Elgin

Draaiboek Wines Continue to Excel with Their Cool Climate Chardonnays – Tasting the New Release Onskuld and Kinkel 2022s…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

There are many new small boutique wineries in South Africa, most of them run by young winemakers who have a full time day job somewhere big and then produce micro quantities of more interesting fine wines or quirky wines on the side in their own time, normally to exercise their creative cravings. But few of these new ventures take on main stream varieties like Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay as the market is fairly saturated already with countless big name brands.

But of course, that is exactly what Draaiboek Wines set out to do when they released their first Onskuld Chardonnay 2019 on to the market made by Thistle & Weed winemaker Stephanie Wiid. Focusing only on prime cool climate Chardonnay fruit, the Onskuld label was sourced exclusively from several contracted plots in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge ward of the Walker Bay region. Four vintages in and Draaiboek Wines has already garnered multiple awards and high critical praise from local and international commentators.

With the 2022 vintage, Draaiboek Wines releases an exciting new Chardonnay cuvee made from Elgin fruit. I visited Draaiboek Wines and Stephanie Wiid in October 2022 and had the opportunity to taste all the component building blocks of both the Kinkel and the Onskuld 2022 vintage, and from the outset, I knew these were both going to be very impressive wines. The new pair were also both recently awarded 5 Stars in the Platter South African Wine Guide, which considering the competition in this category, stands testament to the focus and attention to detail afforded to both of these wines by the Draaiboek team. If you have not tasted Draaiboek Wines yet, and you are an avid Chardonnay aficionado, you must seek them out.

Draaiboek Wines Onskuld Chardonnay 2022, WO Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, 13.5% Abv.

1.8g/l RS | 6.6g/l TA | 3.31pH

Draaiboek Wines is producing some of the most exciting Chardonnay coming out of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and this fourth release of the Onskuld Chardonnay is yet another highly accomplished wine. Spending 10 months in 45% new oak barrels on its fine lees, the minimal intervention winemaking definitely allows this cool climate terroir to shine, with aromatics full of earthy lemon peel, leesy biscuit, oatmeal, white citrus blossom and pronounced wet stone, petrichor mineral nuances. In the mouth, the Onskuld is bold and confident with plenty of cool climate acid tension over tangy lemon pastille and tangerine fruit notes. The balance on the wine is very impressive, as the fruit extract melts seamlessly into a harmonious salty crème brûlée and vanilla pod lime peel spice on the finish. There is really a lot to love about this wine which will undoubtedly appeal to connoisseurs of fine white Burgundy. Drink now and over the next 8 to 10+ years. (4,800 bottles produced.)

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

Draaiboek Wines Kinkel Chardonnay 2022, WO Elgin, 13.6% Abv.

1.8g/l RS | 6.7g/l TA | 3.32pH

This fantastic maiden release wine from Draaiboek Wines draws on the very finest elements of the cool climate terroir of Elgin to create a wine from a dry-farmed eight-year-old single vineyard situated on south westerly facing slopes, 255 metres above the coast. Fermented in French oak using 25% new barrels, the wine was aged for 10 months on its fine lees before being bottled unfiltered and unfined. The Kinkel shows a slightly tighter, more restrained aromatic profile on the nose, with subtle hints of lime blossom, lemon peel, Granny Smith apples, dusty limestone, lemon grass and white stone fruits. For all its reserve and wound spring tension, you can sense the electricity pulsing below the surface, waiting to explode on the racy, energetic, saline palate that shows subtle hints of flinty reduction. Once again, like its sibling Onskuld, the oaking is extremely elegant, pinpoint and precise, in no way obscuring the beautiful white citrus zest and liquid minerality that bristles on the taut palate. Seamless, crystalline and delightfully focused, this is a thoroughly exhilarating expression of cool climate Chardonnay and definitely a new release not to be missed! Drink from 2024 to 2034+.

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

Draaiboek Wines are imported into the UK by specialist SA merchant Museum Wines and are offered for retail at circa £36.99 per bottle.

