Located in the heart of the Bot River valley, Anysbos is far more than a traditional winery; it is a holistic farm where the wild beauty of the Overberg meets refined, small-batch craftsmanship. Established by Johan and Sue Heyns, the farm takes its name from the Anysboegoe, a local wild anise shrub that dots the landscape. This connection to the land is the winery’s guiding light, emphasizing a deep respect for the indigenous flora and the unique shale-heavy soils of the region.
The winemaking, led by the talented Marelise Niemann, focuses on varieties that thrive in the valley’s dry-land conditions. Anysbos has carved a niche for itself with its Rhône-style blends and exceptional Chenin Blanc. Signature labels like the Tesame (a Grenache-led blend) and the Disdit white blend are celebrated for their elegance, bright acidity, and true “sense of place.” Beyond the cellar, Anysbos is a Mediterranean-inspired sanctuary. The farm is equally famous for its award-winning goat’s cheese and its sprawling olive groves, which produce some of the finest oils in the district. By integrating livestock, fynbos conservation, and viticulture, Anysbos stands as a premier example of the authentic, unpretentious, and high-quality farming that defines the Bot River community.
I recently caught up with owner Johan for dinner in London while he was on a whirlwind tour of the market. Together we tasted a range of wines that are undoubtedly one of the best kept secrets of the Bot River wine region.
Anysbos Disdit 2022, WO Bot River, 13% Abv.
A blend of 69% Chenin Blanc, 13% Roussanne, 12% Marsanne and 6% Grenache Blanc. The Chenin shows beautifully with hints of lemon grass, lanolin and waxy lemon citrus peel. There is lovely energy here, cool, creamy and plush with seamless elegance, fantastic balance and deliciously tangy acids. Impressive concentration and focus, this is a beautifully fresh Rhone blend! Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Anysbos Disdit 2023, WO Bot River, 13% Abv.
A blend of 57% Chenin Blanc, 17% Grenache Blanc, 17% Marsanne and 9% Roussanne. An exotic aroma builds off delightful notes of lemon and herbs, buttered white toast, glazed brioche and lees complexity. The palate reveals a creamy balance with a fulsome mid-palate, a really saline, pithy concentration and a long, cool, seamless finish. The acids are soft but invigorating, beautifully integrated, making for a very smart wine. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Anysbos Tesame 2021, WO Bot River, 12.5% Abv.
A blend of 47% Grenache Noir, 45% Syrah and 8% Cinsault aged for 20 months in old oak. A classically cool, taut, fresh vintage speaks with a soft voice, whispering an aromatic complexity of sappy berries, crunchy red fruits full of dried herbs, fynbos spice and an irony ferrous minerality. Such a pretty wine with a cranberry and pomegranate freshness and purity with a delicate bramble berry hint. A really very special wine with such beautiful texture and freshness at such a meagre alcohol! Love it! Drink now to 2038+.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Anysbos Tesame 2022, WO Bot River, 13% Abv.
A blend of 55% Grenache Noir, 33% Syrah and 12% Cinsault aged for 16 months in old oak using a partial whole bunch portion. Incredibly pristine and bright, this is an evocative wine with crystalline red berry fruits, cranberry, bramble berry and a fynbos herby spice. The palate expertly walks a tightrope between sweet concentrated red berry fruits, stony minerality and a sweet bay leaf herby, silky finish. Drink now to 2036.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Anysbos Tesame 2023, WO Bot River, 13% Abv.
A blend of 56% Grenache Noir, 39% Syrah and 5% Cinsault aged for 16 months in old oak. This is a big, intense, punchy, extroverted style in 2023. Simply put, it takes your breath away. The aromatics are sweet and sappy, layered with dried herbs, fynbos, pithy red plum and red currant berry fruits. The integration and balance on the palate are simply stunning. This is the business! A fabulous wine I’d love a case of in my cellar. Drink now to 2038+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Anysbos wines are imported exclusively into the UK by Wood Winters Wine Merchants.
And just like that, what started out 10 years ago as a serious but fun effort by a group of passionate wine trade professionals and wine collectors to taste and benchmark some of the best Grenache wines in the world has evolved into one of the most respected annual blind Grenache assessments organised anywhere in the world. Year by year, more and more effort has been channelled into sourcing the rarest, the finest and the purest terroir expressions of Grenache produced. Much of this positive momentum and passion must be attributed to the Judgement of Wimbledon’s Convenor of Judges, Riaan Potgieter.
A Historic 10th Anniversary Tasting
Year after year, Riaan has painstakingly scoured the new releases and global reviews with the sole mission of tracking down any new fine Grenache expressions whether produced in the USA, South Africa, Australia or Spain. So, it seems only fitting that Riaan’s efforts and considerable financial outlay annually, are acknowledged and recognised. As soon as one Judgement tasting ends, Riaan can be seen planning the next line-up by tracking down and tasting numerous new pretenders as well as organising multiple preliminary blind tasting rounds to whittle down the final selection.
67 Pall Mall – the 2026 tasting venue.
In its 10th year, the Judgement of Wimbledon 2026 departed slightly from previous editions by assembling an array of wines mostly from producers who had performed well in previous years, but this time using vintages with some additional bottle age. The New World participants were chosen primarily from the 2019 vintage and the Old World producers from the 2018 vintage, allowing for some wines to shed their youthful reductive veil and show their true terroir and pedigree as their winemakers intended.
The 18 wine blind Grenache line-up.
The final 18 wine line-up for the 2026 Judgement of Wimbledon blind tasting featured 3 wines from Australia, 3 wines from South Africa, 11 wines from Spain (1 x Aragon, 1 x Costers del Segre, 3 x Gredos, 2 x Montsant, 3 x Priorat and 1 x Rioja) and 1 from the USA. Due to the older vintage categories chosen, this naturally excluded some newer start-ups such as Dylan Grigg from the Barossa Valley in Australia as his first Vinya Vella Old Vine Grenache vintage was only produced in 2021. The other notable change to the format was moving the venue from Wimbledon to the mecca of London fine wine, 67 Pall Mall, where a professional team of sommeliers could organise optimal glassware and perfect pouring temperatures.
With guest judge Dominik Huber from Terroir Al Limit in Priorat. With last year’s winner, Juanan Martin from Rico Nuevo in Gredos.
In 2024, the judging panel was joined by Vinous.com lead critic Neal Martin, and in 2025, the panel was positively thrilled to have world renowned wine critic and Grenache / Garnacha specialist Luis Gutierrez from The Wine Advocate join proceedings. For the 10th anniversary, two top producers were invited to join the Judgement panel, namely Dominik Huber from Terroir Al Limit in Priorat and Juanan Martin, who’s own wine Rico Nuevo La Quebra 2021 won the Judgement tasting in 2025. In all, there were 14 judges this year and two bottles of each wine were poured blind.
The 2026 pouring order of wines.
As is customary, below you can find my personal BLIND tasting notes and scores.
Typing up my blind tasting notes.
Judgement of Wimbledon 2026 Blind Tasting Notes:
Wine 1: Alvaro Palacios Quinon de Valmira 2018, Rioja, Spain
Sweet and sour red and black fruits on the nose with clear savoury hints, stewed red plums, dried baking herbs and bramble berry spice. The palate is sleek and taut, fine grained, mineral yet delicately sappy with bramble berry fruits, silky soft compact tannins and a spicy, stony mineral finish with a delicate kiss of dried thyme on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 2: Torres Mas de la Rosa 2018, Priorat, Spain
Deeper, darker broodier aromatics with notions of sweet damson plum, black cherry, cinnamon and clove spice with a hint of mixed dry baking herbs and mint leaf. On the palate this is a real Peter Pan wine packed full of blue and black berry fruits, pithy cherry and saline cassis on the dense, compact finish. Wonderful composure, balance and harmony on this young, vibrant, fruit forward expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 3: Sadie Family Wines Old Vine Series Soldaat 2019, Swartland, South Africa
A tighter, fresher, mineral driven aromatics with hints of crushed granite, bay leaf and whole bunch red berry spice. The palate is subtle and understated, compact and pithy with hints of vermouth spice, Seville orange peel and pithy black cherry persistence. A more classically framed, Old World leaning expression that you expect would have been reductive in its youth but that is now finally drawing the curtains and letting in the light. A very pretty, stony, terroir driven expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 4: Frontonio El Jardín de Las Iguales Garnacha 2018, Aragon, Spain
A more lifted, exotic aromatics with notes of cherry cola and stewed strawberry but also some subtle early tertiary notes of bramble berries, tannery leather and strawberry compote. The colour shows some age and development, the palate too is equally sweet and sour, slightly evolved and showing savoury cured Serrano ham notes over pithy stewed red berry hints. An intriguing expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)*
*It should be noted that some tasters who know the Frontonio well thought that the 2018 bottles might have suffered some heat damage or poor storage. While the wine still performed relatively well, judges wanted it noted for the record that the bottles may not have shown at their best.
