The Jonkers have lived on Weltevrede winefarm in the Robertson Valley since 1912 and were the first to plant vines in the area. Third generation Lourens Jonker has played an integral part in the South African wine industry as past chairman of the KWV and several industry bodies, as well as sitting on boards of companies like ABSA and Naspers.
He expanded the original 65 hectare farm to 160 hectares by purchasing neighbouring farms, Muscadel, River’s Edge, and Sonop. Today, Lourens’s son, Philip, has taken up the reins and together, they are working hard to define the wines of the Robertson Valley – chief among them being Chardonnay.
Living among some of the Chardonnay pioneers of South Africa, with the De Wets of De Wetshof just a stone’s throw away, the Jonkers have pulled the valley together to pioneer a quintessential Robertson Chardonnay style called Calcrete, showcasing the shale and limestone-rich soils of the area. In the process, they have identified several exceptional sites producing “singular expressions” of Chardonnay at eye-catching prices.
Weltevrede Calcrete Chardonnay 2023, WO Robertson, 13% Abv.
This vibrantly fresh Chardonnay expression is named after the Calcrete soils that are only found among the Limestone rich soils of the appellation between Bonnievale and Robertson. The terroir here is typified by arid, broken shale rocks of ancient petrified maritime deposits that bestow the fresh vibrant whites of the area with a pronounced wet stone liquid minerality and a maritime, briney rock salt salinity. Combine this unique terroir with South facing slopes exposed to cooling Southeastern breezes and you have the perfect environment for some of the most classically fashioned old world-styled white wines in the Cape. This embryonic 2023 Chardonnay delivers delicious aromas of crisp stone fruits, white pear, and crunchy green apples with hints of honeydew melon, white flowers and honey drizzled over white citrus. Incredibly vibrant and fresh, the overt minerality is undoubtedly a perennial hallmark of this unoaked wine that is embroidered with an extra three months of lees aging in stainless steel tanks. Delightfully radiant and subtly exotic, this is an incredibly demonstrative wine that celebrates its terroir, purity and minerality while remaining seamless, lively, and impressively vital. Drink on release and over the next 2 to 3 years.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Weltevrede Place of Rocks Chardonnay 2022, WO Robertson, 12.5% Abv.
Sourced from grapes grown on a slope of ancient broken shale rocks which lends the wine its name, this youthful 2022 is an attractive white that comes from true Chardonnay country and displays a wonderfully translucent pale gold colour in the glass. The sophisticated aromatics reveal an attractively crafted white wine that exhibits complex notes of pithy white citrus spice, wet chalk, lime peel, lemon grass, and subtle hints of dried pear and honeydew melon. Primarily mineral driven with a hint of flinty reduction but also plenty of stony green herbal spice, beneath the middle-weighted palate texture lurk delicious layers of tart yellow fruits, green apple pastille, dried mango and grapefruit confit nuances that are finely juxtapositioned against more creamy, toasted bread, popcorn and salted brioche characteristics that subside to leave a subtle nutty, salted pistachio-tinged mineral finish. An impressively classical rendition of Chardonnay that will appeal to lovers of top quality Maconnais Burgundy whites and pair beautifully with seafood and shellfish. Drink now and over the next 3 to 5 years.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Weltevrede Estate wines are available in the UK from specialist merchant Museum Wines.
Gyles Webb bought an old fruit orchard farm in 1983 after giving up his accounting career in Natal to pursue wine farming in the Cape. The old manor house was restored and the first wines under the Thelema Mountain Vineyards label were released in 1988. By the mid 1990’s Thelema’s wines sold out within a month after release, making it one of the most sought-after wine estates in South Africa.
Forever cemented as one of the Cape Wineland’s iconic wineries, the wider wine press attention in the noughties did somewhat shift away from the classical estates like Thelema towards the swathe of new up and coming exciting young gun producers primarily located in the Swartland.
Thomas Webb, the next generation in charge at Thelema.
But the classics always remain special and in the past decade, the wider global wine market has seen a massive refocus back on to the classical names that once helped re-establish the modern post-apartheid Cape wine industry. Thelema is just one of these wineries and their new releases under the stewardship of Thomas Webb are certainly worth a lot of attention! I caught up with Thomas in London recently and tasted through a superb selection of new vintages.
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2022
Vibrant, crystalline and fresh with bright acids, notes of lime peel and green passion fruit and a hint of green apple on the mouth watering finish. Beautifully lifted, pure fruited with a chalky density and impressive fruity, fleshy concentration despite being below <2g/l RS. A premium Sauvignon Blanc for drinkers who perhaps don’t like the more pungent grassy styles.
