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SOUTH AFRICA 2024 TASTING REPORT: A Tale of Two Vintages (Part V) The South African wine industry has moved ahead by leaps and bounds. The 21st century has been a “defining period where guys traveled and studied abroad, now have a single-minded vision, and work with varieties that are in tune with terroir,” according to Gavin Bruwer Slabbert of Bruwer Vintners. He is of the opinion that “in the next 15 to 20 years, we will move into a world-class space we can own.” The top wines are now seeing global recognition – in fact, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines ’s Swartland Roundstone Red and White flagship blends will be sold via La Place de Bordeaux starting next year, joining Klein Constantia Wine Estate as the second South Africa winery to be represented by the renowned distribution network. Other winemakers I spoke to told me that the last few years have seen a growing confidence in making wines that best express South Africa, whether it’s a continued focus on mineral chenin blancs and savory syrahs from the Swartland, or new plantings of grenache and other varieties like verdelho and macabeo. They are experimenting with new wines like the Mvemve Raats Polkadraai Hills Vesperi 2023 – a Bordeaux-style white blend with chenin blanc that has a “South African stamp on it” – and reimagining historic blends of cabernet sauvignon and cinsault, like the Leeu Passant Coastal Region 2021, as well as rediscovering old cinsault vines and bottling more pure-varietal expressions. Grab a bottle of these likely undervalued wines, wherever you can find them. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gcHSCYid #SouthAfrica #TastingReport #Swartland #WineTasting #CheninBlanc #Syrah #WineLovers #LaPlaceDeBordeaux #Grenache #Verdelho #Macabeo

SOUTH AFRICA 2024 TASTING REPORT: A Tale of Two Vintages (Part IV) In search of even more freshness, I journeyed down to the breezy Hemel-en-Aarde Valley next to the cool Atlantic Ocean. It’s a young winegrowing area – its three separate wards were only created 15 years ago – that has nonetheless quickly identified itself as pinot noir and chardonnay heaven. “We have a philosophy of trying to express the terroir,” said the winemaker for Storm Wines, Hannes Storm. But that’s not unique among the dozen or so quality-minded South African winemakers that I spoke to. What is more notable is that Storm has slowly increased his production of each wine to close to 500 cases (and more than 1,000 cases for Vrede). Storm believes that “to make a wine credible globally, it needs to be accessible by everybody.” All three of Storm Wines’ 2022 pinot noirs (Vrede, Ignis and Ridge) are fantastic single-site expressions full of tension and fragrance – from the floral Vrede in the lowest part of the Valley to the tightly-wound Ridge from the highest area. Other top single-vineyard wines in South Africa are made in even smaller quantities than what Storm Wines is doing, like David & Nadia’s Chenin Blanc Swartland Skaliekap Single Vineyard Wine 2023, which has an output of just 160 cases. Meanwhile, Kershaw’s Deconstructed series from Elgin – including the Chardonnay Kogelberg Sandstone CY76 2021, Pinot Noir Sandstone PN115 2020 and Syrah Groenland Bokkeveld Shale SH22 2019 – are all stunningly precise and powerful but are produced in the range of 50 to 75 cases, so you might be hard-pressed to find them. In contrast, Paarl-based producer Vilafonte focuses on only two premium estate wines, Series C and Series M, both with over 1,500 cases in production (and each retailing for around $100), as well as an entry-level wine, the Seriously Old Dirt, which has nearly 20 times the production level and which costs about $40. The prices are on the high end for a country where most wines can be had for under $30. “For South Africa to progress in the world of wine, we need wines that are more available,” said Vilafonte owner Mike Ratcliffe. “There's not that many South African wines that play at the high end of the quality spectrum at this volume.” “We're still referred to as outrageous value, which is good, but it’s crazy to sell wines at these prices from 50-year-old vineyards with very low yields,” Ratcliffe added, referring to the many low-production, undervalued South African wines. “So many wines are sold out 11 months of the year." Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gcHSCYid #SouthAfrica #TastingReport #Swartland #WineTasting #CheninBlanc #Syrah #WineLovers #PinotNoir #Chardonnay

