Schalk Burger

Wellington’s Welbedacht Wine Estate Introduces Two New Value Blends – Tasting and Reviewing the Oakdene 2024 Red and White…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Drawing on the decades of wine experience of Schalk Burger’s Welbedacht Estate in Wellington, Western Cape, sees the winery launch two new blends that will hit the UK market soon. While the Welbedacht farm was only bought in 1997, the original historical farm dates back as far as the 1830’s. 

In 2000, Schalk Burger Senior decided to pursue his dream of producing his very own range of wines and the 1,200 ton Welbedacht cellar was completed in time for the 2005 harvest. Since then, the estate has produced some of the finest quality grapes in the whole of Wellington and their wines are now among the quality leaders for the Wellington region. 

Welbedacht Oakdene Cape Blanc de Blancs White Blend 2024, WO Western Cape, 13.55% Abv.

Blend composition: Sauvignon Blanc 42%, Viognier 26%, Chenin Blanc 21%, Chardonnay 11%.

An attractively aromatic new white blend from the Welbedacht Estate, this youthful Oakdene 2024 shows a distinctively lifted bouquet of white flowers, mint leaf, dried oregano and thyme with an underlying pithy white citrus fruit and wet stone minerality. Deliciously lush and tangy in the mouth, the palate it textural and fleshy with notes of grassy gooseberry, ripe papaya, ruby grapefruit, and white peach nuances. Vibrant and fresh, the finish is glycerol and long with delicately savoury herbal hints. This is a wonderfully versatile white, perfect with or without food accompaniment. Drink now to 2028+.

(Wine Safari Score: 90/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Welbedacht Oakdene Cape Red Blend 2024, WO Western Cape, 14.68% Abv.

Blend composition: Shiraz 41%, Merlot 33%, Mourvedre 26%.

The new Oakdene red Cape Blend offers a cornucopia of plush ripe flavours, majestically perfumed and fragrant with earthy black currant, black plum, earthy mulberry, eucalyptus and delicate spearmint nuances. The palate is equally inviting, fully loaded with sweet black and blueberry fruits, earthy plum compote and spicy black cherries before vanilla pod, sweet cedar, and an exotic Chinese five spice complexity. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, enticingly plush and fleshy with creamy spicy tannins and a hoisin plum sauce note on the tangy, drying finish. There is a lot of ripe joyful winemaking packed into each bottle, making this a perfect BBQ wine for the summer. Drink now and over the next 3 to 5+ years.

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

The Welbedacht Estate 1861 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot 2018 Cape Bordeaux Blend Launched for the Richmond Heavies Rugby Charity…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

The rugby community around the world is one of the most tight-knit sporting bodies in existence, with clubs, provinces and nations eternally bound together in the camaraderie of battle on the rugby pitch. So it is no surprise that ex-Springbok rugby legend Schalk Burger Senior stepped up once again to offer to produce a premium wine for the Richmond Heavies of West London Rugby club, Richmond RFC.

The Richmond Heavies were formed in the 1971-72 season and have remained an integral part of the Richmond Rugby Club in West London ever since with a well-earned reputation as a very strong playing side and an even better touring side. As a celebration of their 50th anniversary, a specially crafted red wine was conceived and created that would represent an appropriate tribute. Drawing on the decades of wine experience of Schalk Burger’s Welbedacht Estate in Wellington, Western Cape, this classical Bordeaux blend is the inaugural choice for the Richmond Heavies eponymous label.

With sadly several unexpected fatalities across playing age groups in recent years, the sales of The 1861 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot will look to raise extra funds to provide much needed medical services at the club. But the crowning glory of this charitable project is that it is based around the sales of a genuinely premium fine wine that will appeal to collectors and connoisseurs alike. Another superb wine for another worthy rugby cause.

Welbedacht Estate The 1861 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot 2018, WO Wellington, 14% Abv.

This classic 50/50 Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot Cape Bordeaux blend displays a gorgeously spicy aromatics of black currant leaf, black cherry, freshly cut cedar, burnt matchstick and graphite spice with undertones of fresh tobacco leaf and black plum compote. The palate is intense but sumptuous, beautifully seamless, boasting a cool and creamy black berry, cassis fruited demeanour with plenty of textural precision, a tight knit focus, layers of pithy black cherry and a delicate but detailed, voluminous mocha-tinged mouthful on the finish. Pure, long and suitably fresh, this delicious red blend is another class act from the Welbedacht Estate of ex-Springbok rugby player Schalk Burger Snr. Enjoy this wine now and over the next 5 to 8+ years.

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

A Great Initiative Combining Rugby, Charity and Fine Wine – Tasting the Number 5 Doddie’s Blend 2019 Red…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

Doddie Weir OBE is one of the most recognisable faces of the game of rugby earning 61 caps playing for Scotland. But in June 2017, Doddie revealed he was suffering with the onset of Motor Neuron Disease, an illness that as yet has no known cure. In November 2017, Doddie Weir and his trustees launched a registered charity called My Name’5 Doddie Foundation to raise funds to aid the research into Motor Neuron Disease.