Sam Lambson and Minimalist Wines Releases a New Single Site Elgin Syrah – Tasting the No Place Like Home Syrah 2021…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

Sam Lambson is undoubtedly one of South Africa’s rising star producers and after only four vintages (2018 to 2021), has introduced another exciting single site Syrah to his growing range. The 2020 Minimalist Wines ‘Experimental’ Syrah was produced from this same Elgin vineyard but was made differently, showing a more accessible, crunchy, fresh, herbal fruity expression compared to this very fine, focused, cool fruited 2021 bottling that is greatly elevated in stature, joining Sam Lambson’s Stars In the Dark Syrah among his more premium range of wines.

The grapes all come from Niemandsrivier, a beautiful 3 hectare vineyard in Elgin that are leased from Johan and Milanie Vosloo and farmed by the Minimalist team themselves. Planted in 2006, the vineyard features three Syrah clones on a geographically complex mix of Sandstone and Shale soils and is the perfect canvas to produce fine premium Syrah wines. Vines located in the same block can react to their environment in unique ways, says Sam Lambson, and No Place Like Home is an exploration of the variation that exists within a single vineyard. Using a mix of drone technology (with a Near Infrared Camera flying 80m above the vineyard) and good, old-fashioned soil analysis, Sam and his team identified four distinct pockets across the 3 hectare parcel, then harvested and fermented them separately before marrying them together for this unique wine.

I met up with Sam in the UK in the Autumn of 2022 and was thrilled to taste this new, premium expression of Elgin Syrah. I was one of the first wine trade professionals to taste a barrel sample of his 2018 Stars in the Dark way back in late 2018 and knew from that moment that this was the beginning of a new exciting wine. When I tasted the maiden No Place Like Home 2021 Elgin Syrah with him in September 2022, I experienced a similar feeling and felt confident that this was also the beginning of something special. Track down an allocation now before the hype goes mainstream!

Minimalist Wines No Place Like Home Syrah 2021, WO Elgin, 13.5% Abv.

An alluring and instantly impressive classically styled wine aged in neutral 228 litre French oak barrels for 16 months, reveals complex aromatics of ripe black plum, boysenberry, potpourri, sweet black peppercorns with a hint of sweet grilled herbs and black berry reduction. The intensity and precision of this 2021 are notable and follow to an elegant, medium-bodied palate that coats the mouth with sumptuous, saline cassis fruit layers, sweet smoky black currant and subtle hints of kelp and oyster shell minerality. This is another delightfully vibrant expression that will seduce many Syrah obsessives, with its 20% whole bunch portion adding an extra little complexing sapidity on the long finish. Undoubtedly a wine that is going to cause a stir… but that is exactly what Sam Lambson has become famous for! Start chasing an allocation now and drink this beauty on release and over the next 6 to 10+ years.

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

Wines available in the UK from Museum Wines from February 2023. http://www.museumwines.co.uk or email sales@museumwines.co.uk to secure an allocation. Retail price is circa £32.99 inc per bottle.

Jessica Saurwein Stakes Her Claim to Best Riesling in South Africa – Tasting the Saurwein Chi Riesling 2022…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

The maiden vintage of the Chi Riesling from Jessica Saurwein was the 2018 made from one Elgin vineyard at Casey’s Ridge on the Vrede en Lust Elgin property. From 2020, a second vineyard from the De Rust farm owned by Paul Cluver Wines, joined the blend to form 40% of the new Cuvee with approximately five tons of fruit.

From 2023 Jessica plans to up the production further taking additional tonnage from Casey’s Ridge. I recently caught up with Jessica in Cape Town to taste her new releases including the impressive 2022 Chi Riesling.

Saurwein Chi Riesling 2022, WO Elgin, 11.5% Abv.

