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A toast to the end of wine harvest 2023 at Cederberg Cellar. With each sip, we savour the hard work, dedication, and passion that goes into every bottle.

As we reflect back on harvest 2023 at Cederberg Cellar, we celebrate the undeniable hard work and dedication that our vineyard and cellar teams contributed to this splendid vintage, proving to be yet another magnificent season and one that we can definitely celebrate for years to come.

From David Nieuwoudt’s perspective, 2023 was an excellent white wine vintage overall. The vintage was initially delayed by two weeks; however, a hot spell in January sped things up, and the harvest was ready by the middle of February.

In the 2023 Concours Mondial du Sauvignon competition, Diemersdal Estate won one of only 26 gold medals that went to South African producers.

The Concours gold medal went to the Diemersdal Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2022, a wine that last year drew spectacular accolades, winning an FNB Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10 spot, as well as double gold at the Veritas Wine Competition.

For this year’s Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, some 50 international wine experts travelled to South Africa to judge at this esteemed international wine show which took place in the Cape early in March this year. More than 1 210 wines from 20 countries were entered into the competition, the results for the 14th Concours Mondial du Sauvignon having been announced at the ProWein wine fair in Düsseldorf, Germany this week.

In a world obsessed with youthfulness, at De Grendel we’re celebrating maturity and the age-worthiness of our wines, demonstrated by excellent results in the winemag.co.za 10-Year-Old Wine Report for four years in a row.

The latest well-matured achiever is the 10-year-old De Grendel Shiraz 2013, which scored 93 points in the 2023 report. This follows a Top 10 place, with 92 points, for our flagship De Grendel Rubaiyat 2012 in 2022.

De Grendel is building a track record of success across in the respected wine magazine’s 10-Year-Old Wine report, with De Grendel Winifred 2011 achieving a Top 10 place with a score of 93 in 2021, and De Grendel Merlot 2010 earning 90 points in the previous year’s report.

Meet Andrea and Chris Mullineux, the husband and wife team behind the pioneering Swartland wine brand.

As one of the founding members of the Swartland Revolution and Swartland Independent Producers they are working hard to establish the Swartland as a fine wine-producing area.

This week I attended the release of their Mullineux Signature range wines, once again proving the quality and consistency of these fine wines and their place as the bedrock of the Mullineux wine ranges.

The Swartland Revolution started in 2010 with the Mullineuxs, Eben Sadie, Adi Badenhorst, and Callie Louw.

Before that, Swartland wine didn't feature as fine wine. In fact, these guys struggled to sell it.

The Diemersdal Sauvignon Blanc 2023 has just hit the market, one of the first Sauvignon Blancs from this year’s Cape vintage to be found on shelf.

According to Thys Louw, Diemersdal’s owner-winemaker, the early release is largely driven by the market. “As owners of an established brand, Diemersdal is in a fortunate position to each year have customers clamouring for our Sauvignon Blanc from the new vintage,” he says. “This, as well as the quality of this year’s grapes being conducive to a quick ferment and a short stay to settle in tank, has allowed us to come out with one of the Cape’s first Sauvignon Blancs from the 2023 vintage.”

La Motte Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc 2022 offers the elegance and delightful mineral finish of a cool climate Sauvignon Blanc.

Made from grapes originating from some of South Africa’s most Southerly vineyards in Elim, La Motte’s recently released 2022 Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc offers the elegance and delightful mineral finish of a cool climate Sauvignon Blanc. With the addition of 15% Semillon, this wine is made in a style that lends itself to beautiful bottle maturation while being an exceptionally versatile partner on the dinner table.

Each vineyard grows in its own macro climate and different clones are represented. The soils are of shale origin and the vineyards are trellised to maintain a perfect balance between leaf coverage and yield. Fertility is low with a yield of approximately 6 tons p/ha.

Ken Forrester Vineyards is renowned for producing wines that have received international acclaim and numerous awards, including the world’s top Chenin Blanc at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards for the 2021 Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc.

At the 2023 Wine Harvest Commemorative Event this February, Ken Forrester himself was recognised for his visionary leadership in the South African wine industry with the 1659 Visionary Leadership Award. This annual event, celebrated during the SA wine industry’s birthday month, recognises individuals and organisations for their exceptional contributions.

Ken has become known for his dedication to Chenin Blanc, which he has been championing since 1993. Despite being advised to uproot an old Chenin vineyard and plant Pinotage or Chardonnay, he decided to give the varietal a chance.

When wine is your trade and passion, it is also your reference. Recently, I have been chatting quite a bit to bakers and have noticed the similarities between bread and wine when it comes to fermentation, taste and texture. The same happens when you speak to olive oil producers and beekeepers and this week, we had a wonderful opportunity to taste honey with the same terroir as our La Motte wines. It was quite an experience.

As we are busy with renovations at La Motte estate, we found that a swarm of bees that has been living in one of the estate’s ancient oaks were becoming a danger to themselves and guests and we decided to relocate them. As we’ve been working quite closely with honey sommelier, Natasha Lyon, for a while now, we called on her expertise as well as those of Deane Woollam, an expert in removing and rescuing bees.

Dewaldt Heyns started as the Cellar-master/Winemaker/General Manager in 2003, overseeing a continuous trend of quality and success at Saronsberg!

This consistency led Dewaldt to be nominated to the Cape Winemakers Guild in 2008 - an association of some of the finest SA winemakers recognised for their high standards of craftsmanship within the SA Wine Industry.

This year, celebrating 20 years at Saronsberg and receiving recognition as one of the Top 100 Master Winemakers in the world!