In the past, the foundation has already collaborated with a premium gin producer to create a limited release Doddie Weir Gin and more recently, ex-Scotland rugby international and foundation supporter, Kenny Logan, launched a new wine initiative with the Sporting Wine Club headed by ex-England rugby International and head of European rugby, Simon Halliday. The new wine, in collaboration with ex-Springbok great Schalk Burger Snr. and his Welbedacht Estate in South Africa, was suppose to tie into the upcoming Lions tour to South Africa as Doddie had himself also earned his Lions cap for the 1997 winning tour against the Springboks.

Tasting in London with Welbedacht Estate owner and ex-Springbok rugby great Schalk Burger Snr., producer of Doddie’s Blend.

The Lions tour might now be in disarray and currently undergoing a mid-pandemic rethink with a move back to the UK, but the Doddie’s Red blend from the beautiful Welbedacht Estate in Wellington is very much a reality with the soft launch being planned in the UK in the coming weeks. As an extra gesture of support to the wider rugby fraternity, the limited release bottling includes a very special label painted by accomplished artist, Henry Fraser.

Henry Fraser played rugby for the Saracens Academy before suffering a freak injury at the age of 17 that resulted in him being paralysed from the shoulders down. Teaching himself to paint, Henry is now a most talented ‘mouth painter’ and was specially commissioned to design the labels for Doddie’s Blend.

If ever there was an initiative close to every rugby players’ heart, this is it. A genuinely exciting new wine release in support of an important cause. I hope rugby clubs and players across the country will give this initiative their full backing.

Welbedacht Estate Number 5 Doddie’s Red Blend 2019, WO Wellington, 14% Abv.

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, this is a genuinely impressive red Cape Bordeaux blend assemblage made in a true style where the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its individual parts revealing very pretty, seductive aromatics of fine dried herbal spice, ripe black plums, earthy black currants, sappy cedar spice and a delicate brûléed kiss of oak. The palate is equally alluring showing a harmonious creamy opulence and a super silky texture together with a real accessibility, finessed tannins and a weightless brambly black berry fruit concentration on the finish. Youthfully exuberant and utterly delicious already, this is a fine wine with character and class… just like the man in who’s honour it was created to celebrate. Drink now and over 8+ years.

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

Tasting the Perfect Bohemian Bank Holiday Syrah from Schalk Burger & Son’s Welbedacht Wine Estate in Wellington…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

There can be no doubting the pedigree of the Syrah fruit grown at the Welbedacht Estate in Wellington. Some of the best grapes have been siphoned off quietly for other “premium” WO Western Cape Syrah for years. The large Welbedacht Estate (pronounced “well-be-duct”) is situated in one of the Cape’s most picturesque landscapes near Wellington, a warm climate region which seems ideally suited to the cultivation and production of world class Rhone varieties like Syrah.


Welbedacht is also home to the Burger family, surely one of the country’s most recognised sporting names. Schalk Senior was a formidable Springbok rugby player back in his day (and his handshake still is), and son Schalk Junior has followed in his father’s size 14 footsteps representing South Africa multiple times as a Springbok and who is now playing out the twilight of his career at Saracens in the UK. Second son, Tiaan, hung up his provincial rugby boots a few years ago and now heads up the cellar’s marketing operations.


In 1995, Schalk bought his first farm, Af-en-Toe, and started farming with 40 hectares of Cinsaut and Chenin Blanc. This was followed by the purchase of Welbedacht in 1997. Dating back to 1830s, it was a bit run down, but the water and the established old trees may have led to the decision to buy it. Welbedacht means “well thought out” in Dutch, and this is precisely how the Burger family approached the extensive restoration of this gracious property to its previous glory.


Schalk Burger & Sons Welbedacht Wine Estate Bohemian Syrah 2015, WO Wellington, 14.5 Abv.

The 2015 Syrah is probably one of the best I have tried from the Estate. There is a seductively rich intense nose of blueberry crumble, ripe black berries, mulberries and an alluring lift of vanilla pod mixed with violets, cherry blossom and sweet oak spice. Despite the 14.5 Abv, this lush rich wine is light on its feet, vibrant and thoroughly vital, with lovely clean linear acids and powdery tannins that punctuate the palate texture perfectly. The nose continues to open up in the glass revealing subtle bruleed coffee bean notes, fynbos, savoury cured meats, sweet black peppercorns, and a ripe black cherry kirsch intensity on the finish. The wine is drinking so beautifully now it would be a shame to bury it away in the cellar. Opulent, expressively dark fruited, this delicious purity should be enjoyed now and over as many stages of development as possible. Drink now to 2028+.

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