Colombard

Sakkie Mouton Releases Another Characterful and Accomplished Full On Misfit 2024 White Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Sakkie Mouton is a highly talented young South African winemaker who has, over the past eight years, built a veritable cult following on the wild, wind swept West Coast of the Western Cape. Since his maiden 2018 Revenge of the Crayfish Chenin Blanc, he’s earned a reputation for terroir-driven, minimal-intervention wines from some of the most unforgiving vineyard sites in South Africa, sourcing fruit from cool, Atlantic-influenced spots in Vredendal and Koekenaap.

While his flagship white is considered his Revenge of the Crayfish Chenin Blanc, his Full On Misfit white blend, whose name says it all, deliberately avoids imitating a Rhône, Portuguese, or classic Cape white blend, aiming instead to be something wholly its own.  The composition shifts vintage to vintage, but centres on Chenin Blanc, Colombard, Macabeo, and Muscat d’Alexandrie, grown on sandstone and silty soils not far from the cold Atlantic Ocean. Production is hands-on and low-tech, with grapes picked in the early morning hours for freshness, and then foot-stomped in an old basket press with only a touch of sulphur added.

Sakkie Mouton (left) tasting with Ex-England cricket captain, Allan Lamb, at 67 Pall Mall during the recent UK launch of his new vintage releases.

I have often praised the wine’s “West Coast Swagger,” and later vintages have only sharpened that identity further – the 2022 was called his “most accomplished to date”, while his 2023 leaned more heavily on Chenin Blanc, showing classical lemon verbena, white peach, and a fresh, salty maritime finish. Together, Sakkie’s wines represent some of the most original and closely watched expressions coming out of South Africa’s West Coast today, and his Full On Misfit white blend is the canvas that allows Sakkie to continue experimenting and innovating.

Sakkie Mouton Family Wines Full on Misfit 2024, WO Western Cape, 12.75% Abv.

1.4g/l RS | 7.3g/l TA | 3.07pH

Of all the wines made by Sakkie Mouton, it is probably the Full on Misfit White Blend that has evolved the most over the past few years as it represents his unofficial playground to experiment. The 2024 is made from three different vineyards located between 15 and 25kms from the cold Atlantic Ocean, around the town of Vredendal on the West Coast, and is a blend of 75% Chenin Blanc, 18% Colombar and 7% Harslevelu. Fermented in stainless steel, the individual cultivars were then aged in 500 litre oak barrels for 8 months before being blended and aged for a further 3 months before bottling. Beautifully crystalline and fresh, the aromatics show pretty perfumed notes of white blossom, lime peel, grapefruit marmalade and crunchy white peaches drizzled in honey. The signature salinity Sakkie’s wines are so famous for is ever present on the palate, bristling alongside bright steely acids, tangerine fruits, lime cordial and finishing with a mouth-wateringly tangy pear fruit pastille persistence. The 2024 West Coast whites might not have the same muscle of the 2023s or the intense sweet fruit concentration of the 2025s, but they are certainly unrivalled in their purity, steely tension, and crystalline structures. Enjoy now to 2034+.

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

The Sakkie Mouton Family Wines are imported into the UK by South African specialist merchant Museum Wines and Wood Winters UK.

Naude Family Wines Releases the Fourth Vintage of Their Langpad Old Vine Colombard 2023…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

With the never-ending search for new and exciting cultivars in South Africa continuing unabated, presumably it was only a matter of time before the Cape’s vignerons discovered the versatile potential of Old Vine Colombard beyond acting merely as a suitable distillation grape. Being widely planted up the Weskus (West Coast), Ian Naude managed to source some of the most expressive Old Vine fruit planted in 1983 from vineyards near Vredendal. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Now releasing his fourth vintage of Langpad, meaning the ‘long road’, the 2023 from Ian Naude has had some extra time in bottle which is why, perhaps more so than any of the previous three releases, the Langpad bears a striking resemblance to Greece’s Assyrtiko wines with a pronounced phenolic minerality and maritime salinity… though perhaps more in the style of Nemea or mainland Greece’s Assyrtiko expressions rather than those from the volcanic island of Santorini. 

Naude Langpad Old Vine Colombard 2023, WO Cape West Coast, 11.5% Abv.