Made 100% from mountainside vineyards offering a fulsome expression, rich and plush with a certain comforting opulence, boasting sweet lemon cordial, salted toffee, nutty pistachio and savoury biscuit notes. The palate shows impressive intensity with salty maritime notes, bright tangy acids with lemon grass, lime cordial nuances and a cool, mineral, drying finish. Really very smart.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Chardonnay 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
The new release 2021 Thelema Chardonnay possesses a beautifully pale lemon lime canary yellow with a fabulous shimmering brightness to it and is a very enticing Chardonnay offering indeed. The initial aromatics are full of dried green herbs, sweet lemon and lime citrus, tart pineapple and a most seductive vanilla pod hint that is seamlessly integrated into the wine. The classy oaking is equally evident on the palate but kept well in check by authoritative 2021 vintage acids, a stony granitic mineral frame, all tempered by tart crystalline white citrus fruits, white peach, green apple and a tangy fresh concentrated finish where another hint of tart pineapple makes an appearance. A truly classy wine from this phenomenal 2021 red and white vintage in South Africa, it shows its regal class and precision with such purity and clarity combined with intensity. One of the best Chardonnays from Thelema in more than a decade. Drink on release and over the next 8 to 10 years.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Merlot 2020, 14% Abv.
Beautifully sweet fruited with aromatics of sappy cedar spice infused with black plum, black berry compote, dried baking herbs and a dusty granitic minerality. The palate is soft, sweet fruited and piquant with a supple fleshy texture, silky accessible tannins over subtle tobacco leaf, hoisin plum sauce, cigar wrapper and a cedar wood spice finish. A classy pure varietal expression of Merlot.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Merlot Reserve 2021, WO Stellenbosch
The Reserve Merlot displays a delicate aromatic array of potpourri, dried violets, bouquet garni and incense together with hints of red currant, dried cranberries and red plum nuances. The palate shows a tender, seductive elegance, linear acids, and a taut freshness, that belies a sleek, incredibly subtle, cool fruited elegance. There are hints of sweet cedar, baking herbs and very fine grained stony mineral tannins that really steer this wine in a wonderfully old world Bordeaux – St Emilion direction from a cooler vintage of minerality, restraint and structure. This is a simply spellbinding wine with a tight knit texture, a phenomenal purity and an elegance of note. If you can’t afford £100+ Bordeaux right bank reds, this beauty will go a long way to fill this gap. Drink from 2024 to 2036+.
This classy Cabernet shows a spicy, piquant inky aromatics laced with layers of iodine, cedar spice, tobacco leaf and sweet black tea. The balance and texture on the palate is super classy with silky sweet tannins, plump opulent red and black berry fruits, sweet tobacco, graphite and a supple, long, intense finish enlivened by tangy acids. Very classy and classical Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon but approachable now.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards The Mint Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
A lush, plush opulent aromatics kissed with its signature minty leafy nuances over resinous menthol blackcurrant boiled candied sweets. Very sleek and fine boned on the palate, this is a beautifully supple, soft wine showing a silky elegance with finely balanced sweet tannins, tangy bright acids, and salty cassis intensity capped with a kiss of mint choc peppermint crisp complexity on the finish. A great returning vintage for the fabled Thelema Mint Cabernet!
2007 was the first vintage released commercially to the market after Giles Webb resigned from the CIWG where the wine was normally destined. The 2020 expression is majestically complex and soft spoken, orchestral and refined with real precision, focus and textural poise. Beautifully earthy and perfumed with sweet violets, tilled earth, liquorice and salty black currant before a soft, silky, tangy palate loaded with black cherry kirsch liquor, saline cassis and a pure, long, intense classical finish. True class!
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Vin de Hel Dessert Muscat 2021
Made from 1 hectare of 37 year old vine Muscat (de Frontignan), picked at 35 balling to hit 149-150g/l RS with a TA of circa 5.7g/l. Grapey, fresh and vibrant on the nose with layers of lychee, rose petals, peach puree and quince jelly. Beautifully fresh, pure and utterly delicious. This is a very attractive but not overly sweet dessert style wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Thelema crest.
The Thelema wines are imported into the UK by Enotria Wines.
With all eyes on Sakkie Mouton Family Wines again as he prepares to launch his fabled 2023 Revenge of the Crayfish Chenin Blanc, I thought I would recalibrate my taste buds in preparation with a bottle of his excellent 2022 release. Like all intuitive winemakers, Sakkie has slowly been evolving his winemaking style with every passing vintage, tweaking the oak regime, varying the amount of skin contact, experimenting with more or less lees stirring during elevage, etc… all in the quest to make more complex and exciting wines.
With the 2022 vintage, we see a number of these factors coming together to reveal themselves in the form of a very serious, mature minded expression of Wes Kus Chenin Blanc from Koekenaap.
Sakkie Mouton Family Wines Revenge of the Crayfish 2022 Chenin Blanc, WO Koekenaap, 13.84% Abv.