SOUTH AFRICA 2024 TASTING REPORT: A Tale of Two Vintages (Part III) PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE Compared with chenin blanc and syrah, there are small amounts of old grenache vines in the Swartland – the oldest vineyard, owned by A.A. Badenhorst, was planted in 1952 – but David Sadie (no relation to Eben Sadie) of David & Nadia told me that there has been increased “planting for the future” and investment in heat-loving varieties like grenache. The area of Piekenierskloof, an hour and a half drive north of the Swartland, has seen an exponential amount of plantings of grenache at 600-700 meters above sea level. The Sadie Family Piekenierskloof Soldaat 2023 is a stunning example of this in our top five wines – a lithe, fresh and red-fruited grenache made with 60 percent whole bunch fermentation. Other fragrant wines from grenache are the Savage Grenache Piekenierskloof Thief in the Night 2023 (Duncan Savage shares Eben Sadie’s grenache vineyard there) and Lourens Family Wines Grenache Noir Piekenierskloof Lua Ilse 2023, both from Piekenierskloof, David & Nadia’s Grenache Swartland 2023, plus the grenache-driven red blends David & Nadia Swartland Elpidios 2022, A.A. Badenhorst Swartland Kalmoesfontein Red Blend 2022 and Mullineux Swartland Roundstone Red 2022. Grenache blanc, too, has seen plantings and increased single-cultivar bottlings like those from Wolf and Woman, Rall and Scions of Sinai. Another grape making a small but delicious comeback is pinotage, with winemakers focusing more on fragrance and finesse. As well as full-bodied, polished wines from Kanonkop, L’Avenir and Kaapzicht, check out medium-bodied, elegant and pinot-esque expressions from Wolf & Woman, Bruwer Vintners, Scions of Sinai and Mcfarlane Wines. “We’re making the fragrant style now, the elegant cinsault-pinot noir side of pinotage,” said Jolandie Fouche of Wolf and Woman. “It’s an early-ripening cultivar so you can take it off before all the heatwaves.” Bruwer Raats, of Bruwer Vintners, Raats Family Wines and Mvemve Raats, said winemakers' philosophies toward making pinotage have changed. “There was a recipe in the cellar,” he said, speaking about the rubbery-smelling, old-school stereotype of South African pinotage. “I think the world is moving toward drinking lighter-style wines with more freshness.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gcHSCYid #SouthAfrica #TastingReport #Swartland #WineTasting #CheninBlanc #Syrah #Grenache #WineLovers

SOUTH AFRICA 2024 TASTING REPORT: A Tale of Two Vintages (Part II) The Sadie Family Swartland Rotsbank 2023 is just such a chenin blanc and it received the highest score we have ever given a South African wine. The wine is tight and steely, showing slate, wild-herb, lime-peel and aniseed aromas, alongside a rocky minerality and incredible tension. It’s produced from bush vines planted in 1987 in the Paardeberg region of the Swartland, and is only the second release of this wine, leapfrogging the rest of Eben Sadie’s range in terms of quality. The other wine at the top of this year’s report is the Sadie Family Swartland Columella 2022, the 22nd iteration of Sadie’s now-iconic red wine, which blends syrah with other varieties including mourvedre and grenache. Although from the hot 2022 vintage, it’s the lowest-alcohol version of the blend that Sadie has bottled and is strikingly focused, seductively aromatic and floral. Eben Sadie’s wines reflect two decades of innovation and new-generation winemaking in the Swartland, an arid region planted with gnarly, low-yielding bush vines under the relentless sun. “Palladius and Columella were a big inspiration for all of us” in the Swartland, Donovan Rall of Rall Wines told me, referring to Eben Sadie’s white and red blends, which he first made in the early 2000s. Besides the 11 Sadie Family wines in this report (all rated 95 points and above), the top Swartland wines that we tasted from producers like Rall, Alheit, Mullineux, David & Nadia, A.A. Badenhorst and Porseleinberg show refreshing minerality, and typically sit at 12 to 13 percent alcohol. There was a sensation of coolness in the wines from such a hot and dry wine-producing region – temperatures can reach above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in summer – and I asked winemakers how their wines stayed so fresh. “I think we've figured out which varieties do well in the Swartland,” Rall said. “Chenin blanc and syrah are super forgiving [to pick at lower alcohol], and grapes like grenache are so happy.” And rather than competing with the likes of Chateauneuf du Pape or Priorat, he said, “we've realized that we need to make lighter, more ethereal styles.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gcHSCYid #SouthAfrica #TastingReport #Swartland #WineTasting #CheninBlanc #Syrah #Mourvedre #Grenache #WineInnovation