A vintage renown for its concentration and fruit intensity, the 2023 Langpad Old Vine Colombard is at first quite reticent on the nose, showing aromatics of crushed granite, white flowers, dried herbs, yellow citrus, and waxy yellow apples before more pronounced notes of maritime sea spray, dried kelp and oystershell emerge. The fleshy glycerol concentration is more evident on the palate, that’s cool, crisp, and resplendently pure and fresh with a mouthcoating tangy acidity and complex hints of honeydew melon, pithy green apple and quince jelly. Quite a phenolic and spicy expression of Colombard that finishes with a saline wet stone mineral austerity that makes this white perfect for food matching. Start drink now and over the next 3 to 5 years. 

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

Tasting the Sensational New Sakkie Mouton Family Wines Weskus Wit Versnit (West Coast White Blend) 2023…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Sakkie Mouton has been at the forefront of experimental winemaking in the Vredendal and Koekenaap region for the past 6+ years producing some of the most enticing premium white and red wine offerings that are clearly inspired and influenced by the rugged West Coast vine growing lifestyle. Through adversity and hardship, comes rays of brilliance, and this new experimental white blend of 80% Old Vine Colombard and 20% Palomino sourced from Vredendal vineyards is another absolute triumph for Sakkie.

Over the past years, Sakkie has been experimenting with a wide range of white varieties from Chenin Blanc to Colombard, Vermentino to Chenel, Palamino to Muscat de Alexandrie, and his last new release, the 2023 Assyrtiko, was another wonderful revelation on his continuing path of experimentation and blending.

Old vine Colombard vineyards in Vredendal.

The usual outlet for Sakkie’s white blend experimentation normally falls under his Full On Misfit cuvee, that has evolved over the years into a beautifully harmonious, complex white expression quite unlike anything else on the market. This is of course part of the whole raison d’etre for so much of Sakkie’s winemaking focus, sourcing grapes in the once fairly obscure Vredendal region, better known in the past for bulk winemaking. The Grape Cavalier Wit Versnit is a delicious new white expression that avid followers of Sakkie’s wines will not want to miss out on.

Sakkie Mouton Family Wines The Grape Cavalier Colombard – Palomino White Blend 2023, WO Vredendal, 11.8% Abv.

This delicious Weskus Wit Versnit (West Coast white blend) is another triumph of terroir from Sakkie Mouton, opening with picante granitic aromatics that are heavily laden with oyster shell, sea breeze salinity and brine over delicate nuances of tangy white citrus, grated lime peel, lemon herbal tea, wet chalk, stem ginger spice and gentle hazelnut undertones. The palate is equally intense and beguiling, delivering a tart, mouthwatering experience tightly interwoven with fresh laser-like acids, another burst of ‘salted lemons after a savoury tequila shot’, freshly cut Granny Smith apples and an invigorating mineral tension that reverberates on the long maritime finish. A really fabulous new creation that has Sakkie Mouton’s signature Weskus winemaking genius written all over it. This appears to be a once-off experimental cuvee from Sakkie as he continues to push the boundaries of experimental winemaking. Decant and drink on release or cellar this beauty for another 5 to 8+ years.

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

The Sakkie Mouton wines are imported into the UK by South African fine wine specialist merchant Museum Wines. The Grape Cavalier retails for circa £37pb.

A Triumphant Second Release of the Vloedvlak Colombar 2023 from Sakkie Mouton Family Wines…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

While Sakkie Mouton, together with his extended family of grape farmers in the Vredendal environs, have been integral in helping to launch a number of old vine Colombar brands onto the market such as the Naude Family Wines Langpad Old Vine 2020, Sakkie’s own first release only materialised at the end of 2022 with the maiden Vloedvlak 2022, a delicious wine that further expanded the premium offering of this once workhorse white cultivar.

The 2023 Vloedvlak is once again a 100% Colombar wine sourced from the same specific original clone old vine vineyard planted in 1978 on the banks of the mighty Olifants River, located only 25 kilometres from the cold Atlantic Ocean that acts to shape and influence the style and structure of the best Wes Kus wine expressions. Grapes were picked early in the morning to preserve freshness, then cooled down before being pressed the following morning.