2.3g/l RS | 7.2g/l TA | 3.15pH
The most recent vintages from Sakkie Mouton have shown his growing winemaking prowess and confidence and this new 2022 Chenin Blanc is no exception. The aromatics are loaded with poached pears, green apple, freshly squeezed lime peel, tangerine over deliciously saline, maritime notes of nori seaweed, kelp, rock salt and crunchy white peach. As always, the palate is fabulously taut and nervy with layer upon layer of liquid minerality, sea breeze, brine, white citrus and Granny Smith apples. But it has been Sakkie Mouton’s ability to conjure up greater mid-palate flesh and textural depth through his evolving handling of skin and lees contact which acts to broaden the mouthfeel and remove any more harder malic edges associated with earlier picked fruit. This new release is a absolute triumph of west coast winemaking! Drink on release after a decent decanting and enjoy comfortably over the next 10 to 12+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Sakkie Mouton Family Wines are available in the UK on allocation from South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.
The previous Lievland Wine Estate can certainly be counted as one of the grand old Cape brands of the 1980s and 1990s and I can confirm that I certainly drank my fair share of their famous value red blend, the Lievlander, as well as plenty of their Shiraz and their delicious DVB Cape Bordeaux Blend. In 2017, it was announced that MAN Family Wines had acquired the 110 hectare estate with ambitious plans to build a new cellar facility and also slowly replant some of the 60 hectares under vine.
Lying on much respected Simonsberg Stellenbosch terroir, immediate neighbours are Natte Valleij, Warwick, the old Uitkyk, Kanonkop and Le Bonheur. I recently caught up in London with their head winemaker, Riaan Möller, to taste through a current selection of the Lievland Vineyards wines.
Lievland Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2022, WO Elgin, 13% Abv.
Deliciously exotic aromatics with peach skins, apricot, gooseberry, melon and green apple pastille. 100% stainless steel fermented with several inoculated yeast strains. From Sandstone soil vineyards, south facing, the grapes yield deliciously cool crystalline fruits boasting white peach, green pear, white pepper, rocket leaf and hints of lychee. Sleek, vibrant and wonderfully energetic with a really youthful vivacity and a delicate tropical kiss on the finish. A delicious cool climate expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Lievland Vineyards Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2022, WO Paarl, 13% Abv.
Made from a Certified Heritage Vineyard planted between 1977 and 1987 from Agter-Paarl with the use of up to 30% barrel fermented portion. The aromatics show a fruity candied opulence with notes of smoky straw, fynbos, peach rock candy and hints of green pear. The palate is rich and expressive with mouth watering layers of spicy white peach, greengage, green apple and hints of fig preserve on the long, persistent, textured finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Lievland Vineyards Liefkoos Shiraz / Mourvedre / Cinsault Rose 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 12.5% Abv.
An attractive pale salmon colour, the wine shows bright dusty chalky aromatics packed full of pear drops, crushed granite, crushed red cherry and crunchy wild strawberry fruits. The palate is cool, sleek and very precise with a delicious weightless concentration, lovely purity, mineral pithiness and impressive length. One for the lovers of Provençal Rose.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Lievland Vineyards Bush Vine Pinotage 2021, WO Paarl, 13.5% Abv.
From a vineyard on the westerly slopes of Paarl mountain planted in 2000/1 with a small 5% addition of Grenache. Only a small amount of new large oak is used (15%) and mostly multi-passage 225 and 300 litre used barrels. Packed full of vibrancy and freshness with notes of bramble berry, forest fruits, tilled earth, black plum and hints of red apple. Super polished and sleek, the texture is silky, elegant and delicately exotic with lovely purple rock candy, Parma violets and a mouthwatering Fanta Grape-flavoured allure. The finish is bone dry, spicy and mineral with real balance and length. A very individual expression of Pinotage, but undoubtedly delicious.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Lievland Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, WO Cape Coast, 14% Abv.
High altitude fruit from the Helderberg and Agter-Paarl, makes for a very classy Cabernet Sauvignon with a sneaky 5% Cinsault, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc blended in. The aromatics show sweet red berry, red plum, red currant, raisined cranberries, cassis, tilled earth and delicate notes of sweet tobacco and tannery leather. On the palate the soft, seductive silky layers dominate, revealing a very fine textured, compact mouthfeel. A very impressive wine with great complexity, lovely granitic minerality and a delicate salinity on the finish.
Fruit from original vineyards on the farm planted 2001. 86% Syrah and 14% Mourvedre with 20% whole bunches, were fermented and aged 100% for 16 months in mostly used neutral 225 litre barrels with a 15% new French oak portion. The aromatics are lush and seductive with blueberry, black cherry, tart plum and subtle hints of dried herbs, cumin and peppercorns. Wonderfully pure, delicate and elegantly fresh, this is a very classy, considered, light touch Syrah made with real attention to detail. The finish is intense and focused with a fine weightless concentration.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Lievland Vineyard wines are imported into the UK by Berkmann Wines.
There is a cliché in the UK wine trade that if you want to taste the very best Swiss wines, you must travel to Switzerland to find them. Outside of drinking copious amounts of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Italian wines, the local Swiss consumers are known to be very protective of their very best producers and sourcing the more interesting boutique wineries outside of Switzerland can be a massive challenge. So when the opportunity came up for me to join one of my French importers on an exploratory visit recently, I grabbed it with both hands.
