Jasper Wickens started working with Adi Badenhorst at the Kalmoesfontein property in the Paardeberg in 2009 and was a central character in the whole Swartland Revolution movement. Exactly 10 years after he first moved to the Paardeberg, Jasper completed his final harvest at AA Badenhorst Family Wines in 2018 as he prepared to move full-time into the repurposed wine cellar at his Waterval farm next door to focus on his own Swerwer range that was established back in 2012.
Jasper’s Swerwer range is now quite extensive and includes, among others, a Chenin Blanc, an old vine skin contact Tiernes Chenin Blanc, a Semillon Gris, as well as reds made from Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Tinta Barocca, and Touriga Nacional. Jasper is undoubtedly making some of the most exciting wines in the Swartland and his 2021 expressions from this cooler vintage are some of his best yet.
An alluring medium straw golden yellow colour, the aromatics speak of the Swartland’s unique granitic terroir, loaded with crushed rocks, dusty grey slate, dried straw, baking herbs, lemon peel and grated pear. Mineral, earthy and stony, the wine bursts to life on the palate with its vibrant, bright tangy acids promoting notes of white peach, yellow orchard fruits, tart plum and hints of crisp quince. The wine possesses an impressive textural density, a glycerol yellow stone fruit concentration and a liquid minerality all tightly interwoven so as to present an incredibly harmonious white with a delicious equilibrium. Jasper has really nailed the beautiful 2021 vintage with some supremely fine white wines. Drink on release and over the next 10+ years.
(95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
JC Wickens Swerwer Red Blend 2021, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.
A delicious red blend made up of Cinsault, Grenache and Tinta Barocca, this is a cool crystalline red wine that marries these traditional Swartland cultivars sourced from mostly gnarled old vines grown on deep decomposed granitic soils. With the grace and freshness of the Cinsault and Grenache, this blend is delightfully bright, elegant, and vibrant with a distinct cool sense of purity and precision. Initially savoury and sightly meaty on the nose when opened, the aromatics soon blossom to reveal perfumed notes of pressed violets, lavender, bramble berries and wild strawberry with an inviting underlying earthy fynbos and sweet garrigue spice. But this cool, elegant 2021 vintage is ultimately all about freshness, vitality and mid-palate tension, with the Tinta Barocca adding extra depth and tannic structure without compromising the wine’s overall balance and finesse. This is certainly a mouth-watering creation that offers enticing drinkability and red meat friendly food accompaniment. Drink on release and over the next 5 to 8+ years.
(94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Jasper with his 2023 Syrah grapes.
JC Wickens Swerwer Touriga Nacional 2021, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.
This delicious 2021 Touriga Nacional from Jasper Wickens is made from vines planted in deep granitic soils on cooler mountain slopes in the Swartland, with grapes harvested earlier to retain a freshness and elegance easy lost in this warm region. Naturally whole bunch fermented and treated to very gentle extraction, this cooler vintage red show’s this Portuguese cultivar’s true heritage with lifted aromatics of floral red flowers, lilac, earthy bramble berries, black berries and black plum with undertones of smoked meats, bresaola, fireplace wood embers and a subtle sappy wood spice. The palate is equally impressive with plenty of overt juicy black and earthy red berry fruits that really shine under the coolness of the wines modest 13% alcohol. Elegant and complex, the wine retains a wonderfully soft texture and mid-palate balance with fine sweet silky tannins and notes of orange peel, grilled herbs and sweet savoury black berries. The finish sees an understated but concentrated length with a gracefully dense persistence, making this a really very attractive and appealing Touriga Nacional expression. Drink on release and over the next 3 to 5+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Jasper Wickens’ Swerwer Wines are imported exclusively into the UK by Museum Wines.
Burgundy remains one of the most exciting and alluring French appellations producing fine wine today. Whether it’s because of its 900 plus years of history or its exceptional terroir carefully married to primarily one red and one white grape variety, namely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, no other wine region around the world has been able to truly match the profound expressions being produced in these small village appellations. Today, Burgundy and its top growers are arguably making the most sought after, ethereal and unrivalled fine wines in the world.