Whole bunch pressing was done without the addition of any enzymes, then left overnight to settle in a stainless steel tank, before being racked to another tank to allow natural fermentation to commence. The final portion of the alcoholic fermentation took place in 228 litre barrels where the wine was then aged for five months on its gross lees, with two months of light bâtonnage, before being bottled unfiltered and unfined with a small addition of sulphur.

Sakkie Mouton inspecting his old vine vineyard in 2023.

Vloedvlak means flood plain in Afrikaans and alludes to the manner of flood irrigation that is commonly employed in the region with the close proximity of the Olifants River. However, due to excessive flooding in this vineyard in 2024 from freak weather conditions, Sakkie was not able to produce a Vloedvlak Colombar, but instead, will produce an alternative old vine Colombar from vineyards near to the Naude Langpad vineyard in Vredendal.

Sakkie Mouton Family Wines Vloedvlak Colombar 2023, WO Olifants River, 10.94% Abv.

1.4g/l RS | 7.6g/l TA | 3.25pH

This is another wonderfully pinpoint and precise white wine that speaks volumes about the increasing focus and textural finesse Sakkie now manages to increasingly capture on all his wines. Beautifully perfumed, saline and mineral all at once, the nose is packed full of white blossom, lime peel, white peach, orange zest, sherbet coated bon bons, and wet thatch notes over multiple layers of wet stone minerality, a sea breeze salinity, dried kelp and umami, nori seaweed nuances. Like all Sakkie’s wines, the aromatics are very subtle and delicate, merely suggestive rather than prescriptive. In the mouth, the texture is fine, crystalline and harmonious, but also deliciously tangy and mouthwatering with salty, briney acids, notes of lemon and lime pastille, white peach and a long, clean, stony savoury finish. I tasted this new release over two days to really let the wine’s full complexity express itself and to allow the underlying texture to open its shoulders and fill all corners of the mouth. After that, even my stoical will power was insufficient to hold off drinking the rest of the bottle. This is a majestic white wine and another important building block in the ongoing South African Colombar(d) storyline. Drink now and over the next 6 to 8+ years.

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

Ian Naude Breaks New Ground With His First Old Vine White Blend Since 2010 – Tasting His Exciting New Soutbos 2023 White West Coast Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

One could argue that Ian Naude is a sucker for punishment. Though, he would probably blame Rosa Kruger or perhaps his friend and fellow winemaker Sakkie Mouton for many of his recent wine adventures, but every time he is introduced to a new Old Vine vineyard, you can practically hear the cogs turning, the bells ringing and the whistles tweeting in his head. He swore he was done with white blends after his last expression was bottled in 2010. But sometimes, when you inadvertently discover an incredibly exciting synergy or harmonious partnership like the one that exits between Old Vine Chenin Blanc and Colombard, all bets are off.

I travelled up the West Coast with Ian Naude in October 2022, the beginning of the 2023 vintage, and saw some of the incredibly exciting Old Vine Chenin Blanc and Colombard vineyards that inspired Ian on his new white blend journey. Even I wanted to buy some of these grapes and start making wine again!

Old Vine Chenin Blanc in Vredendal

Very old, gracefully gnarled and outstandingly beautiful, the vineyards of Vredendal and Koekenaap are finally receiving the adoration they have missed out on for the past 30 years. Ian’s new white blend is yet another celebration of this incredibly characterful, austere, coastal terroir.

Naude Family Wines Soutbos White Blend 2023, WO Western Cape, 12% Abv.

1.76g/l RS | 6.07g/l TA | 3.44pH

This stunning new white blend from Naude Family Wines represents the culmination of many years of work Ian Naude has spent constructing and perfecting intricate, complex and age worthy white blends. More latterly, Ian has built an iconic reputation for some of the most eye-catching Old Vine Chenin Blancs produced in South Africa before moving his attention to championing Old Vine Colombard vineyards up the West Coast. This new white draws on all Ian’s experience and expertise to assemble an incredibly fresh, tight knit, minerally driven white wine. A blend of 83% Chenin Blanc from a vineyard planted in 1988 and 17% Colombard from a vineyard planted in 1985, has seen Ian create his first new white blend since 2010 from these two noble West Coast Vredendal vineyards.