Our main port of call was to meet and taste the impressive wines of Alexandre Delétraz. The winemaker and owner- founder of Cave des Amandiers in 2007. In his 40’s, Alexandre is definitely one of the more exciting producers with not only an incredible passion for the old vineyards of the Valais AOC but he also follows a wine philosophy to create some incredibly pure, precise, but characterful wines that show their true sense of place.
In the winery, I noticed a sign “LEARN THE RULES LIKE A PROFESSIONAL, SO YOU CAN BREAK THEM LIKE AN ARTIST ~ PABLO PICASSO.” When you get to know Alexandre a little better and you taste his wines, this statement becomes even more pertinent. It is undoubtedly his desire to create great wines in exceptional terroirs, and to try his best to reveal the qualities of the native Valais grape varieties in an authentic environment, giving the wines time to grow in the cool darkness and calm of his own cellar.
His winery was created in 2008, and after vinifying the first vintage in a mazot, then in a tractor garage in Fully, he found a more suitable location in the town of Saillon. He moved into this new cellar in 2011 and although the winemaking facilities are modern, his working techniques remain essentially artisanal. The Cave des Amandiers vines are maintained manually due to the very complicated topography of the steep hillsides and Alexandre’s 8.2 hectares are made up of many small terraces which range from 450m to 900m in altitude. The climate is extraordinarily favorable for the vines, but in order to always guarantee impeccable quality and optimal maturity of the berries, Alexandre carries out drastic sorting of every harvest. The yields are naturally low and adapted to the vigor of each of the parcels, to ensure a good concentration of aromas, fruit and grape polyphenols.
Vines in Valais are essentially mountain viticulture. Among their Italian neighbours, Alexandre readily speaks of “viticoltura eroica” for vineyards located in this type of exceptionally rugged topography. This “heroic viticulture” is perfectly illustrated by the different entities that the Cave des Amandiers has: dizzying slopes where the vines sometimes cling painfully to the hillsides, numerous small terraces supported by ancient dry-stone walls, with almost non-existent mechanization. It is this slope, these dry-stone walls, in this challenging environment of extraordinary diversity as well as a particular climate in Valais which makes it possible to obtain impeccable balance, freshness and optimal maturity in the grapes. Indeed, during the growing season (from April to October), this climate is typically Mediterranean, and certainly viticulturally far superior to the rest of French-speaking Switzerland.
There are also other more local climatic factors, and in fact one cannot ignore the role played by the ‘Foehn’, a hot wind which dries the grapes during the harvest period, but also at a microclimatic level; the heat generated by the heating of the walls during the day continues to be released beneficially at night. Altitude and exposure also play a very big role, and Alexandre notices the very great heterogeneities from one plot to another, making it possible to cultivate numerous grape varieties with very different characteristics.
Since 2008, the Cave des Amandiers has certainly been a very unique project in the AOC Valais for the creation and rehabilitation of many estate mountain vineyards made up of vertiginous and sometimes abandoned terraces. To bring together different parcels of vines into a single 8-hectare estate, it was necessary to acquire around 200 plots from 70 different owners! Many of these vines have been replanted with massale selections of endemic and traditional grape varieties, drawn from the rich ampelography of the Valais region. Most of these vines are located on the gneisses – granitic soils – in the commune of Fully, a geological exception and a veritable wine gem of Valais.
Wines
There are several native grape variety in the Valais, some that are unique in the wine world. Extreme fragility to winds which often threatens to tear its leaves to shreds and break its branches. But a wine of great class and potential that is still barely touched is the Petite Arvine, produced from terraced vines located in and around Fully. It expresses the freshest and spring-like side of this grape variety and Alexandre works hard to control and channel its vigor, energy and acidity through aging the young wines on their fine lees. There are aromas of lime, wisteria and rhubarb, elderflower and honey, and the palates portray a fresh, lemony vitality and energy with a surprisingly iodized and mineral finish. As it ages, it becomes nuttier and more complex on the nose and palate.
After a day of visiting many of Alexandre’s unique terraced vineyard plots, we returned to the winery to taste his fascinating selection of wines.
White Wines Tasted:
Caves des Amandiers Fendant 2022, AOC Valois (Chasselas)
One of the cellars top selling wines, a bright, crisp, crystalline Chasselas that was unfortunately sold out already at the time of my visit. From all accounts, not a wine to miss!
Caves des Amandiers Heida 2020, AOC Valois
Also known as the Savagnin cultivar, this white is a little richer while retaining wonderful freshness and just a delicate hint of struck flint reduction on the nose.
Caves des Amandiers Heida 2021, AOC Valais
Still fresher and nervier, this 2021 is wonderfully aromatic and vibrant with a lovely linearity and precision.