Wine 5: Rico Nuevo La Quebra 2018, Gredos, Spain
A darker fruit profile is dominant in the glass with a dusty, stony minerality and some smoky, spicy wood smoke and blueberry fruit opulence. The youthful depth and blueberry opulence follows to the palate that shows chalky grippy tannins, a fabulous piercing black cherry and black fruited intensity with a searing saline oystershell maritime edge to the finish. Very impressive indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 6: Lagravera Ciclic Negre 2019, Costers del Segre, Spain
A richer, riper aromatics with notes of cola syrup, red cherry candy and caramelised brown sugar. The palate is cool and sleek, slightly understated but retaining the cola candy mouth coating “dry” sweetness. Plenty of glycerol weight, the tannins are stony and slightly rasping, the finish drying, picante and slightly curtailed at the moment.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 7: Mas Martinet Els Escurcons 2018, Priorat, Spain
Exotic aromatics suggests pink musk, rock candy and Wrigley’s chewing gum. Underneath, there are herby spicy notes with subtle medicinal medicine chest nuances. The palate is fleshy and generous, cool and chalky with a certain harmonious accessibility and chalky, candied approachability. Silky tannins, beautiful finesse and a fine youthful freshness on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 8: Alkina Polygon No. 5 Grenache 2019, Barossa Valley, Australia
A taut, tight, broody aromatics with defined notes of granitic tension and dusty minerality over sappy red fruits and pink musk. Compact yet fleshy, there is good glycerol weight, savoury broody, earthy red and black fruits and a fine-grained chalky limestone mineral finish. Tight, youthful overall impression but certainly not lacking any class.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 9: Terroir Sense Fronteres Guix Vermell 2018, Montsant, Spain
The aromatics are stand alone with unique hints of caramelised brown sugar, wood smoke, roasted caramelised nuts and cola syrup hints. Tight grained, chalky and deliciously mineral on the palate, there is that invigorating salinity that raises its head, with creamy talcum tannins, tight grained tension and a real pedigree on display here. True class.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 10: Venus la Universal Venus de La Figuera 2018, Montsant, Spain
The aromatics show a unique mix of baking herbs, cinnamon and clove spice over notes of cola, pithy red cherry and delicate reductive black currant nuances. The palate is a little looser knit than some examples, with savoury strains, clove and vermouth spices, dried herbs and pithy red and black cherry spices over cured meats on the chalky mineral finish that coats your palate with energetic grippy tannins. An enticing expression of Grenache.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 11: Terroir al Limit Les Manyes 2018, Priorat, Spain
This shows hints of tertiary complexity before notes of cinnamon and cedar oak spice, bramble berries, cola and top notes of thyme. The picante, spicy, lipstick lift continues to the palate that is incredibly tight grained, chalky and mineral, with a fascinating texture. The acids are fresh and lift the wine on its long finish. Another wine with a real terroir feel.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 12: Comando G Tumba del Rey Moro, Gredos, Spain (Magnum)
A complex expression that combines aromatics of musk, talc and dried herbs with notes of dried cherries, potpourri and pressed violets over a subtle granitic undertone. The vermouth spices and red liquorice notes rise on the palate with more pink musky fruits, red cherry, and the ever present drying chalky granitic spice from some formidable tannins. Despite its age, this is an infant in nappies, promising a phenomenal future of fine wine drinking.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 13: Naude Wines Grenache 2019, Western Cape (Swartland), South Africa
This feels a leaner, tighter, more mineral expression on the nose with an earlier picked translucent, mineral brightness to the bramble berry and wild strawberry fruits. The palate is vibrant and plucky, fresh, light on its feet but certainly lacking no intensity, as the acids reverberate across the mouth, the cranberry and red apple fruits lingering for extra effect on the finish. A pristine, focused, classical expression of note.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 14: Thistledown Sands of Time 2019, McLaren Vale, Australia
A rich, expressive aromatics boasts notes of caramelised sugar, toffee apples, red currants and bramble berry spice with a hint of cherry cola. The exotic aromatics translate into a delightfully approachable expression on the palate with generosity and opulence, tangy acids with crystalline red cherry and red plum fruits and an altogether more serious length and power on the saline finish. Very long, intense and piercing! Wow.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 15: Momento Grenache Noir 2019, Swartland, South Africa
Another complex, broody example with slight cola-tinged red cherry hints over delicate wild strawberry spiced fruits. The palate is a little wild and bloody, like fresh game birds bleeding on the chopping board as they are dusted with herbs and spices. With plenty of minerality on the finish, this is yet another artisanal Grenache that speaks of its terroir.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 16: Yangarra High Sands Grenache 2019, McLaren Vale, Australia
This shows a compact, dense black fruited aromatics with youthful complexity, black plum layers, and blueberry and mint leaf nuances. If the nose was fanning the proverbial peacock’s tail, the palate is positively in full dance mode, plush, fresh, compact and youthful with rich and intense black berry fruits that remain restrained and never err on the side of vulgar sweetness, always carefully ringfenced by chalky mineral tannins with just the most delicate vermouth herbal nuance on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 17: Clendenen Rancho La Cuna Grenache 2019, Santa Maria Valley, USA
An exotic, overt aromatics showing a slightly more medicinal, herbal array of spice and macerated red berry fruits over barley sugar and molasses hints. While the medicinal notes dissipate, the slightly caramelised molasses black stewed fruits persist long on the palate, giving this wine a feel of ripeness, some early development and a warmer climate feel. The finish is intense, long and decidedly savoury.
(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 18: 4 Monos Viticultores La Isilla 2018, Gredos, Spain
A beautifully lifted aromatics displays notes of talc and pink musk, red cherry, strawberry candy and fresh pink bubble gum nuances. The tension and linearity on the palate are palpable, strict, focused and rasping with chalky limestone tannins, tart piercing tangy acids and a fine-grained texture that is so beautifully polished. Very impressive, mineral expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Judgement of Wimbledon Blind Scoring Procedure:
All judges are required to offer their final rankings from their favourite to least favourite, numbered from 1 to 18, with the largest score tally going to the top ranked wines which are then all added together to get a final 1 to 18 group ranking by “preference points”. So, a slightly different dynamic to that of the judges’ favourite to least favourite choices by score alone, which of course could easily see 3, 4 or even 5 different wines sitting on the same score of 94 or 95 points etc. However, judges are then required to retaste the matching scored wines and order them in a subjective preference to complete a final 1 to 18 without actually being required to change the wines final blind score. This method can sometimes lead to wines scored slightly higher, perhaps on 96.9/100, ranking lower than a wine on 96.3/100, because of judges final “preference points” tally.
Riaan Potgieter, Convenor of Judges for the Judgement of Wimbledon.
Judgement of Wimbledon Convenor of Judges 2026 Executive Summary – By Riaan Potgieter
The 10th anniversary always had to be something special, and while I knew we wanted to open some back vintages, selecting the right vintage(s) was far from straightforward. These wines are typically made in small quantities, and with many producers still relatively new, sourcing bottles was always going to be a challenge. Naturally, the further back I looked, the fewer options were available. In the end, I settled on 2018/19: old enough for the wines to be drinking beautifully, yet recent enough to ensure a compelling lineup from two excellent vintages.