SOUTH AFRICA 2024 TASTING REPORT: A Tale of Two Vintages (Part I) The 2023 growing season in South Africa was a tale of two vintages. For producers in the Swartland and northern wine-producing regions, and for those with early-ripening varieties, 2023 offered fantastic ripening conditions – it was relatively cool during the year, without heat spikes. But as I drove through the Western Cape last month during my weeklong stay in South Africa, it was hard to ignore the giant scars on the mountains towering over the country's winegrowing valleys. These were a reminder of the catastrophic floods and landslides that came at the end of months of heavy rainfall that started in February that year. The continuous rains were a disaster for varieties like cabernet sauvignon in later-ripening areas. “It was the first year as a winemaker that I saw botrytis in cabernet [sauvignon] in South Africa,” said Boekenhoutskloof Winery Pty Ltd winemaker Gottfried Mocke, who described 2023 as “two vintages in two months.” A later-ripening portion of cabernet grapes at Boekenhoutskloof was picked after 300 millimeters of rain fell in a single weekend. To avoid dilution in the final wine, they took off 30 percent of juice from the tanks before fermentation - a method known as saignee, which is used to concentrate flavors, color or tannin in the final red wine, or to draw off light-colored juice from red grapes to make rosé. Most 2023 cabernet sauvignon-led reds haven’t been released yet, so we’ll have to wait for next year’s tastings to find out if the quality is there, likely at lower quantities. The 2023 offerings in this report, which represent nearly 40 percent of this year’s tastings of 850 South African wines, include exceptional chenin blanc, syrah and Rhone varietals from the Swartland, as well as pinot noir and chardonnay from the southern coastal regions. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gcHSCYid #SouthAfrica #TastingReport #Swartland #CheninBlanc #Syrah #RhoneVarietals #PinotNoir #Chardonnay #CabernetSauvignon #WineTasting #Saignee #WineQuality #WineLovers

WEEKLY TASTING REPORT: Making Light of Napa’s 2022 Heat, an Alsatian Celebration and Sweetly Spanish (Part V) CHILLING IN THE ADELAIDE HILLS The Adelaide Hills wine region, sitting just 20 minutes northeast of Adelaide, is quickly gaining notoriety for its cool-climate wines, especially chardonnay. Sitting at elevations between 400 to 700 meters, it enjoys cooler temperatures and more rainfall than nearby areas like the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery visited the hills recently to taste both the old and new wave of producers. Michael Hill-Smith MW and Martin Shaw are cousins who recognized the potential of Adelaide Hills from a young age, starting Shaw + Smith in 1989, driven by a vision to craft premium cool-climate wines. Today, working alongside winemakers Adam Wadewitz and David LeMire MW, the estate continues to burnish its reputation worldwide. This success is epitomized by the Shaw + Smith Chardonnay Adelaide Hills M3 2023, which is wonderfully constructed, showing polish with precise acidity and generous mouthfeel, giving notes of fresh pineapple, white peach, lime curd and shortbread biscuit. One winemaker who honed his craft while working at Shaw + Smith is Michael Hall, who founded his namesake label in 2008. Hall took an unconventional path into winemaking, leaving his career as a jewelry appraiser in London to study oenology and work around the world for famed producers such as Domaine Leflaive and Meo-Camuzet in Burgundy, France, and Australian icons like Giaconda and Cullen, not to mention Shaw + Smith. Michael now applies his deft touch to chardonnays, which are of superb quality. His Michael Hall Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Piccadilly 2022 reflects his talent perfectly with its incredible polish and sophistication, and its medium- to full-bodied palate gives the wine a creamy texture and precise acidity with a mineral edge. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUuzuQp5 #WineTasting #Chardonnay #Winemaking #WineTasting #AustralianWines #WineLovers #Adelaide