Caves des Amandiers Les Villages Heida de Fully 2022, AOC Valais
This Village wine is richer and fuller with oak spice, lovely palate depth and a complex, delicately savoury character with a rounder, softer texture and concentration. Beautiful.
Caves des Amandiers Les Villages Ermitage de Saillon 2022, AOC Valais
Made from Marsanne, this beauty offers pear and yellow orchard fruits over a soft textured palate that reveals a pithy minerality and a wonderful saline, yellow citrus finish with lemony acids.
Caves des Amandiers Les Villages Ermitage de Fully 2022, AOC Valais
From a small 1200 metre square plot, this wine boasts a more Rhoney French styling with more intense notes of pear puree, green banana, and a pithy minerality over a stony, taut, broody complex palate.
Caves des Amandiers Les Villages Petite Arvine de Fully 2022, AOC Valais
This delicious 2022 shows pure, bright aromatics of green pear, Poire William spirit, and a hint of struck flint reduction. The palate is fresh, zippy and bright with real character and a seductively mouthwatering finish. Superb.
Caves des Amandiers Les Villages Petite Arvine de Leytron 2022, AOC Valais
This expression shows more perfume, hints of peach and white flowers. The palate is rich and textural with notes of guava before deliciously zippy fresh acids on the long finish. Very good.
Caves des Amandiers Les Parcellaires Petite Arvine En Anzé Saillon 2022, AOC Valais
This delightful 2022 shows green apple and pithy spice before a pear puree concentration, a fine palate tension, hints of bon bons, finishing with a delicately stony, reductive persistence. Very smart indeed.
Caves des Amandiers Les Parcellaires Petite Arvine Les Seyes Fully 2022, AOC Valais
Grown on Gneiss, this expression is more spicy and rich with tangy notes of apples and pears before a taut mineral complexity on the classically dry, stony finish. Lovely complexity on display.
Red Wines Tasted:
Caves des Amandiers Syrah 2019, AOC Valais
This classic Syrah is sourced from Fully and Leytron and shows delightful aromatics of plum and black berry compote, cured meats, black peppercorns, and an earthy olive hint. The palate is soft and fleshy from this warmer vintage without obscuring its stony tannins and spicy, pithy, black berry fruited finish.
Caves des Amandiers Gamay de Fully 2022, AOC Valais, 13.8% Abv.
Also grown on Gneiss, this wine shows a rich vein of stony raspberry fruits using 50% whole bunches in the ferment. This lends extra grip and minerality and the tannins are stony and mineral before giving way to layers of framboise and strawberry pips. A very serious Gamay.
Caves des Amandiers Les Villages Humagne Rouge de Laytron 2019 Red Blend, AOC Valais, 14% Abv.
Another serious offering packed full of stony strawberry and red currant. The wine is beautifully refined and ‘pretty’ with a sleek creamy, elegant texture and a seriously stony, mineral finish. Lovely weightless concentration and structure lend good age ability to the wine. Very impressive.
Caves des Amandiers Les Parcellaires Cornalin Combe d’Enfer 2022, AOC Valais
This attractive red picked at 15hl/ha shows lashings of cherry and chocolate, cocoa, and Dolcetto-like fruit spice over spicy black berries. Super plush with creamy silky tannins, this is a wonderfully fine-grained red with a plum compote length on the finish. Very fine indeed.
Caves des Amandiers Les Parcellaires Gamay d’Euloz Fully 2020, AOC Valais, 13% Abv.
This was apparently a fresh vintage in the Valais, and this semi-maceration carbonique Gamay displays layers of red currant, strawberry as well as deeper, darker foresty black berry fruits. Aged in 50% oak and 50% glass and amphorae, the palate is beautifully cool and creamy with delicately plush spicy nuances and a complex, stony mineral tannin finish. Lovely vibrancy and freshness.
If you are looking for high quality whites and reds made with modern techniques but with a firm nod towards artisanal tradition, the wines from the Caves des Amandiers represent a real ‘must-try’ range. I certainly look forward to returning in 2024 to hopefully taste the new vintages with Alexandre and explore some more of his unique vineyard parcels in the Valais region.
The spectacular wines of Jean-Yves Bizot represent the pinnacle of wine quality in a region graced with some of the most sought-after labels in the world of fine wine. Jean-Yves’s strict and uncompromising standards in the vineyards and his enviable old vine parcels in Vosne-Romanée combine to offer a stellar line-up of miniscule production red Burgundies built for ageing. Jean-Yves is a respected professor of viticulture and oenology in Beaune and lives in Vosne across the road from Henri Jayer’s old residence.
Sunrise in January 2024 over Gevrey-Chambertin.