Dominik Huber deep in thought mid tasting.
Armed with a selection of wines ready to drink, we were all exhilarated by the prospect of experiencing them a bit closer to their peak. What we didn’t anticipate was just how challenging that would make the tasting. Given we normally use wines from the latest vintage release, judges are used to wines being closed off initially but continuing to evolve over the course of a tasting session, but this time the wines took “evolution” to an entirely new level. They were playful and unpredictable in the best possible way. Every sip brought something new and exciting, and returning for another pour often felt like encountering a completely different wine.
Trying to rank the wines in any sort of order was equal parts delight and agony. Each wine demanded your full attention, yet the ticking clock kept dragging us back to reality and the serious business of attempting to record something remotely coherent on our tasting sheets. One thing is certain: I’ve never seen Judgement of Wimbledon judges so quiet, and for so long, before finally erupting into the inevitable excited post wine tasting chatter.
The final results revealed.
We would also like to extend a huge thank you to Juanan Martin of Rico Nuevo and Dominik Huber of Terroir al Limit for joining us at this year’s event. It felt only right to share the 10th anniversary with some of the people who made it possible and who continue to bring us so much vinous joy. It was a true honour to have them both with us for the occasion. We did, of course, do our best to persuade them to have a guess which wine was their own, but they steadfastly rebuffed even our most determined efforts.
In the end, these wines more than delivered on the brief — doing so in a way that goes far beyond anything a simple 100-point score could ever capture. The 2026 Judgement of Wimbledon provided an experience that will resonate for a very long time, far exceeding even our wildest expectations when we took our first tentative steps into this new world of light, edgy Grenache way back in 2017.
The Judgement of Wimbledon 2026: Group Blind Ranking Results
All judges were required to submit their final rankings, from favourite to least favourite, numbered from 1 to 18. Points were allocated accordingly, with higher-ranked wines receiving more points. These scores were then aggregated to produce a final group ranking from 1 to 18 based on total preference points. Under this format, first place was awarded to Terroir al Límit Les Manyes—an old favourite and a first-time winner—which secured the largest winning margin in the history of the Judgement of Wimbledon. Second place went to Marelise Niemann’s Momento Grenache, improving slightly on last year’s maiden entry and finishing in the top three for the second consecutive year. Rico Nuevo rounded out the top three with his maiden vintage of La Quebra, another strong performance following his win at last year’s event with the 2021 vintage.
The Judgement of Wimbledon 2026 Final results (by judges’ preferences).
When the results were recalculated using a straight score ranking—by averaging all judges’ 100‑point scores—the order shifted slightly, with a tighter distribution among the top wines. Les Manyes remained firmly in first place, while second and third positions were taken by Álvaro Palacios Quiñón de Valmira and Sadie Family Soldaat, respectively.
Final results by straight averaged judges’ scores.
Final Conclusions…
The 2026 tasting line-up featured an incredible array of mature Grenache wines, all representing the finest expression of terroir and winemaking from around the world. Also, it cannot be overstated that many preliminary tasting rounds took place during the course of the year with view to choosing the final line-up of wines. Merely having your wine selected for the final Judgement of Wimbledon tasting line-up should be regarded as a massive accolade in itself.
The 2026 Grenache line-up.
For the 2027 Judgement of Wimbledon Blind Grenache Tasting, the younger 2023 vintage will be assessed. If you would like to potentially have your wines included in the tasting, please message me directly through the A Fine Wine Safari contacts page. Until next year, keep drinking Grenache!!
Fine organisation by the sommeliers at 67 Pall Mall Private Members Club.
The first quarter of the year always sees the Liberty Wines Portfolio tasting at the Oval in Vauxhall, London, which features an incredible array of wines from around the world. This year I decided to focus on tasting the exciting crop of new and current release wines from South Africa in their range. Many in the UK will be aware that several key South African premium producers have recently moved over to the Liberty Wines portfolio, making it now one of the most exciting line-ups with any importer in the UK. As always, it was fantastic to catch up with the producers in person like John Seccombe, Marelise Niemann, Craig Wessels, Peter-Allan Finlayson, Chris Mullineux and others.
The Restless River New Releases from Craig Wessels will be featured in a separate write-up on A Fine Wine Safari coming very soon.
Dr Jamie Goode tasting with John Seccombe.
Thorne & Daughters:
Thorne & Daughters Paper Kite 2024, 13% Abv.
Semillon planted in 1963 on Granite soils. Rich leesy aromatics with lemon and herbs, lanoline and buttered white toast. Crisp, fleshy but beautifully saline and textured on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
John Seccombe
Thorne & Daughters Rocking Horse White Blend 2023, 13.5% Abv.
Rich and waxy with lemon and peaches, lactic leesy hints and some marzipan nuances. Fleshy, and pithy, packing a nice bit of power on the long finish. Impressive as always.
This Skurfberg vineyard delivers a pithy, waxy yellow orchard fruit characters that balance the slightly oily notes of the Sauvignon Blanc phenolics. The palate is chiselled and fresh with a vibrant saline acidity and a cool, pithy, mineral finish. Classy grown up Sauvignon!
A Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and Mourvedre blend. Shows exotic sweet spices, layers of red fruits and bramble berries. Acids are crisp and saline, the minerality adding extra crunch, definition and tension. Lovely textured red Rhone blend with weightless concentration.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Momento Wines:
Momento Chenin Blanc / Verdelho 2022, 13% Abv.
Complex leesy, herby, savoury aromatics before a more fleshy palate packed with granitic minerality and a yellow orchard fruit complexity. Serious effort as usual.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Momento Grenache Blanc 2023, 13.5% Abv.
Pithy, dusty aromatics with grated apple skins, pear drops and granitic minerality. Beautifully balanced, the palate shows freshness, citrus pithiness, dried herbs and a crystalline wet river pebble finish. Top class example.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Myself and Marelise Niemann
Momento Grenache Gris 2023, 13% Abv.
Waxy green apple cordial and wet grey slate aromatics. Lovely intensity on the palate, a pronounced salinity and a cool, crystalline, mineral finish. Impressive!
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Momento Paardeberg Grenache Noir 2023, 13% Abv.
Distinct bramble berry fruit aromatics, delicately perfumed with potpourri and rose petals. Beautifully cool, mineral and restrained in the palate, taut, crystalline and pure with crunchy saline chalky red berry notes on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Peter-Allan Finlayson
Crystallum and Gabrielskloof Wines:
Crystallum The Agnes Chardonnay 2025, 13.5% Abv.
Embryonic, pithy and fresh with white citrus, green melon and delicate fruit salad and cream notes. Lovely concentration, flinty stony reductive hint with a wet river stone finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Crystallum Clay Shales Chardonnay 2025, 13% Abv.
A little more citrus, peaches and cream with leesy hints and buttered brioche nuances. Dense, compact and textured, the concentration is punchy, the toasty melon and citrus fruits intense and long.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Gabrielskloof Elodie Chenin Blanc 2024, 13% Abv.
From 40- and 45-year-old Swartland Chenin Blanc vineyards. Taut stony mineral expression with apple, peach and pear drop aromatics. There’s impressively delicate weightless green apple notes, with a cool, crystalline, easy drinking finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Crystallum Peter Max 2024, 13.5% Abv.
Beautifully aromatic nose laced with potpourri, violets, and bramble berry spice. Incredibly intense and vibrant with piercing red berry fruits, cherry and a salty finish. Wow!
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Gabrielskloof Syrah Whole Bunch 2024, 13% Abv.
A deliciously brambly, earthy peppery aromatics ps led full of smoky black berries, tar and burnt wood embers. Palate is soft and supple, cool, elegant and vibrant with crunchy acids and a long finish full of Christmas spices.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Gabrielskloof Cabernet Franc Landscape Series 2022, 14% Abv.
Beautifully expressive aromatics of sweet cedar, liquorice, tar and salty black currant. The elegance and salinity follows to a juicy, vibrant palate, finishing with graphite minerality and herbal spice.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Mullineux Wines:
Mullineux Old Vine White 2024, 13.5% Abv.