Crystalline and fresh in the glass, the aromatics show incredibly subtle notes of lemon peel zest, grapefruit, white peach, honeydew melon and Granny Smith apples with underlying hints of dried guava roll, sweet herbs and cream soda rock candy. Fresh, intense and mouth coating, this is an intriguing white blend that combines the vibrancy and exuberance of Old Vine Colombard with the more herbal, mineral and textural aspects of Chenin Blanc. Undoubtedly, the standout features remain the incredible balance, seamless texture and maritime kelpy salinity. Like all of Ian’s red and white wines, his attention to detail is simply extraordinary, marking this white blend as one of the most exciting and thought-provoking new releases on the South African white wine landscape since possibly the launch of Eben Sadie’s Old Vine Skerpioen. Drink and enjoy its freshness on release and revisit over the next 10 to 15+ years.

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

Naudé Wines are imported into the UK exclusively by specialist South African merchant Museum Wines.

Another Fabulous Colombar From the Cape Joins the Ever-Growing Line-up of Premium Expressions – Tasting Gunter Schultz’s Reisiger Colombar 2022…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

I first encountered Gunter Schultz’s delicious Colombar at the Cape Wine Trade Fair 2022 where he was also pouring his impressive Baleia Wines. The Reisiger 2022 is made from 29-year-old Colombar bush vines grown by Danie “Dumpies” van der Merwe from Mostertshoek near Goudini in the Breedekloof.

Sold in previous years to the local co-operative winery, Gunter and Danie decided that these nearly old vine vineyards would be perfect for producing a premium dry Colombar, a style rising in popularity by the day, as championed by Colombar high disciples like Ian Naude with his Langpad, Sakkie Mouton with his Vloedvlak, and Tinus Kruger with the original Aspoestertjie Colombard made from a 40-year-old vineyard in Riebeeksrivier in the Swartland. For their first wine, only four rows were used in a one-off experimental production of just over 1000 bottles… and the results are remarkable.

Tasting with Gunter in London recently.

Gunter Schultz Reisiger Colombar 2022, WO Western Cape, 11% Abv.

Like all the very best examples coming on to the market in South Africa, the Reisiger is impressively cool, clean and precise with a crystalline demeanour and mouth-watering aromatics of lime peel, fresh guava, wet hay, dried herbs, and freshly cut apple with underlying notes of crushed gravel and wet slate adding fabulous nuances of minerality. The palate is mouthwatering and steely, pure, crisp and bright with a tart tangy lemony acidity, notions of crunchy white peach, pithy lemon peel, lime cordial and a salty, stony liquid minerality on the finish. What elevates this wine in stature is not only its crystalline purity and laser-like focus,  but also the electric underlying acid tension and structure on the palate, not dissimilar to a premium flinty Pouilly Fumé from the Loire or a vibrant old vine Assyrtiko from Greece. A beautifully conceived wine that is deftly handled, fabulously pure and fresh, but never frivolous. A perfect summertime indulgence.

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

Sakkie Mouton Releases His Third and Most Accomplished Full On Misfit White Blend 2022 to Date…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Sakkie Mouton continues to grow his cult reputation and build a quality name for himself and his rugged west coast vinous expressions, all made from some of the most unforgiving vineyard areas in the whole of the Western Cape, four and a half hours north of Cape Town. The vineyards for this specific blend were planted between 1986 and 2017 on Sandstone and silt soils between 15 and 25 kilometres from the cold Atlantic ocean.

Having spent time with Sakkie Mouton in October 2022, and then again in March 2023, before his two most recent visits to the UK, I can clearly see that the young adventurous winemaker that I met in April 2019 at Spec & Bone Restaurant in Dorp Street, Stellenbosch, to taste his maiden 2018 Revenge of the Crayfish Chenin Blanc, has matured and evolved into exactly the bright young talent that I envisaged all those years ago when I described him as “the most exciting talent since Eden Sadie hit the South African wine scene.” It is fulfilling to see Sakkie grow and prosper and especially pleasing to see how popular and collectable his wines have become, not only in South African but also in the UK, Scandinavia and further afield.

Sakkie Mouton presenting a Masterclass in London in June 2023 at the South African High Commission.

