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“The 2020 vintage will go down as one of those years in which we winemakers saw it all,” says Thys. “A magnificent growing season due to the cool, mild conditions during the spring and early summer of 2019. During Christmas Durbanville looked like a winter Cape Cold Front had hit us with cold temperatures, grey skies and rain. And once harvest got under way early in January temperatures climbed, with some unexpected patches of rain. But from mid-January we experienced a true Cape summer: sun, warm weather and a bit of south-easterly wind.”

Despite the vagaries in temperatures and general conditions, Diemersdal’s crop showed even-ripening.

With our rich history of innovation and our eye on wine-drinking trends, Haute Cabrière adds a Rhone-inspired blend of Syrah and Pinot Noir to the range.

This unique blend sees Syrah, a robust, tannic and spicy grape, softened with the delicate and aromatic characteristics of Pinot Noir. The result is a full-bodied soft red wine with beautifully accentuated fruity red berries.

This exciting red blend is yet another step in our pioneering history of classic cultivars and the art of blending them.

The wine is currently available at R145 from our cellar door and online store and will make its way into retail during the rest of March and April.

La Motte Wine Estate in the Franschhoek Valley is celebrating the international acknowledgement of its premium Pierneef Collection, reaffirming the estate’s status as a producer of fine wines and the success of introducing cool climate styles. The limited production Pierneef Collection consists of a Syrah Viognier blend and a Sauvignon Blanc, both for which grapes are obtained from site-specific vineyards grown predominantly in the cooler South Coast region.

Following on the exceptional performance of prior vintages, the 2017 Pierneef Syrah Viognier has not only been listed as one of the Top 100 Wines in South Africa, but has also received 100 points in the SA Wine Index, won Double Platinum as well as the category for Rhône Reds in the National Wine Challenge and has been awarded with Gold medals in the Sommelier Selection, Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge as well as the International Wine Challenge China.

2010:

FIFA World Cup Year in South Africa, and a couple of amazing accolades for Diemersdal. Diemersdal was named Top Producer at the Michelangelo International Wine Awards for the seven Gold Medals it scooped for its Sauvignon Blanc wines. This was the year confirming the arrival of Diemersdal as one of the leading producers of South African Sauvignon Blanc, with the Michelangelo achievement helping to pave the way. As a wine competition Michelangelo uses a majority of international wine experts to scrutinize entries, and with Diemersdal dominating the Sauvignon Blanc category, word got out to the world that great things were happening on this Durbanville Estate.

2010 also saw the maiden vintage of the Diemersdal Pinotage Reserve launched, a classic expression of South Africa’s famous home-grown variety using grapes from older dryland vineyards.

With February being the hottest month in the Winelands and Sauvignon Blanc consumption skyrocketing during this time, we’ve put together a few interesting titbits about this well-loved grape variety.

Did you know?

• Sauvignon is the 5th most planted wine grape variety in South Africa
• It is the most-consumed varietal wine in South Africa
• More than 24 million bottles of Sauvignon Blanc are enjoyed on the local market annually

Sauvignon Blanc originates from Bordeaux in France, but is also highly successful in New Zealand, South Africa and Chile. It is well known to be expressive and can produce a bouquet of different aromas and flavours.

De Grendel Viognier 2019 and Merlot 2017 earned a pair of Gold medals in the 2020 SAKURA Japan Women’s Wine Awards, a unique competition that evaluates wines from around the world from a woman’s perspective.

Now in its 7th edition, the SAKURA awards were judged on blind tasting by 560 Japanese female wine professionals – winemakers, sommeliers, buyers, educators and journalists – evaluating over 4 300 wines from 29 countries. Only about half of the entries earned a Double Gold, Gold or Silver medal.

“Japan is an important, and growing market for us and supports our planned growth in exports. Earning awards like this helps to position our wines in a highly competitive market and puts them directly in front of the Japanese consumer in traditional and online wine supermarkets and specialist wine stores,” De Grendel’s marketing manager, Righard Theron, said.

De Wetshof Limestone Hill Chardonnay 2019

The De Wet family is now into its fourth generation with the two small children of Johann and Gera, approaching school going age. While the De Wets have to be regarded as foremost Chardonnay specialists in the wine lands, they do produce an impressive range of other white varieties and some excellent reds. Last year, Johann de Wet came up to Johannesburg to launch the De Wetshof Limestone Hill Chardonnay 2019 at Saint, David Higgs’s go to restaurant in Sandton. Lovely occasion crowned by a sublime wine.

And now some 6 months later, the wine is performing really well.

Dawn harvested Chardonnay

The grapes for the De Wetshof Limestone Hill Chardonnay 2019 are hand harvested, early in the morning to retain as much of the freshness of flavour in the grapes.

Achim von Arnim, founder of The Haute Cabrière Wine Estate once told me that it is a tradition in France that a Champagne House will name its Champagne after the first owner of the land. In the case of the Haute Cabrière Wine Estate in the beautiful Franschhoek Wine Appellation, this person was Pierre Jourdan, a French Huguenot, to whom the land was first granted. The Pierre Jourdan Méthode Cap Classique Brut nv was first produced by Achim in 1986, the first MCC in the Haute Cabrière range of wines. Achim was one of the Cape’s early pioneers of this style of wine. Now under the Cellarmastership of Achim and Hildegard von Arnim’s son, Takuan, the range has further expanded, now to include two demi sec wines which are finding great favour.

The grapes for this wine are Chardonnay 85% and Pinot Noir 15%, the two great grape varieties of both Champagne and Bordeaux.

Whether you’re toasting the sunset or pairing it with fish on the braai, these cool-climate sauvvies will leave you smiling…

Tokara Reserve Collection Elgin Sauvignon Blanc 2018

This is one of just three sauvignon blancs to claim a coveted five-star rating in the 2020 Platter’s Guide. Though Tokara’s cellar, and many of its vineyards, overlooks the Stellenbosch winelands, the grapes for this wine were drawn from its vineyards on Highlands farm in the cooler Elgin valley.

“The Reserve Collection Sauvignon Blanc from Elgin is a beacon of all things cool-climate, with fresh aromas of gooseberry, lime peel and blackcurrant leaf,” says winemaker Stuart Botha.

It’s drinking nicely right now, but if you can bear to hold onto a few bottles the zippy acidity ensures it’ll keep improving over the next decade.