Still circa 70% Chenin Blanc with some Quartz vineyard but mostly low yielding Paardeberg Chenin Blanc. Aromatics are full of sweet herbs, crushed Granite and white peach with a weightless concentration, delicately pithy fruits and a yellow orchard fruit concentration on the finish. Punch and impressive for the vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Mullineux Terroir Series Granite Chenin Blanc 2024, 13.5% Abv.
Lovely tangerine and white peach notes with hints of green apple, deep veins of liquid minerality and concentrated apple and white citrus on the finish. Layered, fleshy and intense, this packs a real punch.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chris Mullineux
Mullineux Syrah 2023, 13% Abv.
A very pretty fragrant aromatics with red and black berry fruits, violets, lavander and sweet herbs. The tannins are cool and stony, pithy and mineral with notes of saline black currant, black liquorice and Granitic spice. Tangy, fresh and beautifully intense.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Mullineux Terroir Series Schist Syrah 2023, 13.5% Abv.
A beautifully fragrant and exotic aromatics showing violets, lavander, musk and stony minerality. The delicately perfumed nose gives way to a power packed palate, dense, savoury and spicy, packed full of black pepper, cured meats and smoky wood embers. A substantial wine indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Leeu Passant Wines:
Leeu Passant Cabernet Sauvignon 2023, 14% Abv.
Intricate aromatics of sweet cedar, lead pencil, graphite, sweet Chai tea over black currant fruits. Silky and sleek in the mouth, cool, mineral and classically framed, this is really elegant and restrained for old world wine lovers.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Leeu Passant Chardonnay 2023, 14% Abv.
Exotic aromatics of perfumed peach and apricot, honeydew melon, green apple and buttered white toast. Massive concentration on the palate with candied citrus, lime cordial and a fleshy green apple finish. Wow, this has a lot of stuffing.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Adi Badenhorst, a new agency for Liberty Wines.
Also on taste: Restless River from Craig Wessels, AA Badenhorst Family Wines who’s sample bottles were mostly finished before I could taste them due to popular demand, the Bosberaad Wines from Paul Jordaan and Pauline Roux which I recently reviewed on A Fine Wine Safari, as well as a selection of Fairview Wines and Spice Route Wines.
With the Riebeek Valley Wine Co. increasingly featuring on many collectors’ best value fine wine lists of late, each new vintage release from winemaker Sheree Nothnagel seems to command significant attention. The pithy Skin Contact Chenin Blanc is characterful and quirky, and the Grenache Blanc and Palomino whites are benchmark examples from the Swartland. But it is undoubtedly the Carbonic Maceration Shiraz and the Grenache Noir reds that have performed exceptionally well, with the former regularly scoring in the 94 to 95 point range in the Winemag.co.za Prescient Blind Shiraz Category Awards. In my final review from the Raar range, I look at their new 2024 Grenache Noir that is currently on sale in the market.
The Riebeek Cellar Wine Co. was established in 1941 and is today owned by 30 shareholders, with some 900 hectares of vineyard under cultivation. Under the watchful eye of Sheree Nothnagel, who was previously at Wildehurst Cellar, who moved across at the end of 2019 to head up the Riebeek Valley Wine Co.’s boutique cellar with the Raar range of wines being the small production “jewel in the crown” at this Swartland winery.
RAAR Grenache Noir 2024, WO Swartland, 14% Abv.
Light fresh ethereal aromatics reveal hints of cranberry, pomegranate, bramble berry and sour plum. The palate is deliciously fleshy, tangy and energetic, beautifully fresh and mouth wateringly intense. Overall, very impressive balance and restraint on the delicately herby, pithy, mineral laden finish. Another cracking wine from Sheree Nothnagel that represents incredible value for money. Drink now to 2030+.
There are few more beautiful regions in the southern Rhone Valley than Beaumes-de-Venise. This enchanting wine regions is towered over by the striking Dentelles de Montmirail peaks, limestone outcrops from the Jurassic era, the sloping vineyards of this tiny southern Rhône cru and its five picture postcard villages possessing a true classical beauty. With a mosaic of complex soils situated on slopes at altitudes as high as 600m, this region seems to tick all the correct boxes for a new generation of wine drinkers looking for quality, individuality, and affordability, all presented with a rich historically storied past.
Interestingly, Beaumes de Venise was one of the first French wine regions I visited on my return to Europe from South Africa in 2000. Coming five years before the appellation changes in 2005, the region was firmly dominated by sweet Muscat wines with red wines very much an afterthought – the red wines living in the shadow of more notable up and coming villages like Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Rasteau, Sablet, etc. I knew it was beautiful as a region and incredibly complex geologically, having hiked the Dentelle de Montmirail trails… which normally means it should be perfect red wine terroir as well.
Beaumes-de-Venise’s world-class Vins Doux Naturels (VDNs), sweet wines fortified to 15%, aka AOC Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, might be what the region is best known for, but as I discovered during a recent three day tasting trip to the region, there is so much more to discover and explore about this beautiful part of the southern Rhône Valley.
While the regions Muscat Beaumes-de-Venise VDN sweet wines need no introduction, having been served at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, the Cru status for the reds wines was only conferred on Beaumes-de-Venise reds in 2005. These must be an assemblage of at least 50% Grenache and 25% Syrah, with other Rhône varieties permitted such as Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Counoise.
White varietals like Viognier, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc can also be added but must make up no more than 10% of the blend. In practice, the majority of producers stick with Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Currently, the INAO is still considering the AOC’s application in 2022 to include dry white wines under the same Cru designation.
The uniqueness of Beaumes-de-Venise’s terroir lies in its complex geological diversity, with four soil types: Triassic red earth, grey Jurassic earth, Cretaceous white earth and blond Miocene earth. The emergence of the Dentelles de Montmirail brought the Triassic deposits to the surface around the village of Suzette, whose soils are ideal for Syrah, providing richness, suppleness and longevity. Grey Jurassic earth is found north of the village of Lafare, being made up of silt, clay and sand which is perfect for Grenache. Cretaceous white earth around the village of La Roque-Alric, with its marly clay-limestone soil, is good for both Syrah and Grenache, which are grown on terraces, or ‘banquettes’, that boost groundwater retention. Blond Miocene earth’s clay-sand soils are best for Muscat, providing finesse, freshness and floral aromas. This blend of soil types gives Beaumes-de-Venise wines distinctive complexity and balance.
Beaumes de Venise celebrating 100 years – 80 years for sweet wines plus 20 for the red wine appellation.
For the UK market, there is definitely a significant opportunity for the red blends focusing on Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre. Most interestingly for me, despite the 14 to 15 % alcohol levels on the wines, they all retained incredible purity, freshness and focus more in keeping with wines that are 13 or 13.5% abv. But the limestone soils and altitude definitely bring something special to the wines. In the wider wine market, there is undoubtedly plenty of interest in the UK for the £16.99 to £22.99 price point wines that should see consumers getting a very accomplished red wine showing fruit purity, concentration, and structure.