The thing about Sakkie, like Eben all those years ago, is that he is on his own mission and has never looked to mimic or copy current wine styles or wine trends in the market. Exceptional talents like Eben or Sakkie have the passion and vision to follow their own dream, their own style, and create something new and noteworthy in a saturated wine world. That is exactly what Sakkie has done with his current wine range, promoting the very best old vine fruit from the west coast and Vredendal / Koekenaap in particular, just like Eden did with the Swartland in the early noughties.

Sakkie Mouton in his Vredendal Chenin Blanc vineyard in October 2022.

The Revenge of the Crayfish 2022 review will follow soon but will sadly probably be sold out before the ink is dry. But if you hunt around, you may still be able to pick up a delicious rogue bottle of Sakkie’s Full On Misfit White Blend 2022. If all else fails, reset your metal detector and watch out for Sakkie’s first red release in September 2023 – a Koekenaap Syrah that I have tasted three times, with each consecutive encounter impressing me more and more. It’s a veritable Allemande Cornas meets Jean-Luc Jamet Cote Rotie in style. But again, you are going to have to be very quick off the mark if you want to secure an allocation. So it’s onwards and steadily upwards for Sakkie Mouton.

Sakkie Mouton Family Wines Full On Misfit 2022 White Blend, WO Western Cape, 12.69% Abv.

1.6g/l RS | 7.0g/l TA | 3.25pH

The Full On Misfit 2022 white blend is a wine made from four different vineyards, located near the cold Atlantic Ocean, stretching from Vredendal to Koekenaap on the West Coast. An ever-evolving blend, the 2022 consists of 54% Chenin Blanc, 22% Colombard, 18% Macabeo and 6% Muscat d’Alexandrie. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with only a small addition of sulphur, the aromatics show a distinct perfumed floral purity with top notes of white blossom, lime leaf, lemon grass, white peach, lime peel and salty maritime notes of sea breeze, kelp and oyster shell. The palate is beautifully refined and harmonious displaying an impressively round, glycerol mouthfeel together with bright, tart, electric briny acids, sea water and savoury nori seaweed over bright, zesty citrus notes of lemon pastille, lime peel and yellow grapefruit. The nine months in barrel with regular bâtonnage broadens the palate and fleshes the wine out adding impressive texture and mid-palate stuffing. With its ingrained West Coast DNA, this wine will never be short on salinity and liquid minerality, two distinct hallmarks of all the wines Sakkie Mouton makes from these rugged Wes Kus grapes. While this is undoubtedly one of Sakkie’s most accomplished white blends to date, his experimentation looks set to continue unabated. Drink this on release after a decant and over the next 8 to 10+ years.

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

Wines are imported into the UK by Museum Wines and Woodwinters. Allocations are available upon request. Retail price for the Full on Misfit 2022 White Blend is circa £29.99pb.

Naude Family Wines Working in Harmony with the Superb Koekenaap West Coast Terroir – Tasting the New Release Langpad Old Vine Colombard 2022…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

Tasting with master winemaker Ian Naude can be quite a testing affair. If you are lucky enough to be invited into his inner sanctum of wine production to behold his new “babies” pre-release, he certainly keeps you on your toes. When tasting from tank or barrel, Ian appears to almost seek one’s confirmation or approval that he has not messed up the new vintage, when in actual fact, you’re normally in such awe of what you are tasting that his initial panic seems nearly incomprehensible. Ian has certainly never bottled any wine with his own name on the label that he does not think is worth its salt and this new 2022 Old Vine Langpad Colombard is no different.

Post Covid pandemic, I made my first return visit to the Cape just over two years to the day after my last visit when the travel ban to South Africa was lifted, and it was during this visit in March 2022 that I sampled the Langpad 2022 from stainless steel tank shortly after it had finished fermentation. We even filled a small PET bottle and took it home to retaste around a braai. Textural, rich, fresh, dry and utterly delicious… the new release date could not come quick enough.

The 2022 vintage was a cooler season with moderate weather conditions during harvest time that slowed down ripening and gave the vines the opportunity to develop extra flavours and colour. For Naude Family Wines, harvest was delayed by up to 10 to 14 days and the crop was around 5% lower than the 2021 vintage, but still larger than the five-year average. The old vine Colombard was harvested with good flavour and sugar ripeness, slightly lower acids but higher pH levels giving the 2022 Langpad an almost sweet-sour flavour intensity on the palate. As usual, all the requisite rugged West Coast maritime salinity and briney characteristics are present making for a true terroir expression once again.