11.5 g/l RS | 7.5 g/l TA | 3.04 pH

This is certainly a wine that has grown in stature year after year to now feature as probably South Africa’s most premium quality Riesling produced. You wouldn’t expect anything less considering Jessica’s German heritage. The aromatics are very Mosel in style with opulent layers of crystalline white peach, talc, yellow citrus rock candy, Granny Smith green apples and just the most delicate waxy mineral hint. In the mouth the wine really comes alive with explosive tart juicy mouth-watering fruits of white citrus, lime cordial, green apple pastille and white crunchy peach all assembled with impressive textural precision, focus and purity. The acidity is wonderfully bright and electric but expertly balanced by a perfect residual sugar component helping to create a very fine textural equilibrium with fabulous persistence and zippy length. Quite simply the best expression of Riesling produced in South Africa. Jessica’s hard work and extreme attention to detail should be celebrated. Drink now and over the next 10+ years.

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

The wines are available in the UK from Swig Wines at approximately £24.99pb. http://www.swig.co.uk

Lismore’s Samantha O’Keefe Comes to London to Launch Her Phenomenal New Releases – Part 2: Reviewing her Lismore Age of Grace Viognier 2020…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

In a second instalment to my new release tasting with Samantha O’Keefe, the owner of Lismore Winery in Greyton, who was recently in London for the first time in over two years, I tasted the highly acclaimed 2020 edition of her ‘Age of Grace’ Viognier.

The grapes for this release were sourced in the Bot River, Elgin and Stellenbosch. The wine was matured in a combination of concrete eggs and used oak barrels of which 10% were new for the 2020 cuvee. The Age of Grace is a wine that actually helped establish the Lismore brand globally in the mid to late 2000s. With so little top quality Viognier being grown and produced in the Western Cape, what Sam has achieved with both this wine and previous vintages of her Viognier Reserve is truly remarkable.

Viognier Age of Grace Viognier 2020, WO South Coast, 14.5% Abv.

Rich, soft and fleshy, this unique, aromatically expressive Viognier is packed full of struck flint, white peaches, tart yellow plums, yellow apple purée and delicate musky, lychee nuances with a hint of buttered white toast. Beautifully textured, fleshy and glycerol, this wine is so expressive, individual and complex with sufficient pithy phenolics, bright peach stone fruits and a luxuriously long, persistent finish in a most mouth watering way. Whether produced from the Northern Rhone or the Cape, it is not easy to make Viognier this attractive and refreshing. Bravo Sam! Drink now to 2028+.

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

Samantha Suddons Hits the Big Time with Her New VineVenom Cap Classique Thriller…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The world of wine, like life itself, can be a topsy turvy world of highs and lows. Perhaps it’s simply the yin and yang of life? So, after a few tumultuous years of change, Samantha Suddons, the once partner and shareholder in the now temporarily mothballed Terracura Wines project, has finally released her very own labour of love – a Method Cap Classique sparkling wine aged for over 5 years on its lees before disgorgement.

I met up with Samantha in London recently to unpick the mystery behind her new VineVenom label that was launched recently in South Africa. Her first wine under the brand is a killer Cap Classique sparkler from the 2015 vintage that she has labelled Serenade. 2015 you may ask? Well, if you know anything about Sam, you will know she is a Champagne and sparkling wine obsessive and while some have questioned how she managed to suddenly release a six year old MCC, the answer is simply that this was a passion project that was never really meant for commercial day of light, producing a wine made from the 2015 vintage which was originally intended for home consumption and sharing with friends.

But having recently disinvested from the Terracura Wines business, and looking for a new project, the VineVenom brand seemed the obvious next step. The maiden wine, a MCC blend of 68% Chardonnay, 18% Pinot Noir and 14% Pinot Meunier from grapes bought in cool climate Elgin, the wine spent five years on its lees and received zero dosage. The wine was disgorged in November 2020, saw no malolactic fermentation and no oak treatment and was bottled with a 2.5 g/l RS.

VineVenom Serenade 2015 Cap Classique, WO Elgin, 12.3% Abv.