AOC Beaumes-de-Venise Red Tasting:
1 Domaine Sant Amant 2024
Enticing sweet herbs, Xmas spices and black berries with a dusty stony, mineral undertone. Fresh and crunchy, texture shows tension, acid frame and lovely red and black fruit clarity with a tangy finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
2 Domaine Pierre Rougon 2024
Full of dark broody black berry fruit aromatics with a dusty limestone minerality. Lovely pithy mineral tannins, restraint and grip but fine grained and full of energy with a saline liquorice kiss on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
3 Sarl Persephone Domaine Suzette 2024
Deep earthy black berry fruits with damson plum, black cherry and sweet bramble berry spices. The texture is fleshy and compact showing depth and breadth but also a creamy black fruited depth with plush powdery tannins and a saline intensity on the harmonious finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
4 Domaine Caroline Bonnefoy 2023
Intense perfumed aromatics packed full of sour plum, peach skins, violets and lavender fragrance. Bright and fruity, the palate is tangy and mouth watering with a sweet / sour acidity with soft fleshy layers of red and black berry fruit on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
5 Domaine de Fenouillet Terres Blanches 2023
Dark broody nose with exotic black cherry and wild strawberry notes. The texture is sleek and polished, the tannins fine grained and powdery, finishing with chalky, grippy mineral tannins. A real terroir feel to this wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
6 Domaines des Bernardins 2023
The aromatics are dusty and savoury with sappy spicy notes, peppery black berries, and a smoky flinty hint. The palate is fruity and bright full of red and black berry fruits, tangy acids and a sappy brambly finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
7 Domaine des Garances Alazard 2023
A delicately perfumed aromatics showing musk, lavender, potpourri, black plums, red currants and black cherry. Palate shows crisp acids and notable delineation with wild strawberry and bramble berry fruits over a stony limestone minerality.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
8 Domaine du Grand Montmirail Terres Blondes 2023
Piercing and pure fruited with violets, lavender, red cherries and red berries. Crisp, pure and very focused with an impressive textural precision. Very impressive balance. Real class.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
9 Domaine La Ligiere Les Garennes 2023
Deep broody complex aromatics show herbs and spices, black berry fruits, musk and lavender. The palate is plush and ripe with a sweet sour acidity alongside plummy red and black fruits, bramble berries and hints of breakfast brown toast.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
10 Domaine Raboly Clement V 2023
Delightfully perfumed nose of dried violets, potpourri and lavender alongside red and black berry fruits. The palate is crisp, pure and taut, full of energy and tension, polished marble tannins, tangy acids and a sleek harmonious long finish showing class and pedigree. Wow!
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
11 Famille Petitjean Les Contreforts de Montmirail 2023
Bright fruity nose showing raspberry ripple, strawberry confit and sour red plum with a smoky mineral hint. Deliciously tangy and red fruited, the finish is long, characterful and delicately salty.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
12 Famille Petitjean Tradition 2023
Dark fruited aromatics showing damson plum, bramble berries and garrigue spice. There’s a focused precision on the palate, crisp acids and an accessible, long, fleshy finish with soft pliable tannins.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
13 Domaine Pierre Rougon Les Vins Pierre Rougon 2023
Attractive aromatics of damson plum, black currant, violets and salty cassis. The texture is polished and tight knit, sleek, balanced and fine grained with creamy red and black fruits and a harmonious blackberry fruited finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
13B Jean Pierre Cartier Rouge 2023
Shows a melange of perfume and lavender, musk and bathroom soaps with potpourri and garrigue spices. The palate is fleshy and creamy, full but accessible and deliciously chalky and tight grained with a powdery grippy mineral finish. A serious effort!
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
14 Vignerons des Dentelles Dom Venitia 2023
A dark fruited plummy smoky bramble fruited aromatics. The fruits are cool and compact, polished with fine grained tannins and gentle, soft integrated acids with a delicately toasty, brûléed finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
15 Domaine de Durban Vieilles Vignes 2022
Tight dark fruited aromatics. Sleek texture. Beautifully complex and polished.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
16 Domaine de la Pigeade Hurlevent 2022
A wine with impressive minerality and precision alongside aromatics of limestone, garrigue and spicy black berry. Impressive purity and precision on the palate, a definite winemaking focus and know how that elicits the best of this wine’s terroir. A polished, harmonious style with real minerality.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
17 Domaine des Garances Jas du Chene 2022, 14.5% Abv.
50% Grenache and 50% Syrah aged in concrete and stainless steel vats. Exotic aromatics of cherry rock candy, red plum and sour cherry. Follows to a deliciously pure, crystalline palate with sleek silky tannins, glassy fresh crystalline acids and a beautifully harmonious finish with a delicate brûléed tasty twist. Very impressive finesse.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
18 Domaine Raboly Jean XXII 2022
Deep broody black fruited aromatics showing plum and black berry, musk and potpourri spice. Texture is cool, fleshy and pure, harmonious and balanced with silky tannins, a fleshy black berry core of fruit and a long, chalky finish. Very mineral and seriously classy!
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
19 Domaine Saint Amant Grangeneuve 2022
An intricate aromatics with raspberry and red currant top notes over deeper, broodier black currant and damson plum baritone fruit notes. Full and plush in the mouth, the acids are tangy and the tannins sweet, soft and accessible, finishing with a mellow sweet and sour complexity.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
20 Earl Saint Roch Cuvee des Sens 2022, 15% Abv.
60% Syrah and 40% Grenache. Smoky meaty savoury aromatics with hints of cherry rock candy, macerated blueberry fruits and musk hints. The palate shows a fleshy depth and concentration, accessible ripeness and generous depth with a long, plush, sweet black fruited finish. Packs a lot of punch and intensity.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
21 Earl Saint Roch Cuvee des Taus 2022
A delightfully fragrant aromatics boasting violets and potpourri, black cherries, musk and lavender. The fruits are tangy and bright in a red and black berry melange. Polished tight grained marble tannins are supported by a fresh acidity and a generous, harmonious fruit length.
(Wine Safari Score: 91+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
22 Vignerons des Dentelles Confidence 2022
The aromatics show dusty, herby garrigue spice with musk and cinnamon spice. Cool and compact on the palate, the tannins are fine grained, chalky, and soft with a drying mineral finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
23 Gaec de Benquillon Rene 2022
Perfumed aromatics with pink musk, talc, lavender and potpourri. The palate is bright and tangy, the acids crisp and the tannins chalky and mineral. Massive fruit concentration and intensity make this a very impressive wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
24 Famille Soard Domaine de Fenouillet Yvon Soard 2021
Deep dark notes of black cherry, liquorice and black berries. Stony mineral texture with linearity and chalky tannins. A more mineral, classically restrained expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
25 Domaine de Garances Le Pas de L’Aube 2021
75% Syrah and 25% Grenache from a single plot. Complex aromatics of black berry, saline cassis, liquorice and black olive. The texture is cool and tight knit, with polished stony tannins, a chalky minerality and a drying intense finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
26 Domaine Saint Amant Cuvee Nathalie 2020
20% new barriques with up to 8 year old barrels with a 3-4% Viognier portion blended and Co-fermented. Aromatics full of black cherry, kirsch liquor, and salty black liquorice. The black fruits are zippy and vibrant, the texture chalky and mineral with a long, tangy salty finish. Plenty of intensity here.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
27 Famille Petitjean Felibrige 2020
A more savoury meaty black fruited aromatics with cherry and cured meats. Palate is mineral and taut with stony tannins and a chalky finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
28 Vignerons de Dentelles Trias 2020
Deep broody aromatics boast black cherry, black berries and saline spice. A notable minerality belies the palate with fine grained chalky tannins and a fresh, bright acid finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Star performers from Domaine Raboly, a young premium micro-site boutique producer.
The world of fine wine is an ever-evolving scene, enriched by a wealth of passionate wine producers but equally by a profusion of passionate wine connoisseurs and collectors all championing different styles of wine. I for one however, cannot think of another category of wine that has in recent years come under more intense scrutiny than that of Grenache or Garnacha Tinta, producing many wines that now sit comfortably at the fine wine top table in the global marketplace. Now in its 9th year, the Judgement of Wimbledon was originally organised by a group of passionate collectors to celebrate the finest expressions of Grenache from various premium producers around the world.
The 2025 blind line up.
On the 1st of May 2025, the time had finally come for the next scintillating instalment of this annual blind tasting challenge. After much deliberation, including many smaller preliminary comparative blind tastings and cork pulling, 16 wines were chosen to make the starting grid for the 2025 judgement tasting. This year’s selection included: three wines from DOC Priorat, two wines from Gredos, two from Aragon, one from DO Montsant, one from DOC Rioja, one from Sardinia, three from Australia, and three from the Swartland in South Africa.