Naude Family Wines Langpad Old Vine Colombard 2022, WO Western Cape, 11% Abv.

1.2 g/l RS | 6.6 g/l TA | 3.58 pH

I remember tasting this wine after fermentation in March 2022 and thinking that this wine was, yet again, something very special. Despite being an exceptional and intuitive winemaker, Ian Naude has continued to learn, building his old vine Colombard knowledge vintage to vintage, and in this exceptional third vintage, he has captured something very close to the true essence of this barren old vine Koekenaap West Coast vineyard that I finally visited in October 2022. For a young Colombard vintage, the 2022 seems more serious, more mineral and stonier, with less of the crème soda and green rock candy notes that initially tend to dominate the aromatics before blowing off to reveal the true coastal maritime salinity. There is a pronounced wet grey slate and petrichor note over hints of peach stone, lime blossom, rock salt and crunchy green pear. The palate is every bit as pleasing when I tasted the freshly fermented wine out of tank, with a rich, dense, glycerol mouthfeel packed full of salty white peaches, green apple, sour pear drops and a wet river pebble minerality. The lees ageing in tank has added a fabulous extra textural dimension and depth that plays synergistically to this grape variety’s true characteristics. Simply delicious. Drink this on release and over the next 10 to 12+ years.

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

The Naudé Family Wines are imported exclusively into the UK by South African specialist merchant Museum Wines and the retail price is circa £32pb for the 2022 vintage. http://www.museumwines.co.uk

The Old Vine Colombard Movement Gathers Pace – Tasting the Exciting Maiden Release of Sakkie Mouton’s Old Vine Vloedvlak Colombard 2022…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

Sakkie Mouton is undoubtedly one of the Cape wine industries bright young talents. But he has come a long way in a very short period of time since the first solo release of his Revenge of the Crayfish Chenin Blanc 2018, which has since been joined by his delicious Full On Misfit White Blend, the Sand Erf Vermentino and now his newest addition, the Vloedvlak Colombard. Despite this growing selection of wines, soon to be joined by an accomplished red Syrah, Sakkie’s wines remain impossibly difficult to track down and buy, seemingly selling out before they are even released! But considering the excitement surrounding his winemaking style and wine quality, the scarcity is hardly unexpected.

The new Vloedvlak 2022 is a 100% Colombard white wine made from Old Vine vineyards planted in 1978 by Mr Karel Voigt’s father on the farm Dwarsdeur located 35 kilometres from the cold Atlantic Ocean, just outside the small town of Vredendal on the West Coast of South Africa. The name Vloedvlak is Afrikaans for Flood Level, being a tribute to the old irrigation methods still in use today where whole vineyards are flooded until they reach their ‘Vloedvlak.’

Grapes were picked early in the morning to preserve freshness, then cooled down before being crushed early the following day. Grapes were destemmed and crushed into an old basket press without the addition of any enzymes, then left overnight to settle in a stainless steel tank, before being racked to another stainless steel tank for natural fermentation to commence. Fermentation started after two days and lasted for about one month with the temperature at fermentation kept at 14⁰C to preserve fruit and purity.

Flood irrigation in the vineyards.
Old Vine Colombard planted in 1978.

After fermentation, the wine was racked into 500 litre barrels for ageing on its gross lees. Aging in barrel lasted four months with regular stirring of the lees. The wine was finally bottled unfined and unfiltered with a small addition of sulphur. This new release carries a Wine of Origin Olifantsriver designation being sourced from Old Vine vineyards planted on sandy silty soils next to the banks of the Olifantsriver. Cold nights and warm days along with the traditionally cooler silty soils gave the grapes a longer natural ripening period.

Sakkie Mouton Family Wines Vloedvlak Old Vine Colombar 2022, WO Olifantsriver, 11.68% Abv.