Indeed, the two vignerons had neighbouring parcels in Vosne-Romanée and often discussed vinification techniques while working their vines. As a result, Jean-Yves decided to adapt some of Jayer’s techniques in his own cellar (in particular, whole cluster fermentation at cool temperatures in conical wooden vats) and is now making exceptional Vosne-Romanée wines that defy quality comparisons. Jean-Yves has undoubtedly forged his own unique winemaking path and today is recognized as producing some of the most iconic wines in Burgundy, following his own distinct and rigorous philosophy in the vineyards and in the cellar. Unsurprisingly, the wines of Domaine Bizot are now regarded as the pinnacle of Pinot Noir perfection and are coveted by the greatest Burgundy collectors and connoisseurs around the world, joining the ranks of other iconic names such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
Tasting the Corton-Charlemagne 2022 from barrel with Jean-Yves in January 2024.
Jean-Yves Bizot recently made some exciting new purchases in Burgundy, including 0.14 hectares of prime Le Charlemagne Chardonnay vines as well as further north in the Côtes-de-Nuits, terroirs that he believes are still under-appreciated by the current generation but which were very well known and highly regarded centuries ago – both of his Côtes-de-Nuits vineyards are just south of Dijon: Bourgogne “Le Chapitre” and Marsannay “Clos du Roy”, both of which are old vine parcels. His range is completed by his magnificent Bourgogne Blanc that comes from an old parcel of sélection massale Chardonnay right next to Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot. Bizot’s wines are bottled by hand, barrel by barrel, without filtration, and are serious Burgundies for the patient connoisseur, emphasizing purity, subtlety, power and elegance.
Some Bizot vineyards next to his Vosne-Romanee winery.
Domaine Jean Yves Bizot Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022
The two specific single vineyards of En Charlemagne and Le Charlemagne make up half of this famous appellation, while white grapes grown in seven other vineyards may also be sold as Corton-Charlemagne. As a result there can be a wide divergence in styles between earlier picked south-facing locations and cooler, later picked western slopes around Pernand-Vergelesses. Jean-Yves’s 0.14 hectares of vines are located in the prestigious Le Charlemagne vineyard and produce a meagre two new French oak barrels, or 600 bottles, of this golden Grand Cru nectar. A wonderfully sophisticated first showing of this wine reveals a rich vinous tapestry tightly packed with savoury aromatics of leesy yellow citrus, fresh rain on limestone, wet straw, baking herbs and glacé lemon rind. The concentration on the palate is astonishing – glycerol, piercing, fresh and beautifully crystalline and saline with intense layers of lemon and lime cordial, green apple pastille over an electric laser-like acidity with just a subtle kiss of lemon butter and vanilla pod spice on the finish. An astounding wine of incredible power, focus and precision, the likes of which you rarely see from Corton-Charlemagne. A wine that is sure to be legendary even before its official release.
(Wine Safari Score: 99-100/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot are imported and distributed exclusively in the UK by Wimbledon Wine Cellar. Contact: andrew@wimbledonwinecellar.com to enquire about available allocations and up coming new releases like the Corton-Charlemagne.
Since the maiden vintage of the Alheit’s Cartology white blend in 2011, the Alheit’s philosophy of old vines and special pockets of Cape terroir has seen them produce ever more critically acclaimed wines from all around the Cape. With the 2022 vintage of the Hereafter Here 100% Chenin Blanc from notable parcels in the Swartland, Upper Blaauwklippen, Polkadraai, and Paardeberg, and the Cartology 92% Chenin Blanc, 8% Sémillon blend from old vine Chenin vineyards from the Skurfberg, Malmesbury, Perdeberg, Bottelary, Upper Blaauwklippen, False Bay, Tygerberg, and the third oldest Sémillon block in South Africa, La Colline in Franschhoek, planted in 1936 (two older blocks being planted 1902 at Eikehof and 1905 at Landau du Val).
These two wines offer up some of the most critically acclaimed South African white wines from arguably one of the most celebrated South African winemakers after Eben Sadie (though Chris and Suzanne Alheit only trail him by a few years age wise). They have since made their home on the farm, Hemelrand (Heaven’s Edge) on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge and have mentored some of SA’s top winemaking talent in the form of Franco Lourens, previously assistant winemaker and now full-time winemaker and owner of Lourens Family Wines.
While collectors and connoisseurs have long since chased allocations of Chris’s top single site Chenin Blanc wines like Magnetic North and Huilkrans, the heightened quality, focus and precision on the Cartology vineyard blend specifically has been notable in recent years. Both the Cartology and Hereafter Here cuvees are now almost as tightly allocated as the single vineyard cuvees, so drinkers and collectors should definitely not overlook these wines when buying benchmark Chenin Blanc whites from South Africa.
Alheit Vineyards Hereafter Here Chenin Blanc 2022, WO Western Cape, 13% Abv.
Made from a mixture of young and older vines aged between 5 and 40 years old, after 18 months of elevage with 66% aged on its fine lees, the complex aromatics reveal a rich leesy, savoury yellow fruited nose with pithy white citrus, peach stone, bitter almonds, dried herbs, orange blossom and hints of lemon oil. Rich but not too overtly “fruity”, the palate is plush, harmonious and textural with hints of honeydew melon, lemon pastille, white peach and savoury leesy biscuit hints. Really quite serious, and seriously delicious! Drink now and over the next 8 to 10 years.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Alheit Vineyards Cartology 2022, WO Western Cape, 13% Abv.