The wine shows a lovely creamy explosive mousse with a fine bubble, lovely bright tangy acids and a complex bouquet of green apple skins, grilled almonds, cardamom and spicy white citrus. The palate is full and expansive, tangy and fresh with sweet and sour acids, layers of citrus, yellow grapefruit, lemon cream biscuits, crunchy green apples and a long, dry, saline picante finish. Very impressive depth of fruit but also beautiful complexity, electric vibrancy and a stony cool climate minerality on the finish. A thoroughly accomplished wine that will titillate fellow Champagne and sparking wine devotees. (1,600 bottles produced.)

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

Sadly, as yet, there is no follow up Cap Classique to the 2015 maiden vintage. But fear not! Samantha has been busy at work producing an impressive dry Carignan / Touriga Nacional 2020 Rose, a rather premium tasting Swartland Flor Contact Chenin Blanc 2020 as well as a delicious, Vin de Soif styled Swartland 60% Syrah / 40% Touriga Nacional Rosado 2021. I tasted newly bottled samples of all of the above and they were seriously impressive. I look forward to reviewing them properly in due course closer to release. The empire building has begun in earnest.

Another Sutherland Vineyards Stunner – Tasting their 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Release…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

It’s when you taste wines like this that you realise that Elgin can do no wrong. Whether Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah or Petit Verdot, this little cool climate pocket is just simply a viticultural garden of Eden. Unfortunately for the grape vines, this cool microclimate oasis also produces some of the most incredibly high-quality apples that I have tasted from anywhere in the world, making vineyards compete for space and economics.

If vitis vinifera is going to fight back, it is going to be with wines like this Sutherland Cabernet Sauvignon that hearts and minds will be converted. Grown on classic Tukulu-Glenrosa soils, these 12-year-old vines seem to be in a very happy stage of development yielding 9.7 tons per hectare. The fruit was destemmed, hand sorted and fermented in stainless steel tanks with a pump over one a day. After fermentation, the wine was racked into 30% new French oak barrels and aged for 18 months before bottling.

Sutherland Cab Sauvignon 2017, WO Elgin, 13.98% Abv.

2.1 g/l RS | 3.56 pH | 5.3 g/l TA

Elgin always seems capable of producing some of the most beguiling expressions of wine whether made from Pinot Noir, Syrah, Petit Verdot or Cabernet Sauvignon. The aromatics of this beauty show a nuanced complexity of pressed violets, sweet black tea, saline black currant, sweet herbs, wet tobacco and subtle hints of black cherry preserve. True to the vintage, the palate is fabulously elegant with silky tannins, a fine-grained crushed stone minerality, a weightless intensity and a long, cool, fresh finish that is simply mouth-watering, all delivered in such an effortless style. This is surely one of the most enjoyable Cabernet Sauvignon reds you will experience from the 2017 vintage. Drink now and over the next 10 to 12+ years.

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

Tasting a Stunning Pair of Whites from Sutherland Vineyards…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

I have always known about the exciting Sutherland Vineyards winery in Elgin owned by the Webb family of Thelema fame but it was really only when their 2015 Chardonnay was rated 95+ points in a blind Decanter Magazine panel tasting for South African Chardonnay a few years ago that I started to pay a lot more attention to both the brand and the wines.

I was of course on that Decanter panel that rated this wine so highly along with other South African greats like Ataraxia 2015, Neil Ellis Whitehall Chardonnay 2015 and Rustenburg 5 Soldiers 2015. So it was a real pleasure to taste not only their new release Chardonnay 2019 recently but also their delicious 2017 Viognier Roussanne Rhone-style white blend.

Also, another one of my guilty pleasures has always been the copious amounts of their Sutherland Grenache Rose that I drink when I visit South Africa. Great value, dry, vibrant and expressive, it too has become one of my perennial summertime favourites. Elgin is definitely not just about cool climate Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling. This fiddle plays an array of fabulous tunes.

Sutherland Chardonnay 2019, WO Elgin, 13% Abv.

