Johan Krige

Kanonkop Estate Produce One of the Wines of the Vintage with Their Paul Sauer 2022 Release…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

With Abrie Beeslaar departing the Kanonkop Estate in August 2024, we are nearing the end of his winemaking stewardship. The 2022 vintage offered up a cold and wet winter which was ideal for late but even vine budding. The wetter and cooler weather in the Cape persisted through Spring, with a slight heat spike towards the end of January. Later veraison and cooler growing conditions made the 2022 vintage a memorable one for the Kanonkop team with structured, elegant, age worthy wines produced.

Grapes for the Paul Sauer were fermented in open top concrete fermenters at 29c, the floating skins punched down by hand every 2 hours during fermentation. The juice was drawn off the skins after 5 days. After malolactic fermentation, the wine was matured for 24 months in 100% new 225 litre French Nevers oak barrels before bottling.

Kanonkop Estate Paul Sauer 2022 Cape Bordeaux Blend, WO Simonsberg, Stellenbosch, 13.35% Abv. 

I tasted this new release Paul Sauer several times at Cape Wine 2025 in September but finally found a quiet moment on my return to London to open a sample bottle that had been settling in my cellar for several weeks. This is a big, powerful cuvee and young vintages are easily interfered with and often suffer bottle shock. But on opening, this classy blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Cabernet Franc and 18% Merlot was absolutely singing. Plush, textured, and multi-layered, the aromatics showed a newfound clarity, purity and intensity boasting saline crème de cassis, back cherries, blueberry, maritime kelp, iodine, and black liquorice with an underlying new French oak kiss. Sourced from six older blocks on the estate, the palate shows a vibrant freshness together with an opulent accessibility before tightening up on the long, saline finish that’s layered and harmonious with tart black currant, damson plum and spiced cranberry nuances. Elegant, seamless, and pretty profound, this is undoubtedly another must-buy vintage for Paul Sauer lovers. Drink from 2026 to 2048+.

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

The Kanonkop Estate wines are imported into the UK by exclusive agent Seckford Agencies.

Kanonkop Estate’s Iconic Simonsberg Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 Represents One of Their Finest Single Cultivar Releases To Date…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

In 2023, Kanonkop (owned by the fourth generation of the founding family, brothers Johann and Paul Krige) celebrated 50 years of wine with the inaugural release being the 1973 vintage of their single cultivar Cabernet Sauvignon. Joining in 2002, Abrie Beeslaar became only the third winemaker in the farm’s history, replacing Beyers Truter (1981-2003) who followed Kanonkop’s first official winemaker Jan Boland Coetzee (1968-1981). Of the estate’s 95ha of mainly dry-farmed vines, 35% are Cabernet Sauvignon, averaging 30 years old, from Simonsberg in Stellenbosch, used for their varietal Cabernet Sauvignon cuvée as well as the Kanonkop flagship Paul Sauer Cape Bordeaux blend.

In 1973, the Kanonkop cellar crushed around 1,000 tonnes of grapes, of which 200 tonnes were vinified and bottled under their own label, with the first bottlings consisting of a single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage. Today, the cellar processes 3,000 tonnes of grapes, 580 from the Kanonkop estate and the rest from 22 different growers contracted across Stellenbosch. In early 2024, Abrie Beeslaar announced that he would be leaving Kanonkop to focus on his own wine label Beeslaar, thus once again resurrecting succession plans for only the winery’s fourth winemaker since 1968.

Kanonkop Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, WO Simonsberg – Stellenbosch, 13.68% Abv.