In last years Judgement report, I stated that almost all the big name, big money Grenache wine labels made in a more “sophisticated, terroir-driven style” seemed to be coming from the Spanish heartlands, with many producers making multiple micro-winery boutique labels from old vine plots of Garnacha that in many instances were often abandoned and nearly forgotten and lost for future generations. Grapes that used to be sold off to local co-operatives for below-cultivation cost prices, are now finally being rediscovered with a newly found appreciation for these cherished old vine plots. For the 2025 Judgement tasting, the line-up once again saw a very strong showing from Spain and South Africa, but with this year’s selection featuring a trio of impressively finessed Grenache reds from down under, including one from the Barossa Valley and two from McLaren Vale.
Australian wine has, over the past few years, seen many premium producers begin to reinvent their styles, moving away from the “sunshine in a bottle” mantra, instead embracing minerality, restraint, elegance and freshness, all features that allow for a vineyard’s individual and unique site and terroir characteristics to shine through. Indeed, after the 2024 Judgement tasting, there was a fair amount of parallel commentary surrounding the clear lack of Australian selections, something I feel has been comfortably addressed within the 2025 line-up.
Wine Advocate lead Spanish wine critic Luis Gutierrez.
After Neal Martin from Vinous.com joined the judging panel in 2024, this year, the judges were incredibly fortunate and honoured to be join by possibly one of the world’s emerging critical authorities on premium Grenache, and undoubtedly the one international wine critic that has done more single handedly to champion not only the incredible diversity of Garnacha styles from his home country of Spain, but arguably from all around the world. I speak of course of The Wine Advocate’s lead wine critic for Spain and Portugal, Luis Gutiérrez. The insights, background stories, and tasting expertise offered by Luis made the 2025 Judgement tasting one of the best yet.
Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 Blind Tasting Line Up:
(…featuring my personal blind scores and tasting notes.)
Wine 1 – 2022 Sands of Time, Thistledown, McLaren Vale, Australia
Dense and ripe, pretty, floral hints of rose petal, red liquorice, brambled berries, mint leaf, chocolate peppermint crisp and red plums. Initially quite deep, broody and restrained. The palate is plush, fleshy but very fine grained, showing depth of bramble berry fruits, vibrant tangy acids, and a gently savoury, strawberry laden accessible finish with a hint of alcohol warmth on the tail.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 2 – 2022 Sadie, Soldaat, Piekenierskloof, South Africa
Shows a fine exotic perfume, violets, incense, Turkish delight, plum compote and smoky Turkish bazaar nuances. There are earthy deep broody notes showing plummy meaty foresty hints. Accessible, sweet fruited and quite earthy and brambly, this is full of meaty red currant and strawberry compote, soft fleshy tannins, and a relaxed, lingering finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 3 – 2021 Yangarra Estate, High Sands Grenache, McLaren Vale, Australia
A fine aromatic lift with plenty of perfume and fragrance but also a defined mineral undertones over picante black berry fruits. Plenty of minerality and dry stony tannins supported by fairly light sinewy red and black fruits. Plenty of density, concentration, and emerging power on display.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 4 – 2022 Frontonio, El Jardín de las Iguales, Aragon, Spain
The aromatics show an accessible, attractive perfume of musk, Parma violets, wild strawberry, red cherry rock candy and a hint of oystershell reduction. The entry is cool and fleshy, fulsome, tangy, and fresh but with plump creamy red berry and red plum notes beneath. Finish is tight, a little clipped but seems to have plenty more to offer given time.
Another broody, earthy bramble berry character with hints of plums and mulberry before savoury meaty nuances with a dusty granitic undertone. The palate is incredibly soft, fleshy, and accessibly, loose knit and friendly, the tannins mineral and chalky, over spicy red berry fruits with juicy acids but perhaps finishing a little abruptly.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 6 – 2020 Torres, Mas de la Rosa, DOC Priorat, Spain
A richer, more intense aromatics showing cherry tobacco, tannery leather, stewed strawberries, and dried herb garrigue spice. This is a full, rich, plump expression with massive concentration, tart blue and black berry fruits, a creamy mineral undertone with a long, glycerol finish. Plenty of finesse and polished winemaking on display here.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 7 – 2022 Terroir al Limit, Les Manyes, DOC Priorat, Spain
The pretty aromatics are decidedly blacker fruited with black currant, dry tobacco leaf, salinity, hints of herbaceous leafy berry fruit notes with a mineral granitic undertone. The palate follows with savoury, smoky, toasty, meaty black bramble berry fruits, a loose knit structure, light polished tannins and an all-round accessible friendliness.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 8 – 2022 Mas Martinet, Els Escurcons, DOC Priorat, Spain
The aromatics are fresh and spicy, packed full of dried herbs, potpourri, cinnamon and clove spices with tangy red currant and candied strawberry fruits beneath. The mouthfeel is rich, plush, and superbly fleshy and plump, broad across the palate but always soft and juicy with dusty, chalky fine-grained tannins.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 9 – 2022 Momento, Riebeekberg Grenache, WO Swartland, South Africa
This is a more ethereal, taut, linear style with pure perfumed aromatics of red cherry and strawberry with a dusting of granitic mineral spice. On the palate this wine shows class and pedigree, creamy, limestone chalky tannins, polished sleek red berry fruits and real harmonious balance. A lighter, more delicate, ethereal style that delivers in spades.
This is a decidedly riper, more opulent style with layers of stewed black berries, creamy oak, molasses, sun raisined plums and sweet herbs, graphite, and sappy wood spice. A warmer, baked fruit expression that points towards later picked fruit in a warmer climate. The execution is faultless, the tannins like velvet, perfectly marrying with a soft, integrated, seamless acidity. No edges, no corners, this is plush hedonistic opulence.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 11 – 2021 Rico Nuevo, La Quebrá, Gredos, Spain
Beautifully bright, aromatic, perfumed red currant and red cherry perfume with subtle potpourri, garrigue and marzipan hints, strawberry pastille, and hints of rock candy. This shows delicate frame and structure but also silky finesse, violets and potpourri, blood orange, talcum tannins and a long, steely, linear finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 12 – Dylan Grigg 2022 Vinya Vella, Old Bush Vine Grenache, Barossa Valley, Australia
A more classical style with sweet herbs, earthy black currant fruits, leafy sapidity, gravel and a peppery garrigue spice. The palate is silky and soft, light, fleshy and accessibly with delicately drying talcum tannins beneath, finishing with a lingering bramble berry, garrigue, meaty spice. Very classy expression.
Initially incredibly dusty and mineral on the nose, even slightly leafy, with crushed gravel, chalkboard duster, and a whole bunch red berry picante spice. The spicy, dried herb, garrigue expression blossoms further on the palate, packed full of leafy spice, sandalwood, baking herbs and tobacco leaf, wrapped in cool, chalky, powdery tannins.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 14 – 2021 Naude, Grenache, Swartland, South Africa
A deep and alluring expression with blue and black berry fruits, hints of creamy oak, saline cassis and fragrant rose petal perfume that points to a fine concentrated style. Another very sleek expression on the palate with dusty, chalky drying tannins and intense red berry fruits that are enticingly lean and sinewy, before the tangy acidity fans its tail on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 15 – 2022 Comando G, El Tamboril, Gredos, Spain
A more exotic, ripe, earthy, nutty, spicy style with bay leaf, clove, potpourri, and a medicinal herbal nuance. The palate follows with breadth and power, creamy supple dry tannins and a very open knit, chalky mineral finish. This is a beautifully subtle expression, that whispers but certainly carries a bit of a punch.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wine 16 – 2021 Venus la Universal, Venus de La Figuera, Spain
An accessible overt style that shows sweet Christmas herbs, sappy spice, exotic black berry, bathroom soaps and pink musk candy. No doubting the pedigree when this wine hits the palate, boasting silky opulence, huge concentration, plush chalky expansive tannins, wrapping fruit concentration and exceptional length. This is certainly a winemaking masterclass on display.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 Group Blind Ranking Results:
With all judges required to offer their final rankings from their favourite to least favourite, numbered from 1 to 16, with the largest score tally going to the top ranked wines which were then all added together to get a final 1 to 16 group ranking by preference points. This format saw Rico Nuevo’s new stylish Gredos place top alongside Comando G’s El Tamboril, followed closely by Judgement newcomer Marelise Niemann’s Momento Single Vineyard Riebeekberg Grenache tied with strong annual performer, Mas Martinet’s Els Escurons from Priorat in Spain.