Jean-Yves Bizot is a Vosne Romanee based vigneron armed with a PhD in oenology and geology producing iconic wines that have certainly captured the imagination of connoisseurs and collectors around the globe in recent years. Originally owned by his grandfather, Domaine Bizot was, in essence, brought back to life in 1995 by Jean Yves when he took over the running of the winery. A passionate winemaker with a keen eye for history, Jean Yves is a big fan of the wines from the 1950s and 1960s but is less enamoured with the wines that Burgundy produced thereafter. Being one of the smaller domaines in Vosne Romanee at just 3.5 hectares, Jean Yves took over a winery that had been renting out most of its vineyards to other growers as his father was a full-time paediatrician at the hospital in Beaune and did not produce any wine himself.
Jean Yves Bizot of Domaine Bizot
The original domaine was, in the earlier days, almost eight hectares in size before some of the vineyards were passed on to successive generations, with several hectares going to Domaine Coudray-Bizot in Beaune and some to Domaine Naddef in Fixin. When Jean Yves took over the domaine in 1995, he immediately stopped using herbicides and also attempted to reduce the general use of sulphides, reverting to the lutteraisonnée or minimal intervention philosophy early on before progressing completely to organic wine growing in 2004. Nowadays, the domaine consist of mainly Pinot Noir with a small amount of Chardonnay planted in the Haut-Cotes de Nuits and in Flagey-Echezeaux, which is sold as simply Bourgogne Blanc.
In 2007, Jean-Yves acquired additional vineyards in Chenôve, in one of Dijon’s suburbs. Le Chapitre is a regional appellation site, squeezed in between high buildings in the middle of Chenôve whilst Clos du Roy, despite being located in the commune of Chenôve, is a village appellation Marsannay and is the northern continuation of the vineyards around the village of Marsannay. Compared with the lieux-dits sites considered for Premier Cru status in Marsannay, Le Chapitre is just a small 5.5 hectares in size owned by around ten growers including illustrious names like Sylvain Pataille, Laurent Fournier, and Domaine Gagey, Drouhin, among others.
Back in Vosne Romanee, Domaine Bizot produces several village appellation cuvees and the occasional Premier Cru red from declassified Echezeaux vines as well as his now highly famed Grand Cru Echezeaux red. Jean Yves doesn’t produce a Vosne Romanee Premier Cru every vintage, but when he does, it is normally sourced from an Echezeaux parcel called Les Treux, a site lower down the slope below Loächausses. The second of the two parcels in Echezeaux is a slightly larger site in Les Orveaux which is normally a later ripening plot, and in years when yields are low, Jean Yves will blend the sites into a single Echezeaux cuvee. Just behind the winery in Vosne Romanee is Les Jachees, one of the biggest parcels of the Bizot domaine at 0.63 hectares, which is a village appellation and Jean Yves is currently the only producer to bottle this site separately.
Jean Yves Bizot now produces undoubtedly some of the most highly coveted fine wines in Burgundy and I was very fortunate to meet up with Jean Yves recently at a bespoke dinner hosted by his UK importer, Wimbledon Wine Cellars. As I get so few opportunities to taste and write about Jean Yves’s incredible Domaine Bizot wines, I have tagged on a few extra previously unpublished tasting notes from a tasting dinner at Noble Rot. Nowadays, these wines are coveted for their extreme finesse and sumptuous depth, partly as a result of the whole bunch extraction process that the Domaine utilises, and every year, Bizot only produces between 9,000 and 10,000 bottles, making them incredibly difficult to purchase.
Yellow honied colour raised concerns, but in the glass, the aromatics are perfect for a 13 year old white. Impressively complex with layers of orange peel, apple skins, pithy pear and the most delicious gravelly, liquid minerality. Just to spice up the equation, the wine shows the most delicious struck match reduction on the finish. What a surprise. Delicious.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Echezeaux Grand Cru 2008, Burgundy, 12% Abv.
Showing some lovely foresty evolution, the aromatics are very expressive with graphite, smokey black cherry, earthy forest bramble berries with a delicious piquant, sappy, resinous black berry notes. Superbly fresh acids, beautiful sweet / sour berry notes, and a fine concentrated long finish.