This is another wonderfully expressive Chardonnay from Elgin that always seems to show a really individual character. The aromatics balance enticing nervy yellow citrus nuances with seductive vanilla pod spices all underpinned by a bold stony minerality and delicate struck match reductive complexity. The palate is joyfully concentrated with sweet tangy pineapple and lemon pastille candied notes, a sweet and sour mouth-watering acidity and the pronounced hallmark Sutherland wet river pebble liquid minerality. Subtly savoury and herby but always vibrant and electrically fresh in the mouth, this is a wine that is enviably super individual but always stylistically classically orientated. Drink now or cellar 3 to 5+ years. Certainly a wine for white Burgundy lovers to try!

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

Sutherland Viognier Roussanne 2017, WO Elgin, 14.5% Abv.

3.7g/l RS | 3.29 pH | 6.10g/l TA

This is also a very attractive little white Rhone blend from a region more known for Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. A blend of 70% Viognier and 30% Roussanne, the wine was fermented and matured in 2nd and 3rd fill barrels which lends the aromatics a delicious rich savoury nuance punctuated by leesy notes of white toast, waxy lemons, bruised yellow orchard fruits and quince preserve. The palate has a full, fleshy textural feel not dissimilar to a ripe cool climate Chardonnay but also displays delicious notes of ripe peaches, lanolin, vanilla pod spice and a lovely stony, slatey minerality. This is certainly a wine that is reminiscent to some of the serious northern Rhone white expressions that cost 3 to 4 times the price. The perfect counterfoil to Chardonnay or oaked Chenin Blanc, this will put a very big smile on a lot of people’s faces. Drink now and over the next 3 to 6 years.

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

Catherine Marshall Releases Another Benchmark 2020 Fermented in Clay Chenin Blanc…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been following the new releases of this wine for several years now and it has certainly proven beyond doubt to be one of the most accomplished Chenin Blancs on the South African fine wine scene.

Grapes for the 2020 were again selected from a single vineyard in Elgin grown on red Laterite soils also known as “koffieklip” or coffee stone as it resembles the same structure as ground coffee, and also from from grapes grown in the Bottelary Hills in Stellenbosch on old bush vines in lighter soils, which were harvested in early March. Once fermentation was completed in the clay amphorae, 800 litres of wine was decanted to oak casks for a further 9 months maturation.

The wine portion aged in the clay amphorae had no malolactic fermentation so that the fresher flinty characters would be maintained. After 9 months, the two components were blended together and lightly filtered before bottling.

Catherine Marshall Fermented in Clay Chenin Blanc 2020, WO Western Cape, 14% Abv.

TA 5.6g/l | pH: 3.4 | RS: 2.1g/l | Total Extract: 23.2g/l

After the phenomenal 2017 and eye-watering 2019 Fermented in Clay Chenin Blanc, expectations for follow up vintages become almost impossibly high. But this 2020 is another real head turner with aromatics brimming with crunchy white peaches, tangerine, orange peel, green pears and a beguiling melange of grilled herbs and stony granitic minerality. On the palate this youthful 2020 is cool, crisp, focused and texturally quite linear and taut with tangy acids, a steely concentration of peach pastille, yellow tropical fruit bon bons, clementines and yet more unfurling layers of wet river pebbles and stony liquid minerality. Cathy has now established a rock solid track record for this wine which must surely rank in the top 10 Chenin Blancs produced in South Africa.

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

Wines available to the trade in the UK from Seckford Wine Agencies.

The Emergence of Another South African Grand Cru Chardonnay – Tasting the Iona Kloof 2018…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Since the late 1990’s when Andrew Gunn bought and planted the Iona estate, the focus of production has been on Sauvignon Blanc, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot being the first vineyards planted in 1998, followed by Chardonnay, Semillon and Pinot Noir. In these early days, no one could have known the true quality potential of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Elgin region.