WEEKLY TASTING REPORT: Making Light of Napa’s 2022 Heat, an Alsatian Celebration and Sweetly Spanish (Part IV) The elusive COMPAÑIA DE VINOS TELMO RODRIGUEZ Malaga Old Mountain 2012, of which only a single barrel is produced each year, is much more intriguing aromatically, showcasing subtle oxidation aromas alongside honey and the wild floral character of moscatel. Its concentration – both in density and acidity – is thought-provoking in terms of length and energy. Jacobo also ventured about 600 kilometers to the north of Malaga to visit Domaine Dexaïe, a new venture located in Navarrevisca de Gredos, in Avila province. The winery is run by the couple Carmen de la Pascua and Emmanuel Campana, who have been working to revive old, terraced vineyards in a lieu-dit known as La Camilleja. Amid towering granite rocks, holm oaks, oak trees and the occasional fig, they manage 10 hectares of vineyards, of which three consist of old vines planted around 1935. The entire vineyard is head-trained and features a massal selection they have cultivated themselves. The various parcels are planted at altitudes ranging from 1,090 to 1,135 meters, with east and northeast orientations. The vineyard sits on a blend of granite soils and lime in a micro-valley that is influenced by northern winds that moderates temperatures. This unique climatic setting contributes to the production of crystalline, austere garnachas that evoke a sense of energetic austerity, beautifully enhanced by floral aromatics that render them irresistible. The first two vintages produced are both outstanding, with the Domaine Dexaïe Cebreros Rex La Camilleja 2021 showing more austerity and mystery and exhibiting a strict and sculptural profile that promises to age gracefully over time. In contrast, the 2022 is more accessible and seductive, displaying floral notes and a more open character. These wines are delicate yet highly expressive, with compelling structures that are sure to leave a lasting impression. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUuzuQp5 #WineTasting #Malaga #SpanishWine #Garnacha #AustereWines #WineAging #WineLovers

WEEKLY TASTING REPORT: Making Light of Napa’s 2022 Heat, an Alsatian Celebration and Sweetly Spanish (Part III) Melanie Pfister is one of the most daring winemakers in Alsace and until recently it was with her cool climate dry rieslings that she attracted the most attention, but after having worked at Château Cheval Blanc in St. Emilion, it’s hardly surprising that she should have serious red wine ambitions. The Mélanie Pfister Pinot Noir Alsace Rahn 2022 is not from a grand cru site (of which there are currently only three for pinot noir in the region), but it is an astonishing wine nonetheless. It has a sensational balance of superfine tannins, great concentration and an extraordinary freshness. That makes it feel lighter in body than it really is, but it’s this vitality that makes it stand out compared with the warmer, richer pinot noirs from producers like Albert Mann and those mentioned above. That difference is all about terroir. Where Melanie Pfister is based in Dahlenheim, a short drive west of Strasbourg, it is significantly cooler than in the central section of the region. This confirms how far and fast Alsace pinot noir has come during the last five years. There are now just shy of 2,000 hectares of pinot noir in the region. SWEET WINES FROM THE MOUNTAINS Senior editor Jacobo García Andrade was in Spain over the past week, where he tasted the offerings of Telmo Rodriguez’s Molino Real Mountain Wines project, which he runs under the aegis of his COMPAÑIA DE VINOS TELMO RODRIGUEZ with Pablo Eguzkiza in the Sierras de Malaga wine region of southern Spain. The mosctatel-based sweet wines they make are crafted in the mountainous and remote region of Axarquia. The vineyards are located on rugged, rocky slate hills with inclinations exceeding 50 percent. They are rife with old, gnarled head-trained vines. The wines are produced using a local clone of muscatel, with the grapes laid out on mats in the sun and sun-dried for about 15 days before being pressed in vertical olive oil presses and placed in barrels to ferment without any debourbage (separating out the juice from the solid particles). The Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez Malaga Molino Real 2020 is sweet yet tender, featuring an enveloping satiny texture that remains well-defined and delineated. All the Molino Real wines are exceptionally crafted and balanced, with a tender, seductive sweetness perfectly countered by luminous acidity. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUuzuQp5 #WineTasting ##Alsace #Riesling #PinotNoir #Terroir #SweetWines #Muscatel #SpanishWine #WineLover #Axarquia