Lovely dark broody, smokey, reductive nose with salty cassis, pithy black currant skins and an alluring salty black liquorice complexity. Sleek, quite mineral in orientation, piquant and fabulously intense, this is quite an intriguing Vosne Romanee that certainly punches above its village weight. (The last vintage of the Vieilles Vignes Vosne Romanee was in 2009 before the vineyard’s old vines were destroyed by frost.)
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits Blanc 2018, Burgundy
Incredibly steely, saline aromatics great your first approach to the glass followed by a complex melange of lime cordial, lemon biscuits, grapefruit confit over subtle hints of struck flint reduction. But there is so much more on offer, as incrementally the wine unfurls revealing hints of honey suckle, passion fruit, Parma violets, perfumed lemon tea and purple rock candy. Wonderfully fleshy on the palate, this makes way for a complex smoky stony complexity with soft supple tangy acids, crunchy white peach, incredible lemon and lime fruit concentration overlayed by a pithy liquid minerality. A very regal expression from such a modest appellation. Simply stunning.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee 2017, Burgundy
A beautifully plush signature Bizot nose with dusty chalky mineral sappy floral lapsang Souchong tea spice notes over earthy bramble berries, mulberry compote, black berry and peppermint crisp nuances. The palate is weightless yet intense, focusing the senses with its stony mineral pithy black fruits, black cherry reduction, black currant, pomegranate and delicately savoury mineral spice. An ethereal expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Marsannay Clos du Roy Rouge 2017, Burgundy
First vintage was produced in 2007. A most powerful Cuvee from Marsannay. A beautifully bold, plush opulent expression of Burgundy boasting perfumed violets, wild strawberries, burnt wood embers, graphite and red currant confit. Fabulously saline and bright on the palate with phenomenal concentration once again, tangy fresh acids, tart red cherry and cranberry pastille over pithy chalky mineral tannins. Really lovely intensity, flamboyance and depth with subtle power and focus. Will certainly improve with further time in bottle.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee Les Jachees 2018, Burgundy
A powerful vintage but one that lacked a little acidic backbone in general, according to Jean Yves. Another individual expression full of Vosne spice, liquid chalk, dried Provençal herbs, garrigue, charcoal embers, raisined cranberries, and stewed strawberry fruits. The palate is super complex packed full of dusty chalk minerality, wet river stones, cherry and strawberry compote notes that melt into creamy mineral graphite tannins. A wine with such energy and fruit concentration, all assembled into a very special expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Le Chapitre Rouge 2016, Burgundy
From a plot in Marsannay. Huge frost in the Spring allowing only a two barrel production. One of the smallest vintages until the 2020s. Vines planted in 1954 but with several replantings since to replace dead vines. Initially very taut and tight with stony aromatics, the wine slowly opens its shoulders to show hints of wood smoke, charcoal embers, tar, sappy spice and black chai tea over a smoky black berry compote fruit core. Silky soft, spicy and full of energy, this is a characterful Cuvée that punches well above its weight, with impressive red and black fruit concentration, a smoky stony mineral vein leading to pithy strawberry fruited finish. Effortlessly classy and elegant.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Clos de La Bidaude Rouge 2021, Burgundy
Only circa 900 bottles produced. The first ever showing of this new Cuvée from Jean-Yves outside of his cellar. Taut, young and energetic with the unmistakable Bizot signature smoky, sappy, mineral spice with an opulent melange of forest berries, black plum, sour black cherry, blueberry, wild strawberry and a dusty chalky top note. Youthful vibrancy ripples through the palate while all the while retaining a sense of composure, elegance and class. Delicious tangy acids enliven the red and black fruits leading to a long, chalky, pithy strawberry fruited finish. Beautiful!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Domaine Bizot are imported into the UK on release by Wimbledon Wine Cellars. Register your interest for new En-primeur releases.