The Judges’ Totals by “Preference”
However, using just a straight score ranking by averaging all the judges 100-point scores, interestingly saw the Momento single vineyard Grenache topping the averages with an impressive 96.19/100 score. So a slightly different dynamic to that of the judges’ favourite to least favourite choices which of course could easily see 3, 4 or even 5 different wines sitting on the same score of 94 or 95 points etc. However, judges were then required to retaste the matching scored wines and still order them in a preference from 1 to 16.
The Judgement’s highest scored wines by averaging judges’ scores.Convenor of Judges, Riaan Potgieter (on the right) crunching the numbers after the blind tasting.
Judgement of Wimbledon Convenor of Judges, Riaan Potgieter’s Final Conclusions:
At the outset of planning this year’s event, I wasn’t sure how we were going to bring some excitement to the day. We were facing a warm 2022 in both Spain and South Africa, and many producers were telling me that the wines weren’t ready yet. This was exacerbated by a few of our favourites being released later than usual, and therefore not available for the event. In the end, we had nothing to worry about as the 2022s acquitted themselves very well and showed better than previous warm vintages did at a similar stage.
Clearly producers are getting more and more skilful at managing the heat, with most of the wines showing grace and elegance whilst bringing edgy herbal characteristics you don’t get in cooler vintages. A Spanish producer once told me that the warmer vintages are difficult to understand in their youth, but really start to shine after a few years in bottle. Whilst I can certainly attest to this, it seems the 2022s might be able to capture some of that magic much earlier in life.
The top 3 Grenache winners by Judges’ preference.
With a few of our usuals being unavailable, there was space to bring in a few first entrant wines and producers, some of whom I’ve been tracking for some time. Whilst we have tasted their wines for possible inclusion in the past, they have gone from strength to strength in recent vintages and their inclusion became an easy choice. This showed in the final results, with two first time entrants making it into the top 3 wines.
The Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 judges.
One star performer was the Rico Nuevo La Quebrá. I was introduced to this young producer on a trip to Spain in 2024, and loved the wine from the first taste. The Wimbledon judges didn’t know it was in the lineup, and most have never even tasted it, yet it was enchanting and ended up near the top for most. Luis Gutiérrez ranked it his favourite and exclaimed that he “loved it from the first sip to the last.”
Marelise Niemann from Momento pouring her wines in London in recently.
Another strong new entrant was the Momento Riebeekberg Grenache. Whilst we’ve been following Marelise Niemann’s wines for many years, the 2022 single site expressions have taken her Grenache to a whole new level. It ended up 3rd based on ranked preference, but achieved the highest average score across the group.
Generous venue host and fellow judge Barry Van Bergen deep in discussion with Luis Gutierrez.
Finally, a massive thank you to Luis Gutiérrez for joining us at this year’s event. His work has always been our spiritual guide through the exciting world of this, still relatively new, style of Grenache. It was an absolute pleasure to have him there to share the joy of these incredible wines. Signing off for 2025, and I am already looking forward to next year where, I’m sure, there will be even more new discoveries.
Final Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 Results Summary:
A big congratulations to all the producers who are championing elegant, terroir driven, premium Grenache globally. We salute you!
Until next year… that’s a wrap! 🍷
(Ps. If you are a Grenache producer who would like to see your wines considered for the Judgement of Wimbledon 2026 final tasting next year, please do get in touch via my website.)
Thelema is one of the most famous estates in the Stellenbosch region and since 2015 has firmly returned to the top of their game. In many ways, the answers to rediscovering their newly energised glory have all been found by returning to the original terroir based principles which made this estate one of the most sought after brands back in the 1990s under the leadership of Gyles Webb.
Of course, while Thelema is proud of its acclaimed Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot legacy, they are not resting on their laurels, but instead are also championing one of South Africa’s new darling grapes – Grenache. The 2022 vintage is an exciting interpretation made from Stellenbosch fruit that looks set to rival some of the finest local expressions from the Swartland and Piekenierskloof regions.
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Merlot 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
An incredibly sleek, soft textured Merlot red that’s beautifully supple, delicate and generous with classical aromatics of red currants, liquorice stick, chocolate peppermint crisp, black berries, sweet cedar spice and stony graphite nuances. The palate texture is delicate yet precise, seductively light footed and sleek with silky red berry fruits, creamy powdery tannins, and a mouth filling breadth that’s weightless yet at the same time substantial. While this wine doesn’t possess the added structure of the Merlot Reserve cuvée, it’s still very suave, accessible and delightfully pure fruited. Drink from 2026 to 2034+.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
The 2021 Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon represents another highly anticipated release from one of Stellenbosch’s preeminent producers. Four years from vintage, the 2021 is evolving beautifully, displaying aromatics that veer more towards the black fruit spectrum as well as a cool, sleek, disarming purity of black currant and damson plum fruits with floral layers of violets, sweet cedar spice and black berry herbal tea nuances. The palate shows a tightly wound weightless fruit concentration together with an edgy, tensile tannin structure intelligently framed by fresh, crisp acids that lend a real vitality and energy to the wine. A truly commendable vintage that offers a majestic sense of finely honed power and composure with a black tea and dried kelp infused finish. This is yet another cellar worthy classic. Drink on release to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Grenache 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
This Thelema expression of Grenache is fabulously sleek and charming, impressively polished and pinpoint with perfumed aromatics of violets, red bramble berries, raspberries, bay leaf herbs and minty milk chocolate. The texture is cool and polished, the palate weight light to medium bodied, showing impressive clarity and purity, spicy red berry fruits, hints of cherry cola, a deliciously tangy fresh acidity, and a spicy, silky tannin finish. A wonderfully vibrant Grenache full of panache. Drink now to 2032+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Thelema Chardonnay 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
Always daunting following a vintage like the blockbuster Thelema Chardonnay 2021, but with the 2022 release, we have another substantial white wine that was aged for 10 months in 228-litre barrels of which 35% was new French oak. The aromatics are complex and utterly enticing, balancing notes of wet granite, pithy lemon peel, yellow grapefruit, freshly baked pastries and dried herbs before subtle struck flint reductive hints. The palate is crystalline, bright and fresh with a creamy vanillary oak spice that melts away gently into yellow citrus, candied green apples and tart white pear. This is a wine that will please a lot of Chardonnay drinkers with its classy oaking, crisp vibrant acids and its long, concentrated fleshy finish. Classic Stellenbosch Chardonnay done well! Drink on release until 2032+.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Thelema Wines are imported into the UK by Enotria Wines.
With the Judgement of Wimbledon Blind Grenache Tastings held in London over the past years, I have had the opportunity to taste a lot of very interesting top notch Grenache wines from around the world. This, however, is my first encounter with the wines of Dylan Grigg, but it seems he is a lot more famous than you might initially expect, particularly owing to his research and writings around the study of old vines and their interaction with their surrounding terroir.
Dylan Grigg has certainly made a name for himself since completing his PhD on grapevine age and now divides his time between being an international viticultural consultant and producing wines for his label Vinya Vella. The name Vinya Vella (Vella pronounced ‘Vea’) is of course a nod to Catalonia, and to Spain in general, where Dylan Grigg worked and lived with his own young family after finishing his PhD. Deciding to return to Australia from Spain with his family after Covid struck in 2020, Dylan chanced upon the opportunity to buy an old vine Grenache vineyard in the Barossa Valley, not too far from where he grew up and where his parents still live, his ancestors having settled in the Barossa Valley as far back as the 1840s.
