2006

This inviting bottle of 20 year old Vina Gravonia Rioja Blanco had been pulled from my cellar and had been sitting in my fridge for several months waiting for the right moment (and the right company) to enjoy it. With a fellow wine trade colleague joining me for dinner, this seductively complex white served as a perfect aperitif, simply too delicious to drink too quickly.

I will always remember Tondonia owner Maria-Jose Lopez de Heredia presenting a large Vina Gravonia vertical back to 2001 that I organised. Her excitement was palpable… which to be honest, I found a little strange, as surely she got to taste these and much older and grander white bottlings at the winery in Haro all the time. Then she explained that they did not keep back vintage Vina Gravonia stocks in their archive cellar. It would all be released and once it was sold out, that was it. Very few collectors or merchants ever kept back older Vina Gravonia bottles, preferring instead to age the Reservas or Gran Reserva Blancos for many years. So tasting old white Vina Gravonia whites was always a special occasion for her.

Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja Blanco Vina Gravonia Crianza 2006, 12.5% Abv.

This 20 year old white, originally aged for 4 years in American oak barrels, displays a fabulous bronzed brilliant yellow golden colour, shining with a complex aromatics of waxy orange peel, bruised apples, honeysuckle, bees wax and enticing honeycomb, vanilla pod and chamomile nuances. While there is a thread of tertiary complexity on the nose, the palate is far more dialled in and pure, showing taut yellow citrus fruits, candied ginger, salted caramel, baked apples and honied peaches all underpinned by fresh precise acids and a dry nuttiness. Obviously, the Tondonia whites are made in an oxidative style, but you can’t help feeling that this wine has hardly evolved since it was bottled. These traditional oxidative styles of Rioja Blanco are perhaps not your average consumers’ forte, but like oysters and caviar, once you have acquired a taste for these wines, there is simply no looking back. One of the most individual, complex and enticing white wines on the market. Drink now and over the next 15 to 20+ years.

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

Few white wines produced in South Africa evoke as much emotion and mystery as the Sadie Family Wines maiden release Old Vine Series Mrs Kirsten 2006 Chenin Blanc, made from the oldest surviving Chenin Blanc vineyard still in the ground in South Africa, located in the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch.

The story of how this very special Sadie wine joined the range is best explained by the man himself, Eben Sadie…

”One day I was visiting a friend of mine in Stellenbosch, Carlo Suter, who is a farmer, oenologist and cabinet maker. And also someone practising bio – dynamic viticulture. During the visit we went for a walk on the property and we walked past this block of very old and very neglected Chenin Blanc. On asking him about the parcel of vines , he told us that it belonged to a Mrs. Kirsten, aged about 85 and that she was not farming the vines anymore.”

Eben Sadie overseeing his new cellar construction.

“The reality was a lot of very obvious potential in the parcel, for one, the very fact that the block was older than Mrs. Kirsten… and secondly, it having been planted on a very special site. Then the idea came to mind to approach her and ask if we may lease the vineyard and take care of it. From there onwards, we have been taking very special care of this vineyard, firstly by pruning out all the dead arms of the vines (years of them), and secondly by ploughing the soils and converting the vineyard back to organic farming.”

A modern vintage of the Mev. Kirsten Chenin Blanc (Afrikaans for Mrs Kirsten)

“Since 2006 we have been producing about 300 bottles annually out of one hectare of vines, which relates back to a very uneconomical 3 hl/ha yield, but the concept of such a project is rather to finance a vineyard in a world driven by profitability and return. It is a vineyard that has given more to us than numbers and has resulted in the production of a uniquely different and individual wine.”

Vinification involves the sorting of each individual berry for the entire production in small “strawberry” cases. The grapes are de-stemmed and fermented on their skins for about two days at low temperatures and then pressed in an old basket press and the juice run off directly into barrel without settling. Natural fermentation continues in tight grained French oak, the oldest barrel at any stage in the cellar being at least 10 years of age, insuring they impart zero oak influence to the taste.

The aging takes place for 12 months on the lees and then the wine was racked. An additional six months of aging on the fine lees took place afterwards. Total time spent in oak was 18 months. Total production for 2006 was a meagre 283 bottles.

Sadie Family Wines Mrs Kirsten Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2006, 13.65% Abv.

1.8g/l RS | 6.2g/l TA | 3.45pH

A beautifully rich old gold, old honey Sauternes-style copper / bronze colour. A slight disconnect between colour and taste, this bottle is in perfect condition with the aromatics tightly concertina’ed, slowly unwinding to reveal aromatics of apricot compote, nutty yellow orchard fruits, nectarine, salted toffee, crystallised ginger, caramelised fig and savoury notes of damp leaves and wet moss. You get a sense that this wine has a lot to offer, with a slow reveal in play. The palate is intricately spicy and pithy with layers of peach stone fruits, quince and savoury notes of mealy warm peach crumble with hints of vanilla pod spice. A beautifully textured wine with fine grained, phenolic, spicy tannins and a cool, pithy, spicy ginger infused yellow fruited length with an enticing salinity on the finish. A fascinating expression of Chenin Blanc and undoubtedly an iconic unicorn wine of note!

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