As someone who grew up primarily in the American educational system from school to university and who was also a massive sports player and sports lover, being an Anglo-South African, I had to adapt and learn the skills of baseball, basketball and American football. Having played cricket and rugby already, I’ll let you guess which of the two sports I was more inclined towards. So when a few years ago, I was introduced to the superb wines of Drew Bledsoe by ex-England rugby international Simon Halliday, I certainly took an instant interest in the wines.
Drew, of course used to play Quarterback for the New England Patriots and was a great hero of the game while I was growing up, eventually handing over the reins due to injury, to another NFL player you might just have heard of… Tom Brady. For former NFL Quarterback Drew, owning a winery had long been an aspiration that would allow him to combine his passion for fine wine and his love of the Walla Walla Valley in Washington State. In 2008, Drew launched Doubleback, an estate-focused winery with the goal of producing ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon from the Walla Walla Valley.
To make this dream a reality, Drew collaborated with his childhood friend Chris Figgins of Figgins Family Wine Estates, who consulted on all winemaking and vineyard practices while training current winemaker, Josh McDaniels, who assumed the role proper in 2015.
Since its first release, Doubleback Cabernet Sauvignon has received numerous accolades, most recently 99/100 points from Robert Parker and 96/100 points from Decanter. The vision for Doubleback remains to be a premium wine experience completely focused on quality. I recently caught up with Simon Halliday, one of Drew’s greatest fans and admirers, and tasted through a new selection of releases ahead of his visit to the UK trade.
A beautifully deep, dark fruited Pinot Noir with broody black fruited aromatics with top notes of black cherry, blueberry, salty black currant and subtle earthy black plum compote nuances with a delicate kiss of vanilla pod spice. The palate is sleek and sophisticated with a fabulously harmonious texture and a creamy mouthfeel with seamless spicy tannins, soft energetic acids and an impressive black fruited purity and length. A truly superb expression of Oregon Pinot Noir from Ribbon Ridge and Eola-Amity Hills AVAs. Drink now and over the next 8 to 10 years.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bledsoe Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Walla Walla Valley AVA, 14.7% Abv.
Wonderfully dark and opaque in the glass, the aromatics are positively brimming with ripe blackberry, creme de cassis, minted cherries, sweet dried baking herbs and black cherry compote over an impressively integrated premium oaking of sweet cedar, graphite, nori, kelp and vanilla pod spice. Full bodied and bold but also so very considered and balanced with a beautifully piercing concentration, vibrant tangy acids, and a long, sleek, regal finish. This is truly top-drawer Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon! Drink now and over the next 10-15+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Double Back Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Walla Walla Valley AVA, 14.4% Abv.
A bigger, bolder, more opulent expression, this flagship Cabernet Sauvignon based blend boast rich, ripe aromatics of stewed black cherry, black currant compote, melted black liquorice and subtle hints of sweet-scented tilled earth, wet leaves and grilled herbs with subtle graphite nuances. Surprisingly supple, sleek and lithe on the palate, the wine possesses a weightless concentration, a seamlessly suave palate texture and silky polished creamy tannins on the blueberry fruited finish. This is a confident, bold, flagship expression with very impressive attention to detail. A true hedonistic treat for premium Cabernet followers.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines are exclusively imported into the UK by The Sporting Wine Club and available to private clients and UK trade at:
Every vintage, critics and avid collectors watch out for the one or two wines that will ‘move the market’. A few years ago, it was the 100-point Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2015, and this year it was possibly the Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2020 or the Taaibosch Crescendo 2020. However, every year there are a handful of classical Bordeaux Blend cuvees that offer up candidates for most profound wine of the vintage and in 2021, we seem to be spoilt for choice. An incredibly cool, long, and slow maturing vintage, Lukas van Loggerenberg commented to me recently that he thought it was possibly the longest and latest harvest on record since the fabled 1997 vintage that saw late ripening cultivars like Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot being harvested into late May.
Most producers thought that the late, slow harvest was definitely worth the wait. Consumers can really look forward to remarkable wines from the 2021 crop with the cooler weather conditions enabling producers to harvest their grapes at exactly the right time, with viticulturists and winemakers especially excited about the good colour extraction, low pH levels and high natural acidity in cases where vineyards were managed effectively – which all points to exceptional quality premium wines.