With the new Monopole varietal releases from Iona in 2020, quality has been taken up a notch or two and when I reviewed the full range last year with Rozy Gunn in London just before lockdown 1.0, I realised these were indeed very special wines worthy of all the home market hype. I recently had a chance to taste some of the follow up releases and of course, I was intent on finding out whether the fabulous 2017 Kloof Monopole Chardonnay had just been a fluke or if this wine really was a new budding Grand Cru creation in the South African wine landscape.

Iona Monopole Kloof Chardonnay 2018 Limited Release, WO Elgin, 13% Abv.

Clones are CY95, CY96 and 227 grown on soils with large deposits of rocky quartzite silica with underlying clay with a north facing aspect and east / west row direction. The pruning style is cane double guyot.

After a block buster performance from the maiden 2017 Kloof Chardonnay and an impressive score to match, all eyes were on Andrew Gunn and the Iona team to see what they could pull out the bag in 2018. Once again, the vineyard and its terroir are the winner with a decidedly classical slant on the wine once again, boasting complex aromatics of crushed rocks and flint, gravel and white citrus with hints of green Granny Smith apples and spicy lemon grass. The palate reveals wonderful clarity and definition, precise crystalline white citrus fruits, tangy acids and a perfectly weighted, harmonious length that is so pure and detailed with a delicious finale of orange citrus zest. A very distinguished wine that’s establishing a growing quality reputation for itself. Drink from release and over 10-12+ years.

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

Tasting Jessica Saurwein’s New Chi Riesling 2020 – One of the Most Exceptional Dry Rieslings Produced in South Africa To Date…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Never one to shy away from a challenge, there is just something very gentle and chilled about Jessica while simultaneously being one of the most dogged and determined new female winemakers in South Africa. Now days you will usually find Jessica mulling around the winery with a child hanging in a papoose while she tends one of her superb Pinot Noir wines in barrel or checks in on one of her two cuvees of Riesling from Elgin.

The 2020 sees Jessica incorporate a 40% portion of Riesling fruit from the Paul Cluver farm, which is blended together with the original Casey’s Ridge fruit sourced from the Vrede en Lust property of Dana Buys. When I last caught up with Jessica in Cape Town in February at the Cape Wine Auction 2020 with wine trade hubby Roland Peens, she seemed decided that the two parcels would be blended together to make one wine, where as at the New Wave wine show the previous year, Jessica seemed open to possibly creating another second Riesling cuvee. Tasting the results in bottle, I am pleased she eventually decided to take the blended option as the final wine reaches new heights of quality not seen on either the 2018 or 2019 editions.

View from the top of the Casey’s Ridge vineyard in Elgin.

Despite production creeping up to a “massive” 5,900 bottles, this wine evaporates about as quickly as a summer rain puddle in the Karoo desert. There are certainly a handful of delicious Rieslings being produced in South Africa at the moment from the likes of Paul Cluver, Spioen Kop, Lothian and occasionally Carstens Milgliarina, but Jessica’s Chi Riesling remains for me one of the most impressively drinkable Rieslings around.

Saurwein Chi Riesling 2020, WO Elgin, 12.5% Abv.

(RS 7,8 g/l | TA 7,0 g/l)

The new 2020 Chi Riesling from Jessica Saurwein is just a fabulous expression of this Germanic variety. I don’t know whether it’s Jessica’s own Germanic roots that have helped her find a closer affinity with this grape or perhaps just her deft female winemaking touch? Either way, this wine is a real cracker, bursting with energy and electricity and the crystalline purity of artic ice. The nose is delicately fruity with complex notes of citrus blossom, green apple, dry bitter lemon, white peach, grey slate and delicate dried herbs with just the faintest hints of lemon sherbet and rock candy. The palate is chiselled and precise with a tart lime peel zest, a saline line of acidity but also a juicy, mouth-filling breadth that is elegantly dry but also incredibly stimulating. This 2020 shows an extra level of fruit intensity and concentration on the previous 2019 and 2018 expressions and a focused spine of acidity that should help this delicious wine age effortlessly for 8 to 10+ years without a question. So it’s onwards and upwards for Jessica Saurwein and her exceptional range of wines.

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