Jacky Lorenzetti has always had a fine appreciation of the great wines of the Médoc region. Jacky and his wife Françoise first purchased Chateau Lilian Ladouys and its 46 hectares in 2008, and then went on to purchase Château Pédesclaux in 2009. In 2013, Jacky teamed up with Emmanuel Cruse taking over 50% of Chateau d’Issan, a fine 1855 Margaux Grand Cru Classé certified winery.

Château Lilian Ladouys – Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel – St Estephe: In 2008, Jacky and Françoise Lorenzetti acquired the estate after falling in love with it. When tasted, Lilian Ladouys always reveals a rich and crisp structure with ripe tannins and refined oak which melts into an explosion of fruit. It has the opulence and length of a Saint-Estephe fine wine. Thanks to the appellation’s limestone-clay subsoils, its power is balanced out by a wonderful sensation of freshness. The recent upgrade to Exceptionnel has catapulted Lilian Ladouys into wine lovers’ consciousness all round Europe.

Chateau Lilian Ladouys Le Devise de Lilian 2017, St Estephe, 13% Abv.

Soft silky very elegant, supple red fruits, red currant pastille, black currant and red plum. Exotic and easy going with silky tannins. Great drinkability for an accessible vintage.

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

Chateau Lilian Ladouys 2016, St Estephe, 13.5% Abv.

Earthy, raisined black cherry, liquorice, savoury plummy aromatics. Super slky and soft textured with supple tannins, cedar spice and delicate weightless cherry fruit concentration. A serious effort from a blockbuster vintage in Bordeaux.

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

Château Lafon Rochet – Grand Cru Classé en 1855 – Saint Estephe: Lafon-Rochet is a close neighbour to Lilian Ladouys and is among the greatest terroirs of St-Estephe. The vineyards are mainly located around the château in a large contiguous plot, not far from Cos d’Estournel, Cos Labory, and across the stream in Pauillac, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.

Chateau Lafon Rochet Les Pelerins de Lafon Rochet 2019, 14% Abv.

Dark black broody aromatics with smokey black berry, graphite, and blue berry nuances. Palate shows exotic sour cherry fruits, black currant, parma violets and a delicate, soft textured weightless intense finish. Very classy indeed.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Lafon Rochet 2016, St Estephe, 14% Abv.

Rich earthy savoury nose with a warming feel of ripeness and depth with hoisin plum sauce, freshly tilled earth, with a beautifully intense and tangy fresh palate with creamy black currant, blueberry muffin, silky tannins, and a sweet savoury polished finish. Very classy from this impressive Bordeaux vintage.

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

Château Pédesclaux – Pauillac: The Chateau classified in 1855 is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Pauillac, and in the world of the great Pauillac, Château Pédesclaux is the image of its terroir: complex and powerful. In this mosaic of soils, clays promote power and bold expression of elegance. Emmanuel Cruse, co-owner of Château d’Issan, is General Manager of Pédesclaux, and his lineage coming from a long line of proprietors and merchants that have been present in the Medoc since the 18th century, make his expertise in the Bordeaux market very well recognized and respected.

Chateau Pedesclaux Fleur de Pedesclaux 2016, Pauillac, 13% Abv.

A delicious Pauillac with an unusually high 67% of Merlot supported by Cabernet. Nose shows mint chocolate, cocoa, creme de cassis, red currant and sweet vanilla oak spice. Plush and loose knit with creamy soft tannins and tangy acids, this is a deliciously forward fleshy wine with black currant, dried herbs and minty, purple grapey candied menthol nuances on the finish. Simply delightful.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Pedesclaux 2014, Pauillac, 14% Abv.

Earthy and savoury with violets, cigar wrapper, graphite, and menthol cassis nuances. Sweet fruited, elegant and soft textured with fruit purity, salty cassis, thyme, Cabernet blackberry, menthol black currant cough sweets and a delicate, succulent finish. Lovely precision and purity for an almost 10-year-old wine.

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

Chateau d’Issan Moulin d’Issan 2019, Haut Medoc, 13% Abv.

Made from fruit sourced from Chateau d’Issan’s Haut Medoc property, this is a 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon blend. A wonderfully soft, plush expression with a fleshy, supple concentration, sleek spicy tannins and a delicious red currant, black berry, and plummy mouth coating breadth. Really pretty, archetypal Bordeaux, with impressive precision and focus and a lovely Merlot dominated fleshy finish. A deliciously affordable all-rounder.

(Wine Safari Score: 90+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau d’Issan Blason d’Issan 2016, Margaux, 13% Abv.

Officially the second wine of Chateau d’Issan, the classy 2016 shows lovely leafy, sweet cassis notes with hints of black currant, sweet black plum, peach tea and subtle dried violet and potpourri notes. Compact and plush, dense and creamy with sweet tannins, opulent fleshy fruits and a deliciously elegant, savoury, plush mouthfeel. Really classy with classical Margaux power and precision.

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

The Jacky Lorenzetti stable of Bordeaux fine wines are imported into the UK by Simon Halliday at Sporting Wine Club and are available for retail by the bottle from specialist fine wine merchants like Museum Wines.

www.sportingwineclub.com

www.museumwines.co.uk

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.