The MR de Compostella 2020 was also released to phenomenal mainstream acclaim (and another 97/100-point scorcher from Neal Martin), but I have it on good authority that other well know critics have openly acknowledged that they perhaps underscored the 2020 MR vintage. With 2019 being declassified into a turbo charged Raats Jasper Red Blend, Bruwer and Mzokhona have stood steadfastly behind their draconian tasting and selection process for the component parts of the MR de Compostella final blend.
Tasting with Bruwer Raats in July in London with the next generation, Daneel Raats.
The 2021 vintage is, in Bruwer’s own words, the finest vintage of MR that he feels he has made to date. The rest is up to the consumers and the critics to agree or disagree. With samples in hand, I took on the taste challenge and opened a bottle of 2021 ahead of its impending commercial merchant release at the end of October in the UK.
MR de Compostella 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
1.9g/l RS | 5.85g/l TA | 3.59pH
The MR de Compostella from Bruwer Raats and Mzokhona Mvemve possesses one of the most successful critical track records out of almost any red wine produced in South Africa let alone just in the Cape Bordeaux Blend category. The newest 2021 release astonishingly takes this wine to yet another higher niveau of quality with a blend of 26% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Malbec, 20% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. Made from vines aged between 9 and 22 years old, all grown on deep decomposed dolomitic granite soils with table mountain sandstone, the aromatics are wonderfully bold and exuberant displaying seductive notes of blackberries, crème de cassis, violets, sweet cherry tobacco, black cherries and tart black plum. The lifted perfumed intensity is incredibly pure and piercing with salty liquorice, cedar spice and beautifully detailed maritime oyster shell nuances. In the mouth, the concentration and focused steely intensity is astounding – tart, bright and architecturally soaring, shaping this wine into a powerful, linear, multi-dimensional masterpiece. Packed full of salty cassis, tart plum and black currant, the tightly wound core of power, refined extraction and polished marble tannins leave you in no doubt that this harmonious, vibrant beauty is a spellbinding, timeless classic in the making. If you wanted just one wine to convince an international fine wine connoisseur of the true greatness of South Africa’s finest terroirs and winemaking, you have found your candidate! Simply an incredible wine. Drink this beauty from 2024 and savour over the next 30+ years. But you might need more than just one or two cases in your cellar!!
(Wine Safari Score: 99/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
MR de Compostella and Raats Family Wines are imported exclusively into the UK by Alliance Wines and is sold retail by specialist South African fine wine merchant Museum Wines. Retail will be circa £70 per bottle for the 2021.
The Chateau Tour Baladoz property, located in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, was purchased by Belgian wine trader Emile De Schepper in May 1950 and included 5.56 hectares of vines. As the new owner, he spent his first year renovating the cellars and making improvements to the vineyards and in the early years, the wine was exclusively exported to Belgium, in barrel, where it was bottled in the owner’s merchant cellars in Ghent.
The current cellar master and winemaker is the ultra-talented Jean-Michel Garcion, who was appointed in 1992 and now also overseas production at the flagship sister estate Chateau La Croizille next door, as well as at Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere in Margaux.
Visiting Saint Emilion in September 2023.
I recently returned from Bordeaux after a very productive trip to both the left and right banks, and was there to see the start of the 2023 harvest kick off at both Chateau Tour Baladoz and La Croizille, neighbouring properties of the famous Chateau Tertre Roteboeuf. The common theme of tastings seemed to be producers promoting the last of the 2020 vintages but also reshowing the slightly more nervy and fresh 2021s that are perhaps finally finding a more confident, firmer footing after an admittedly difficult En-primeur performance last year. At Chateau Tour Baladoz, I retasted both the plush, ripe 2020 and the fresher 2021 and was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
Chateau Tour Baladoz 2020 St Emilion Grand Cru, 14.5% Abv.