This flagship blend from Chris Alheit is made from 92% Chenin Blanc and 8% Semillon grapes sourced from eight disparate old vine vineyards of between 40 and 60 years old. The youthful aromatics display a melange of granitic minerality over notes of peach, tangerine, orange oil and wet hay nuances. The 2022 is beautifully cool, harmonious and overtly mineral-led with dusty dried herbs, white peach, green pear and yellow stone fruits. The acids are gentle, soft spoken but deliciously tangy and the finish creamy, leesy and delightfully mouth-coating with and impressively persistent length. Yet another superb Cartology release from Chris ‘Butch’ Alheit. Drink now and over the next 10 to 12+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Cartology 2022 is priced at circa £34.99 and the Hereafter Here 2022 at £26.99 inc. Both wines are available from specialist South African merchant Museum Wines.
Over the last twenty years, Domaine Fourrier has turned out to be one of the great success stories in Burgundy, proof that a talented grower with good sites can rise out of near obscurity to make wines that have become some of the most sought-after in the region. The man behind this rapid rise is Jean-Marie Fourrier, whose father generously handed over control in 1994, when his son was twenty-four. He is lucky to have a large stock of old vines, but as ever, the secret to his success is meticulous work in the vineyards.
Jean-Marie does not follow organic methods specifically, but rather he tries to keep chemical treatments to a minimum and is more of an ‘intuitive anticipator’ of vineyard problems. While always remaining true to their terroirs, his wines have won over a legion of Burgundy collectors and followers with their unashamed ripeness, textural polish, and an all-round seductiveness that is normally instantly recognisable, but without ever compromising on the wines’ age ability.
Vintage 2022 in Burgundy:
The 2022 vintage undoubtedly represents a return to a warmer and dryer style of season after the trials and tribulations of the complex, frost affected, low yielding but high quality 2021 vintage. The 2022 conditions and wine styles have more in keeping with the trilogy of riper years in 2018-2019-2020 despite the region having had several near misses with frost during the season with low -4c temperatures recorded in April.
Fortunately, after a very meagre but high quality 2021 harvest, the volumes of 2022 rebounded, as is often the case with frost affected vines, with some generous grape yields of excellent quality for both reds and whites after a warm, dry summer without any heat spikes. Harvesting generally began towards the end of August in the Cotes de Beaune and in early September in the Cotes de Nuits and Chablis. The resultant wines are beautifully ripe and vibrant, with invigorating fruit concentration, crystalline purity, and delicious mouthwatering intensity.
Domaine Jean-Marie Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint Jacques 2022, Burgundy, France
A very classy, plush aromatics which suggests great pedigree and power but announces it with true elegance and soft-spoken restraint. There’s a lovely melange of both red and black fruits, strawberry, black cherry, red currant and plum spice. The palate is deliciously bright, sleek and fleshy but also beautifully delineated, with fresh underlying acids punctuating the focus and purity of fruit. All wonderfully in balance, the fleshy sweet fruit is tight knit, taut but silky, the tannins powdery and mineral. Very elegant and supremely classy with the archetypal Fourrier fruit purity and palate concentration but importantly with energising, revitalising acids in this warm ripe vintage. Yet again a thoroughly seductive Gevrey-Chambertin from this blue chip 1er Cru vineyard. Drink on release and over the next 10 to 15+ years.
Brothers Pierre and John Philip (JP) Winshaw released some beautiful wines with their maiden 2017 Charles and Bill Winshaw Cape Red Blends, and subsequent releases have also followed suit with striking quality, impressive fruit selection and wonderfully precise winemaking. They visited the UK to launch their winery brand in 2023 and from the very first moment, critics were seduced by the intensity, purity and overall appeal of their delicious wines.
A particular favourite of consumers in the UK, there is simply no holding back the success of single cultivar Malbec wines whether from Argentina or indeed South Africa. Handled correctly and vinified with care and attention, some very attractive, fruit forward Malbec wines are able to be created in South Africa and Winshaw Vineyards, along with the likes of Vilafonte in Paarl and Doolhof in Wellington, are becoming leaders in the category. The 2022 vintage should hit the UK retail market in mid-2024 and retail for approximately £26pb.
Winshaw Vineyards Malbec 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
The sumptuous 2022 Winshaw Vineyards Malbec continues almost exactly where the 2021 left off despite the vintages being fairly different in overall character. Made from MC71 clone vineyards planted in 2001, these 21-year-old vines are really starting to hit their stride, producing wines with great depth, breadth and character, suitable for single cultivar bottlings as well as making an attractive blending partner within the Charles and Bill Winshaw cuvees. The aromatics show wonderfully spicy, picante dark broody black berry fruit aromatics with lashings of black currant, black cherry, mocha chocolate and chargrilled meat nuances. The palate texture is plush, seductively inviting and delightfully accessible, with beautifully silky soft sweet tannins, sleek, cool spicy blue and black berry fruits, with hints of crème de cassis, cherry kirsch liquor and a slightly sappy, plummy finish that is suitably bright and attractively mouthwatering. This elegant Malbec is sure to be as big a hit with customers as previous vintages, but be warned, quantities produced are once again very small. Drink now and over the next 4 to 6+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Winshaw Vineyards wines are imported exclusively into the UK by specialist South African merchant Museum Wines.