WEEKLY TASTING REPORT: Making Light of Napa’s 2022 Heat, an Alsatian Celebration and Sweetly Spanish (Part II) AN ALSATIAN CELEBRATION When Senior Editor Stuart Pigott traveled to Alsace, France, for the centenary celebration of Trimbach’s dry riesling Clos Ste. Hune, about which a separate report will appear shortly, he also visited a number of the region’s other top producers. The standout wines were two dry rieslings that show how Clos Ste. Hune has become a role model for the white wines of the region over the past few decades. One of these wines, the Famille Hugel Riesling Alsace Schoelhammer Vendange Tardive 2015, is a bottling from a single parcel. Normally the Schoelhammer is a bone-dry wine, but in this exceptionally ripe vintage it is in the no man’s land between dry and off-dry. However, it handles this unusual balance spectacularly well. Drinking it is like descending into an expansive landscape of yellow fruit, dried herbs and spices. Somehow this monumental wine is also graceful. This extraordinary forthcoming release is an exception to the rule of bone dryness for the Schoelhammer, and also of the best vintages since the first release in 2008. No less amazing is the Domaine Valentin Zusslin Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Pfingtsberg 2019, a giant of minerality that’s just beginning to awaken. The aromas of chamomile and wild herbs, licorice and anise are extremely complex. Best of all, there’s an incredible freshness for this vintage, and this helps create the rare combination of dynamism and delicacy. The brother and sister team of Jean-Paul and Marie Zusslin also have been making great pinot noir reds for some years, so the greatness of the Domaine Valentin Zusslin Pinot Noir Alsace Bollenberg Luft 2019 was not surprising to Stuart. Anyone who thinks that Alsace pinot noir is a pale-colored and light-bodied red wine is in for a big shock, because this is extremely powerful and concentrated, with rooty, wet-earth and forest-berry complexity. Time has polished the huge tannin structure, and although this could age for a couple decades it’s already approachable. Muré is another producer with a long-term commitment to making great pinot noirs, and the combination of the excellent 2022 vintage and a change in winemaking (using some whole clusters) has resulted in the haunting beauty of the Muré Pinot Noir Alsace Vorbourg Clos Saint Landelin 2022. The enveloping richness masks the imposing tannins, and the great red fruit plus dry forest floor aromas complete the compelling package. This and the other excellent 2022 pinot noirs from More are also the work of a brother and sister team, Thomas and Veronique Muré. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUuzuQp5 #WineTasting #Alsace #FrenchWine #Riesling #WhiteWine #RedWine #PinotNoir #Winemaking

WEEKLY TASTING REPORT: Making Light of Napa’s 2022 Heat, an Alsatian Celebration and Sweetly Spanish (Part I) The 2022 California reds are coming out in full force now, mostly calming concerns that it would be a cooked or otherwise lesser year because of the historic, extreme heat event around harvest time in most regions. This week’s report reinforces the view that many delicious, effusive wines were made and that the vintage offers pleasure in spades. The Arrow&Branch winery in Napa Valley makes an especially convincing case for the high-quality potential of 2022 Bordeaux-style reds. Executive Editor Jim Gordon tasted with Arrow & Branch owner Steve Contursi and master winemaker Jennifer Williams at their new, expansive winery just north of the city of Napa. All of their reds were among the highest-scoring California wines for this week, topped by the stunning Arrow & Branch Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard 2022, and trailed closely by three others. Williams said her team dealt with the crippling weather, with several days at or over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius), by cutting off any shriveled grape clusters in the vineyard, removing other nasty looking grapes on a sorting table at the winery and then declassifying some lots of young wine before making the final blends. “These were climate conditions that the vines had never seen, ever,” she said, laughing at the enormity of it. She said the air was bone dry with almost no humidity, which increased the shriveling that degrades wine quality. But, she added, “the good growers got the fruit off the vine as soon as we needed it.” Jim also reviewed the Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley St. Helena Estate 2022, an icon for elegance in a classic Napa style, and remarked on its pretty fruit and a rather soft texture. It’s not overly full-bodied, so it’s a vintage that’s drinkable young. Check out the tasting notes for Clif Lede’s impressive 2022 Napa reds as well. The Estate Yountville's Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Stags Leap District Poetry 2022 is a real highlight, showing great density, length and age-worthiness. Jean-Charles Boisset’s broad portfolio of Napa and Sonoma wines are also extensively covered in the tasting notes, led by Raymond Vineyard’s cabernet sauvignons, which range from silky and almost sweet to powerful and structured. DeLoach wines are from the same Boisset group, showing multiple high-scoring chardonnays, pinot noirs and others. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUuzuQp5 #WineTasting #CaliforniaWine #2022Vintage #NapaValley #CabernetSauvignon #NapaWines #Bordeaux #Winemaking