This is a lovely deep dark black fruited wine loaded with ripe black currants, salty black liquorice, dried violets and seductive notes of incense and scented candles. The palate shows a beautifully defined shape and frame, sleek glassy acids and beautifully polished marble tannins that add ample structural frame to display the tight knit, earthy blue and black berry fruit concentration. Fabulously harmonious and balanced with a perfectly massaged, dry mineral finish. Such impressive density with light touch concentration making for a seriously classy right bank expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Tour Baladoz 2021 St Emilion Grand Cru, 13.5% Abv.
The 2021 vintage is a lofty blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere. The aromatics are overtly stony and mineral with bright but subtle elements of blue and black berry fruits emerging to entice. Initially taut and linear in appearance, the palate speaks a very classical language, minerally focused, texturally polished and tightly packed with a restrained broody black fruited demeanour. Certainly plenty of attention to detail on display, with very fine-grained mineral tannins and a long spicy finish. A wine that shows better and better every time I taste it. Drink from 2024 until 2034+.
As the saying goes, it never rains but pours! Well, that sadly seems to be the case in the Cape at the moment with very unseasonal storms and flooding deluging the winelands at the moment when mild Spring weather is supposed to be arriving instead. But there is another sort of deluging going at the moment as multiple new fine wine releases from South Africa hit the UK and EU marketplace in September and October in a fairly relentless fashion.
One such wine is the highly regarded Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon which is only produced in the very best vintages. After the incredible success of the 2019 Reserve release last year which was named the Platter Wine Guide Red Wine of the Year, stocks naturally did not hang about for long. Then, just when Etienne and Christo Le Riche thought things might be a little easier with the 2020 release which was produced in larger volumes, Tim Atkin MW went and scored the wine an eye watering 99/100 in his latest 2023 South Africa Report, adding to a renewed feeding frenzy in the market.
One thing that is not in doubt is the pedigree and quality that is invested in the brand of Le Riche when it comes to premium Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon. The world has already woken up to the fact that it is not just Bordeaux and California that can produced astonishing examples of pure Cabernet Sauvignon, and South Africa is now also in the running albeit at far more competitive consumer prices which especially resonates when you consider the quality in the bottle. I recently cracked the Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 and was once again pleasantly surprised. Could the 2020 live up to the hype of 2019?
Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, WO Stellenbosch, 14.97% Abv.
1.6g/l RS | 5.7g/l TA | 3.78pH
The 2020 is a 65% blend of Helderberg Coastal Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Simonsberg-Stellenbosch Single Vineyard and 13% Helderberg Mountain Single Vineyard fruit that was aged in 76% new French oak barrels for 24 months. The Le Riche Reserve classification is endowed only on the very finest quality wines that live up to exceptional standards. This 2020 is a deep dark garnet-purple in colour and the aromatics take some time to unfurl in the glass before revealing an impressively flamboyant core of classical Cabernet Sauvignon fruit notes of pressed violets, black cherry preserve, earthy black currant, baked black plums with subtle hints of dark chocolate, graphite, iron filings, pencil shavings and hoisin plum sauce. Medium bodied and noticeably suave and elegant, the palate texture is fine grained and silky with an accessible generosity, creamy plush tannins, chocolate praline, wood spice and a long, showy, piquant salty finish that is compact, polished and impressively persistent. Etienne and Christo Le Riche think this is one of their best Reserve Cabernet’s produced yet, and considering its refinement and precision, they may well be right. Start drinking in 2 to 3 years’ time and over the next 15 to 20+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Le Riche wines are imported into the UK and distributed to trade by Boutinot Wines and are available retail at circa £56pb from South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.
Gaja’s Barbaresco red is often seen as the flagship wine of the Gaja estate considering their three Crus are not produced every vintage. Indeed, it is the consistency of quality of this wine that has helped give the entire Barbaresco appellation the reputation it now holds today. The 2020 offering is blended from 14 vineyards situated in the municipality of Barbaresco which covers around 21.4 hectares and the vines have an average age of 45 years old, with each vineyard lot fermented and aged separately for one year before the final blend is made.
The 2020 vintage was characterized by frequent rainfalls that for various reasons can be defined as atypical. Rains were overall above average (the total annual average has been 900 mm in the Barbaresco area compared to the usual 800mm), and the distribution instead of being in winter and spring, was concentrated in the summer months; and surprisingly, despite the very frequent summer thunderstorms, for the first time in many years, none of the vineyards were damaged by hail storms.