3.2g/l RS | 6.1g/l TA | 3.48pH

The 2019 vintage in the Cape yielded another iconic Paul Sauer Cabernet Sauvignon (69%) based Cape Bordeaux blend. From the very moment of its final assemblage, all eyes were on its later release sibling, Kanonkop’s 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, such was the power, freshness and intensity inherent in the Paul Sauer 2019 blend. Produced from 30-year-old vines which are nearing old vine heritage status, grown on dry land vineyards on decomposed Granite, Hutton and Clovelly soils, the wine was matured for 24 months in 225-litre French Never oak barrels with a 50% new oak portion and a 50% second fill portion. From the very first nosing of the glass, the aromatics are incredibly vibrant, lifted, and expressive with enticing perfumed notes of pressed violets and purple flowers over saline crème de cassis, black cherry liquor, macerated plums, oyster shell, moist cherry tobacco and beautifully integrated notes of subtle sweet cedary oak and seductive vanilla pod spice. Medium bodied and initially quite weightless, lithe and supple in the mouth on entry, before a massive shock wave of intense black cherry, salty black currant, graphite, and tart blueberry fruits invigorate the senses, making the palate salivate with its bright refreshing acids and intense mouthwatering persistence. This is an exceptionally well-made single cultivar wine with intricate pinpoint tannins, tart sweet-sour acids, a piercing fruit concentration and the most harmoniously seamless structure possible. It has all the elegance, focus and poise of the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vins of the world. Drink from 2024 to 2044+.

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

The iconic Kanonkop Estate wines are imported into the UK exclusively by Seckford Wine Agencies. The Kanonkop wines are available for retail from specialist South African merchant Museum Wines and the Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 will retail at circa £44 per bottle.

Steady As She Goes – Kanonkop Celebrate Their 50th Anniversary with their Notable New Release Paul Sauer 2020…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Sitting with Johan Krige on his back porch of the Kanonkop winery in October 2022, sharing a glass of Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 from double magnum, discussing the upcoming schedule for Cape Wine 2022 was a leisurely affair, while all the time I was just gaging to ask him about the new Paul Sauer 2020 release. But one needs to always be restrained, patient and polite, especially in the presence of Stellenbosch wine royalty.

The release tasting of the Paul Sauer 2020 was finally held in London in early May 2023 in the exulted Sussex Cellars of Berry Brothers and Rudd, a fitting surroundings laced with empty old bottles of first growth claret from the 20’s, 40’s and 50’s, lining the shelves of the cellar. This was certainly the proper environment to celebrate their 50th anniversary and pour some incredibly rare old wines going back to the maiden 1973 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon.

But it was at this superb tasting that they also profiled the new Paul Sauer 2020 release. Tucked away, among the current releases, this iconic new wine was tasted with the trade for the first time and boy did it make an impression. Always highly anticipated and much discussed, this new release always features as one of the most notable of the year, and in 2023, we got to celebrate it’s release with the 50th anniversary of the estate.

Kanonkop Paul Sauer Red Blend 2020, WO Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

3.2g/l RS | 6.3g/l TA | 3.48pH

Launched in the 50th anniversary of the estate, it was an absolute pleasure to first taste the new release 2020 Paul Sauer in London with both winemaker Abrie Beeslaar and uber critical owner, Johan Krige. Together, these are two individuals who both have very high expectations for every new Paul Sauer release, but not only that, they are both people who will find a way for the new wine to express the new vintage blend in the most succinct and honest way. In 2020, the Paul Sauer is a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Cabernet Franc and 14% Merlot from Simonsberg vines grown on decomposed granite at an average of 30+ years old. The aromatics are delicate yet sophisticated, whispering a rich complexity of saline cassis, sweet violets, dried sage, crunchy black berry, iodine and salty oyster shell nuances with a hint of melted candles and incense complexity. Fabulously pure, focused, weightless and intense, there is a notable ambition and intent on the palate, that bristles with a maritime salinity, deep layers of crème de cassis, blue berry, cedar spice and a tart red berry extravagance. This is simply like no other 2020 I have tasted from Stellenbosch. The wine possesses its own class, elegance and swagger, but with an incredible refinement and precision. You would expect nothing less from one of South Africa’s first growth producers!

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

New Release Review – Tasting the Exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 From Kanonkop…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

The Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 is another classical example of this varietal grown on the prime slopes of the Simonsberg ward. Exuding a sense of compact density, balance and harmony, its coolness in character is truly impressive considering the warm, dry vintage conditions of 2016.