This new addition to the ranks of the Old Vine Colombard movement is another striking example of what is possible with this once ‘work horse’ variety. Super young and packed full of primary aromatics, this wine will evolve and unfurl its full complex offering over the coming years. In its vibrant youth the nose resonates with embryonic notes of dusty perfumed talc, lime peel, crunchy white peaches, pear drop, honeydew melon rock candy, West Coast maritime sea breeze, Nori seaweed and subtle hints of dried green herbs and fynbos. The palate is tantalisingly taut and linear with a concertina’d concentration of sour yellow plum, savoury brine, white peach, tangy yellow apple and layer upon layer of salty, tangy acidity. Razor sharp and brilliantly crisp now, this wine will start to round out and put on additional leesy glycerol mid-palate weight with another 3 to 6 months in bottle. While there are already a few stunning examples of Old Vine Colombard on the market now, Sakkie Mouton once again succeeds in expressing his own unique winemaking genius with a wine that boasts a classic West Coast terroir character. Snap this rarity up on release but pop a few bottles in your cellar for at least two to three years before revisiting.

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

Recommended Retail Price expected to be circa £27 to £29 per bottle inc.

Revisiting a Ground-breaking Cape White Wine – Tasting the Naude Family Wines Langpad 2021 Old Vine Colombard…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The sun may be shining here in London but there is most certainly a crisp Autumnal note in the air as another phenomenally warm and sunny summer across Europe starts to fade into a mere memory. And what a summer it was! But Autumn for me is always a time of reflection and when it comes to fine wine, there were certainly a few splendid examples that have helped define the past year. One of these important wines was undoubtedly the second release of the Langpad Colombard from Old Vine maestro Ian Naude.

Almost everything Ian does seems to be ground-breaking, whether it was championing Old Vine Cinsault, helping with the Cape revival of Old Vine Semillon or redefining elegance and finesse in Provencal-style Grenache. So many producers follow in Ian’s footsteps that it sometimes becomes hard to even remember where all the excitement started. With Ian Naude’s Old Vine Langpad Colombard 2020, South Africa witnessed the birth of the first boutique production Old Vine Certified heritage wine from this traditional ‘work horse’ variety. Which is probably a good time to remind readers that South Africa also had another under appreciated work horse variety a few years ago – Chenin Blanc – which is now regarded as one of South Africa’s Grand Cru white offerings.

As I look ahead to visiting the Cape again in October 2022, I can confidently look back at my recent visit there in March when I met up with Ian Naude and tasted his new 2022 Langpad Colombard from tank before bottling. Another riveting example that is sure to continue in the footsteps of the maiden 2020 and the phenomenal 2021, which was awarded 5 Stars in the Platter’s South African Wine Guide and also, more importantly, Platter’s Wine of the Year.

I tasted and reviewed the 2021 almost a year ago, and after hearing that it was now sold out in South Africa, with the last remaining stocks heading to the thirsty UK market, it seemed the perfect time to retaste this benchmark white wine again and sing its praises for any wine collectors and connoisseurs that have not discovered its joys yet.

Naude Family Wines Old Vines Langpad Colombard 2021, WO Western Cape, 12% Abv.

1.3 g/l RS | 6.1 g/l TA | 3.3 pH

This second vintage of Naude’s Old Vine Colombard is certainly something very special. The aromatics are lifted and expressive with rich intense notes of green apple pastille, white peaches, green pear, dried herbs, sea breeze and a seductive rich seam of crushed stone minerality. On the palate there is even more concentration and mouth coating flavour intensity than maiden 2020 with enchanting layers of crunchy white peach, seductive hints of ripe guava, pear, green mango and an underlying basaltic stony minerality that combines with a pronounced maritime rock salt character and a tangy, bright acid freshness. After over a year in bottle, the wine has shed the subtle rock candy and cream soda puppy fat hints and swopped these for additional layers of salinity, minerality and mouth-watering fruit purity. Often regaled as reminding drinkers of premium Assyrtiko from Santorini, with time in bottle the similarities simply become more and more pronounced. But whatever comparisons are made, this wine never loses its crystalline Cape West Coast maritime terroir nuances that help make it so distinct and so utterly delicious. Enjoy its complexity now or fill your cellar for drinking over the next 3 to 5+ years.

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

Last allocations of this wine are available in the UK and EU from Museum Wines for £29.99pb.

https://www.museumwines.co.uk/product/naude-wines-langpad-colombard-vredendal-south-africa-2021/