Giovanni Gaja presenting the 2020 vintage.
The heat spikes in mid-August and in September from the 10th to the 18th helped with grape maturation and the reaching of final ripeness. Significant temperature variations characterized the rest of September and October, favouring colour and aroma development as well as the overall health of the grapes. The harvest of the Nebbiolo grapes started on September 18th and ended on October 8th.
Gaja Barbaresco 2020 DOCG, Piedmont, 14% Abv.
Light ruby coloured with a brilliant translucence, the 2020 is sleek, powerful, linear and brightly fruited with powdery fine grained mineral tannins over potent peppery red berry aromatics, Asian spices, red cherry and pithy wild strawberry. Medium bodied, ultra-pure and magnificently floral with tantalising salty red liquorice nuances make this an incredibly pretty but substantial expression of Nebbiolo that finishes with creamy, drying stony tannins, a crushed limestone minerality before a final reprise of tangy red cherry pastille. A very impressive Gaja Barbaresco vintage that will drink well from release due to its incredible finesse and elegance but will of course be exponentially better in 4 to 5 years’ time. Yet again, Gaja produces a class act!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Gaja wines are imported exclusively into the UK for trade by Hatch Mansfield and are available retail from specialist fine wine merchants like Museum Wines. http://www.museumwines.co.uk
It’s the eternal debate amongst serious South African fine wine collectors and drinkers – Which is finer and more age worthy? The Kanonkop Paul Sauer Cape Bordeaux Blend or their straight Cabernet Sauvignon? While the 2015 Paul Sauer blend might have garnered Tim Atkin MW’s first SA 100 point score, many asked whether the straight Cabernet Sauvignon released several months later was in fact possibly the finer wine of the two?
Well, having just tasted both the 2015 and the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignons recently, I can assure you that firstly, the new Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 (now available in the UK and EU) is a magnificent fine wine yet again, while the 2015 still displays an incredibly complete, youthful, polished but powerful demeanour, representing the very best of Cabernet Sauvignon perfection from Stellenbosch.
Tasting the new vintages in London with Abrie Beeslaar.
With the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon recently released in the local SA market to yet again, a certain amount of high critical acclaim, devotees in the UK will have to satiate their Cabernet urges for some time to come with the highly accomplished and very impressive 2018 vintage.
Kanonkop Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, WO Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, 14.83% Abv.
2.7 g/l RS | 5.2 g/l TA | 3.78 pH
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is a delightful full-bodied expression harvested at 4 tons per hectare from vines on average 26 years old before being aged for 24 months in 50% new French oak Nevers barrels. The build up to the harvest saw hot and dry conditions but the all-important cooler nights helped retain vibrant acidity levels on most of the top Stellenbosch expressions. The textbook aromatics on this 2018 are wonderfully perfumed and lifted with notes of sweet violets, cigar box, saline oyster shell and dried kelp maritime notes which melt into plush crème de cassis, inky black cherry, new oak spice and vanilla pod nuances. The tannins are dense and creamy showing a fine weight on the palate while all the time being kept in a fine equilibrium and harmony by the vintage’s fresh linear acids. This is a seriously well-formed, plush expression that will be accessible earlier than the block buster vintages of 2015 and 2017 but will undoubtedly age gracefully for at least 15 to 20+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Kanonkop wines are imported into the UK for trade exclusively by Seckford Agencies and are available on strict allocation.
Jasper Wickens and his viticulturist wife, Franziska Wickens, live and make wine on her family farm, Waterval (Waterfall), in the very heart of the Swartland. Neighbouring some of South Africa’s most sought-after Swartland producers in the Siebritskloof Valley on the northern side of the Paardeberg, they are in the proverbial thick of it with people like Adi Badenhorst, Jasper’s previous employer on Kalmoesfontein, Eben Sadie on Rotsvas, and David & Nadia Sadie.