With the 2016, Abrie Beeslaar handles this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine with a masterfully deft touch drawing out every drop of prime Simonsberg terroir. These Stellenbosch vines are on average 27 years old and grown on dry land vineyards located on decomposed granite, hutton and clovelly soils. Yields in 2016 were a mere 4 tons per hectare and only 8,000 cases of 6 were produced.

Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 2016, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

On opening, this 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon was initially surprisingly taut, tight and broody with reductive aromatics of oyster shell, salty creme de cassis, black currant leaf, black chai tea, iodine and maritime salinity. But as I’ve discovered repeatedly over the past 12 months, the hot dry 2016 drought vintage did produced some really excellent red wines proving that exceptional terroir handled intelligently by an accomplished winemaker can trump even difficult vintage conditions. Given ample time to breath, the nose starts to reveal a growing intensity of black cherry, salty cassis and vibrant blueberry hints with a seductive underlay of cherry kirsch liquor. On the palate, the texture is sleek and polished with multiple waves of creme de cassis and blackberry fruits rising like a tide, finishing with a tangy concentration burst of acidity and mouthwatering fruit. Tannins are understated and powdery suggesting optimal phenolic ripeness. A really beautifully constructed wine with elegance, balance and supple accessibility. Drink on release with a bit of decanting or over 10 to 12+ years.

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

Kanonkop 2017 Black Label Pinotage – A Wine for the Most Intellectual of Palates… we

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

“The 100pt rating was most certainly a terrific boost for the brand,” says Johann Krige, co-proprietor of Kanonkop. “We have never experienced such a demand for the Paul Sauer and it looks as though the interest is spilling over into our next release, namely the Black Label Pinotage 2017 of which only 6 900 bottles are available – far less than the Paul Sauer 2015.”

Black Label is made from one of the oldest Pinotage vineyards in South Africa, one planted in 1953 on a site that has over the years proved to produce fruit of specific excellence and deemed special enough to be bottled under an own label. According to Kanonkop cellarmaster Abrie Beeslaar, the 2017 vintage was truly excellent for the Black Label. “It did not initially look as if this was going to be the case, as 2017 was the third very dry year in a row on the farm,” he says. “We only had 500mm of rain, 250mm less than the long-term average.” But the final results are captured in the bottle and are results worthy of adoration.

Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage 2017, Stellenbosch, 14.5 Abv.

When it comes to Pinotage, there may certainly be bigger wines, bolder opulent wines or more funky wines on the market but nothing ticks all the fine wine boxes like Kanonkop Black Label. The 2017 release marks the dawning of a new era where the local sales in the home market are properly mirrored with an enthusiastic international collector market pre-release offer for the first time. And what better way to do this with than with the 2017 expression which now comes from noble 67 year old vines which create a majestic elixir matured entirely in new French oak for 18 months before release. What Abrie Beeslaar has created in this vintage is a marvel to behold marrying new world hedonistic opulence with old world, Bordeaux’esque delineation and structure. This is a block buster that tantalises and teases the palate in the most intellectual sense and rewards the palate with a cornucopia of stimulation. The bouquet is positively bursting with lifted maraschino cherry, kirsch liquor, clove spice, blueberry, earthy mulberry and plum coulis. But it doesn’t stop there, before this block buster even gets out the starting blocks and close to your palate there are complex notes of sweet cloves, wood shavings, branded oak, iced tea and fresh oregano, sage and rose petal to behold. The palate is equally complex and alluring, exotically seductive in the most sensual sense of the word, showing the succulent delineation you would hope for and expect from a wine of this pedigree and price point but also a complexity of sweet bramble berry fruits, cut hedgerow, freshly tilled Stellenbosch earth and cherry kirsch liquor chocolates. But the stand out quality of this wine is undoubtedly the bright, crunchy yet sultry saline acidity that leaves you coming back for one sip after another. The lasting impression of this wine on the palate is the vitality, precision, knowhow and authority that beam from the glass akin to facing down a glass of Romanée Conti Burgundy. But I’ll stop there… the rest is up to you… the consumer! Dive in now or over the next 20+ years.

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