Interestingly, my friend and wine scientist Dr Jamie Goode from Winanorak.com, unpacked some of Dylan Grigg’s more complex theories about old vines and what makes them potentially so special. To quote Jamie writing for his Wineanorak.com… “The first of these (theories) is about epigenetics, and it has best been explored by the PhD research from viticulturist Dylan Grigg. It’s hard to put into simple terms, but basically epigenetics is the way the environment writes itself onto the genetics of an organism. It’s not through changes in the DNA – this isn’t possible. But it’s through changes in the proteins that surround DNA in the nucleus and cause some genes to be expressed or muted through alterations in packing material around the genetic code, such as histone deacetylases. Some of these outside-the-genetic (epigenetic) changes can even be heritable. They help a plant adapt to the environment, and Dylan has shown them to be present in old vines in the Barossa. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that if you take cuttings from these venerable old Barossa vines the epigenetic changes are re-programmed. But if you propagate by layering, they can be preserved.” (Source: www.wineanorak.com – Dr Jamie Goode, the Science of Old Vines, March 2022)
If the science of old vines is all a bit too much for you, maybe settle back and just enjoy a bottle of Dylan Grigg’s exceptional Barossa Valley Grenache that, despite its incredible complexity, is equally easy to understand and enjoy as a wine lover. (The 2022 Vinya Vella Grenache was released earlier this year in Australia along with his enticing Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2023… but the 2021 vintage is still the current release in the UK.)
Dylan Grigg Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2021, Barossa Valley, 14.5% Abv.
The Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Barossa Grenache 2021 is a fascinating wine, vibrant, perfumed and supremely elegant from the first pour, slowly filling out aromatically and fleshing out with time in the glass. Neither overtly sweet fruited nor over ripe, the aromatics are instead incredibly classical and perfumed, exotic even, packed full of violets, rose petals, spicy raspberry, Turkish delight, sweet clove, cherry tobacco, saline cassis, incense, and delicate Christmas spices. On the palate, the wine is weightless and ethereal, seductively elegant with the texture of silk, with delicate svelte polished tannins supported by layers of red and black berry fruits, bramble berries, cola, and salty red liquorice nuances. Knowing how difficult it is to achieve weightless concentration in perfect balance, this is surely where the old vines really start to play their role in elevating the wine to a higher quality plain. I generally love Barossa wines, but this elegantly finessed Grenache expression opens a whole new window for me on old vine quality from Australia. Drink this beauty now and over the next 6 to 8+ years to enjoy its purity and vibrancy.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Grenache retails for approximately Aus$65 per bottle in Australia.
The 2023 edition of the Judgement of Wimbledon Grenache Tasting was held last year with one of the most impressive line-ups of Grenache wines to date, and the results were of course always going to be highly contentious. The 14-wine blind flight included three wines from Sierra de Gredos, the mountainous region west of Madrid, four wines from Priorat in Catalonia, one wine from Montsant next door to Priorat, one wine from Vinos de la Tierra Castilla y Leon, three old vine wines from South Africa, one wine from Rioja and one wine from the USA. It was indeed a spectacular array of wines that the tasters thought couldn’t be easily surpassed.
But of course, as another year has passed and another vintage hits the market, so many truly incredible 2021 Garnachas from Spain, among other regions, have become available and the prospects for a fourth consecutive Judgement of Wimbledon have never looked so tantalising! With the line up being restricted to circa 16 to 18 wines, there is, by necessity, a certain amount of pre-selection, that needs to take place before a final line-up can be agreed, and while the judges won’t know the final line up destined for the grand blind taste-off, they certainly get an initial insight into the quality they can expect by tasting in some of the preliminary Judgement of Wimbledon Tasting Pre-Selection assessments.
This year, one of the Kew-based judges volunteered to host one of the preliminary blind tastings and the below report gives a brief but illustrative snapshot of just what is in stall when the final Judgement of Wimbledon 2024 tasting occurs. Some mention should be made to the selection criteria as many people often ask why wines such as Chateau Rayas or some big, ripe Australian expressions are not included. The simple answer is that these wines, from USA, Australia and of course Chateauneuf-du-Pape, in the case of Rayas, are often simply too stand apart and unique, making their expressions incredibly obvious and very easy to identify. So, over many years, the focus has naturally moved to emphasise not only innate quality, but also minerality, freshness, terroir, and classical restraint… which seems to be the modern style of Grenache / Garnacha that has started to captivate the world in the past 3 to 5 years, led by Spain and South Africa, though of course, not exclusively.
With a special acknowledgment and thanks to global wine critic from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Luis Gutierrez, who contributed many suggestions for the preliminary tastings, proceedings kicked off in January 2024 with the following initial wines tasted blind:
Tasting Line Up (with group average scores):
1. 2021 Vina Zorzal, Senora de las Alturas – 94.1/100 score
2. 2021 Mas Martinet – Els Escurçons – 92.2/100 score
3. 2020 Pegaso Barrancos de Pizarra – 94.9/100 score
7. 2020 Uvas Felices Reina de Los Deseos – 94.9/100
8. 2020 Bodegas Frontonio, El Jardín de Las Iguales Garnacha – 95.2/100
9. 2020 Uvas Felices La Mujer Canon – 95/100
10. 2020 Bruma del Arenero – 92.4/100
11. 2020 Bodegas Frontonio, Las Alas – 94.8/100
12. 2022 Sam Lambson, Experimental Grenache – 91.2/100
Or in order of scoring for individual judges:
Undoubtedly, Spain has made the category of Grenache almost its own with incredible tension, precision, minerality and power. This snapshot tasting was merely a teaser for what is lined up for the grand finale, with some of the above wines possibly making the Final Cut?
Watch out for my full report on the Judgement of Wimbledon 2024 in the coming weeks. It stands to be the pinnacle of Grenache perfection!
It was great catching up with Ian Naude from Naude Family Wines in London at the end of June 2023 to taste his superb new red releases including the 2017 Werfdans Cinsault (97/100 GSMW), his Oupa Willem Heritage Red Blend 2020 (96+/100 GSMW), as well as his delicious new Grenache 2020 (96/100 GSMW). It was of course his Grenache 2020 that featured in the Top 5 wines in the epic blind Judgement of Wimbledon Tasting 2023 earlier this year, within a lineup of the greatest new release Grenache wines money can buy.
An annual Grenache celebration, the Judgement of Wimbledon results came out a few weeks before the official South African release of the Grenache 2020. With this wine newly landed in the UK market, I thought it was appropriate to revisit this impressive cult wine from Ian Naude. On my recent visit to the Cape in March 2023, I finally paid my first visit to this mythical Agter-Paardeberg vineyard that was planted in 2004.
The Agter-Paardeberg Swartland Grenache vineyard planted in 2004.
Located just behind the back entrance of Eben Sadie’s winery, these Grenache vines are only just down the road from the oldest Grenache vineyard in South Africa, vines planted on Adi Badenhorst’s Kalmoesfontein farm located next door to Eben Sadie. While Ian’s vineyard is not yet an old vine certified vineyard, it is certainly one of the “future old vine sites” that organisations like the Old Vine Project hope will reach a healthy old age in years to come.
Picked in small crates approximately three weeks before other winemakers who contract other parts of the same vineyard, the wine was fermented naturally with a combination of whole bunches, destemmed grapes and some added back stalks. Using one or two pump overs per day, the wine was left for approximately two weeks before being pressed and transferred into 225 litre old French oak barrels for approximately 12 to 15 months before bottling.
Naude Family Wines Grenache 2020, WO Swartland, 11% Abv.
1.8g/l RS | 5.8g/l TA | 3.33pH
Attractively light and ethereal in colour, the nose of the 2020 Grenache shows delightful, sweet, sappy red berry fruits, cool crunchy red cherries, earthy red plums, bramble berries and grated red apple skin nuances. The palate is taut, linear and rapier fresh with liquid laser beams, maritime salinity and a tart yet deliciously mouth-watering salty minerality. This is fine wine elegance with extreme precision and crystalline classical power all delivered so deftly. A really exceptional expression of Paardeberg / Swartland Grenache the can rival the very best from Gredos in Spain. Drink on release and over the next 8 to 15+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Naudé Family Wines are imported into the UK by fine wine specialist Museum Wines and the Grenache 2020 retails for circa £42pb.