The Paardeberg, with its 500-million-year-old magma and the resulting domes of granite and microclimates, makes for an intriguing winegrowing terroir. The different soil types, specifically decomposed granite, offer a freshness unique to the Valley to both whites and reds – something the whole wine-drinking world has started cottoning on to. With an unusually cool and slow ripening vintage like 2021, Jasper Wickens has produced some of his most profound wines yet.
Jasper’s Waterval farm wine cellar in the Paardeberg. Tasting new vintages with Jasper in March 2023.
At a recent tasting, I caught up with famous wine critic Dr Jamie Goode from the Wineanorak.com and shared a bottle of the latest release Swerwer 2021 Shiraz from Jasper. We were all suitably impressed.
JC Wickens Swerwer Shiraz 2021, WO Swartland, 13.5% Abv.
The Swartland is a warm, dry grape growing environment which makes this beautiful new release Shiraz 2021 from Jasper Wickens all the more remarkable. A bright vibrant ruby red colour, the expressive aromatics simply burst out of the glass, teasing the senses with incredibly intense, pure floral aromatics of violets, cherry blossom and rose petals that melt into pristine notes of sweet red cherries, tart red plums together with hints of cranberry and wild strawberry. The subtle notions of white pepper and salty red liquorice follow to the exquisitely elegant tight-knit palate that displays wonderful freshness and energy, drawing on the cooler vintage conditions of 2021 to offer up such impressive purity and precision matched by a deft pinpoint structure. The finish is delightfully cool, mineral and restrained delivering a deliciously focused raspberry and cherry fruited saline persistence that will definitely lure you back again and again for another sip. A truly noteworthy expression of Swerwer Shiraz. Drink on release and over the next 6 to 8+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The JC Wickens Swerwer wines are imported and distributed in the UK by South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.
I reviewed Fernando Rueda’s first Rueda Family Wines Carignan in December 2021 and the review garnered a lot of interest as one of the very few single varietal Carignan cultivar wines produced in South Africa. The second release from the 23-year-old Wellington vineyard is now joined by a sumptuous Syrah produced from Stellenbosch fruit on Karibib. Both wines are produced with minimal intervention in a more artisanal style but shouldn’t be view as ‘natural wines.’ Not yet available in the UK, but do track them down if you are in the Cape.
Torero And Pasiphae 2022 Syrah, WO Stellenbosch, 14.37% Abv.
1.02g/l RS | 4.75g/l TA | 3.81pH
This 2022 Syrah displays a wonderfully exotic aromatics that combines intricately fragrant notes of Parma violets, purple rock candy, grape soda, raspberry confit, melted black liquorice and piquant black cherry with more subtle hints of smoked meats, black pepper corns and graphite spice developing in the glass. The palate is beautifully full, plush and fleshy with sweet creamy tannins, tangy acids and a seductive peppery layer of blue berries, creme de cassis and mulberry nuances. An impressively intense, powerful expression of Syrah that shows its obvious ripeness without compromising either its fruit purity or its mineral focus. A very well-honed expression of Stellenbosch Syrah! Drink now and over the next 5 to 8+ years. (1,292 bottles and 28 magnums produced)
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Torero And the Suit of Lights Carignan 2022, WO Wellington, 14.86% Abv.
2.19g/l RS | 5.36g/l TA | 3.61pH
The maiden release of the Torero Carignan 2021 was an impressively tight, taut, slightly reductive creation that led with a stony mineral precision. The 2022 is an altogether riper, richer, more densely fruited example that boasts a flamboyant bruleed black fruited aromatics of black currant confit, plum spice and black cherry over black olive tapenade, iron filings and a subtle roasted vanilla pod nuance. Where the 2021 was a cool, slightly lean 12.5% Abv., the 2022 is a riper, more opulent 14.86% Abv. which lends a massive amount of extra glycerol depth and breadth to the palate. Carignan can quite often be quite a meaty, rustic variety, but this impressive Torero tames the wild side of Carignan, offering up pure, plush blue and black berry fruits with creamy soft sweet tannins and a long, spicy, densely fruited cola tinged finish. This is surely one of the finest single cultivar examples in the country!? Drink on release and over the next 5 to 8+ years. (856 bottles and 12 magnums produced)