The first Cabernet Sauvignon was produced from the Journey’s End estate in 2001 and the first Chardonnay in 2002, all from estate fruit. The Kumala brand, which used the Journey’s End name for its premium tier for a short period of time, was sold off in 2004 followed by a complete separation of brands. The first real resurrected “Journey’s End” brand personality started in 2007 when Rollo Gabb took over and a first shipment of wine was exported to the UK through Bibendum Wines, consisting of the 2005 vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz, and Merlot, signalling the end of the old regime and the start of the new.
The Journey’s End winery is now comprised of a 120-hectare estate which produces a small range of premium hand-crafted wines following minimal intervention, sustainable and organic practices. I caught up in London recently with Rollo Gabb at Quo Vadis, one of the more famous restaurants in his UK business empire, and had an opportunity to reacquaint myself with some of the latest releases from Journey’s End.
Journeys End V6 Sauvignon Blanc 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
Made from vineyards situated 200m above sea level on south facing slopes, the wine remains on its lees for circa nine months in stainless steel tanks. Lush, vibrant and energetic with tangy tropical fruit acids, and notes of green papaya, mango, white peach, gooseberry and a deliciously vibrant fruit concentration and intensity. A really charming expression with plenty of precision and character.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Rollo Gabb tasting in London in 2023.Journey’s End winemaker Mike Dawson
Journeys End V1 Sauvignon Blanc 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
Aged in 10% new oak and 80% second fill barrels with 10% also in egg / amphora. 50%/50% wild and inoculated yeasts in the fermentation with malolactic discouraged. Shows powdery aromatics of green melon, green apple, and white blossom with a beautifully round, harmoniously textured palate that is very subtle with no edges, round and voluptuous, but also delicately spicy with a lovely long length.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Journeys End V1 Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 12.9% Abv.
An 87% Sauvignon Blanc and 13% Semillon blend mostly naturally fermented. Classically vibrant and fresh, this wine encapsulates the maritime freshness, energy and zestiness of the Helderberg. The aromatics display lovely notes of wet slate, gooseberry, melon, greengage plums and cut grass that melt into a seamless, harmonious palate bolstered by a tangy acidity, plenty of fleshy peachy fruit and a long, tropically kissed finish. Very impressive indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Journeys End Destination Chardonnay 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 13.38% Abv.
A 100% Chardonnay from a single block, that is vulnerable to uneven ripening. Picked in 5 to 6 passes over two weeks. Whole bunch pressed into 228 and 300 litre barrels, 15% new and 85% used oak. Normally, 10-15% malolactic from a few rogue barrels. Shows layers of white pepper and oak spice over pear, green apple and pithy white citrus complexity. A very sophisticated expression with a subtle hint of sapidity before a cool, creamy, elegant mid-palate brimming with vitality, silky soft textured phenolics and a stony, granitic pithy finish. Classy and plush with lovely concentration on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Journey’s End V5 Cabernet Franc 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
First vintage produced in 2017 with increasing production slowly over time. The wine was aged in French old oak barrels for 14 months. Delicious aromatics offer chocolate, cherry, mocha, sweet tobacco, sappy cedar, sweet leaf and an attractive underlay of cassis and blue berry fruits. Picante and spicy on the palate, this is a very well honed, vibrant and superbly elegant expression that is neither too cedary or nor too peppery. Simply blissfully fresh, vibrant and perfectly balanced.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Journey’s End The Griffin Syrah 2018, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
From a 24- to 25-year-old Syrah block using 100% whole bunches on the stems incorporating carbonic maceration and full malolactic fermentation in oak barrels. Spends 18 months in 16% new American oak with the remainder going into second fill French oak barrels. The aromatics are dark and tarry, packed with stewed black cherries, black plum, olive tapenade over a sappy, resinous, smoky black berry complexity. Super rich and unctuous on the palate, the wine boasts textured layers of black berry fruit concentration, sweet mulberry, sappy sweet plum with a vanilla pod kiss of American oak on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Journey’s End Cape Doctor Red Blend 2018, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
A complex blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot aged in 100% new French oak barrels. An opulently textured, plush red blend that really shows a bit of swagger. Jam packed full of red berry confit, plum compote, smoky granitic minerality, tobacco leaf, and a hint of sweet vanilla pod spice. Creamy textured, sumptuous and plush, hedonistic but also beautifully approachable, expressive and accessible now. Very impressive blend.
Greg Sherwood MW 