Being part of the three Michelin star pantheon is not something many chefs can claim – especially not if they’re self-taught and have no background in hospitality. That’s what makes Viki Geunes engineer-turned-chef so exceptional. Alongside Viviane Plaquet, his wife and business partner, Geunes has trailblazed a unique path within the Belgian (and international) fine-dining sphere over the last three decades.

Born in 1972 in Neerpelt, northeastern Belgium, Geunes opened his first restaurant, called ‘t Zilte, in 1996. The venue, located in Mol – a town one-hour drive east of Antwerp – that his simple yet detail-focused style of cuisine was born. Since then his style has evolved, with more innovative techniques allowing him to interpret ingredients in a refreshing and contemporary way, creating intense flavours and cementing the chef’s trademark playful style.

2004 was a pivotal year for the chef; among numerous accolades, Geunes earned his first Michelin star and was named ‘Young Chef of the Year’ by Gault & Millau. He was then hailed ‘Best Chef of the Year’ in 2009 after receiving his second Michelin star in 2008. A few years later, in 2011, ‘t Zilte relocated to Antwerp’s Museum aan de Stroom (museum by the stream), where Geune’s reputation and signature cuisine was consolidated, as he was able to reach a wider audience.

In 2020, Geune and Plaquet’s daughter, Gitte, joined the team. This new stage was marked by two key events: the restaurant’s rebirth as Zilte and, later in 2021, the award of a third Michelin star. Having joined the prestigious Relais & Châteaux network this year, Zilte is now one of only three restaurants with the top Michelin nod in Belgium. It was during a trip to Rioja in 2008, organised by importer La Buena Vida, that Geunes first came across the Remírez de Ganuza project and Remírez de Ganuza’s wines have featured in Zilte’s wine list ever since.

Carafe (Wild duck, fermented blueberry, red beet, sakura, young pine cone)
The smokey duck meat – roasted whole with a filling of smoked hay – is covered in a malt, syrup, mirin and soy sauce glazing, creating a sophisticated interplay of flavours. The truffle scented gravy and mille-feuille of puffed beetroots with salted sakura leaves add earthy complexity. The tangy fermented blueberries and pine cones (pasteurised in maple syrup, ginger syrup and soy sauce) provide texture and a flavour edge.

Fincas de Ganuza 2016
88% Tempranillo, 9% Graciano, 3% Mazuelo; 14.5% abv
Produced with hand-harvested-and-sorted grapes from selected sites in the foothills of Sierra Cantabria and aged for two years in 225-litre oak barrels (85% French, 15% American). Aaron Moeraert, head sommelier at Zilte, explains that this relatively young wine, because it retains great freshness and a perfect balance between primary and secondary flavours, pairs well with the juiciness of the duck’s pink meat and the complexity of the multiple garnishes.

Discover more about Remirez de Ganuza wines

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram  |   Twitter

The post Remírez de Ganuza - my perfect pairing with Viki Geunes appeared first on Decanter.

Pyramids of brightly coloured iced doughnuts, trays of cupcakes topped with swirled pink, yellow and blue frosting, and piles of shiny fresh fruit – oranges, tomatoes, grapes – bring vibrancy and energy, a panoply of colours. Willy Wonka would feel at home here! A table laid out like this, is certainly not the first thing you would expect to see in a winery but this is something different. As the team behind Campo Viejo explains, this is Casa Pasión.

Casa Pasión marked the official launch of Campo Viejo’s Reserva Pasión Limited Edition, as part of the brand’s new ‘Add Some Pasión’ campaign. The two-day extravaganza was intended to illustrate that ‘things that are simple become extraordinary’, highlighting passion and talent through different creative disciplines like art, gastronomy, music and dance.

It could be said that the success of Campo Viejo lies in consistency and reliability. Which poses the question; how does a brand innovate when its name is synonymous with dependability? By placing it front and centre in life’s special moments and experiences, and by sharing the passion and vibrancy of Spain’s diverse and dynamic culture, believes the winery.

New-fashioned approach

For the launch of the new limited edition, Campo Viejo clearly embraced this philosophy with an energetic and eye-catching aesthetic. Aside from the table laid out with tasty treats, the bodega also became home to a variety of modern art installations, featured a flamenco show and even offered an elaborate and colourful meal created by renowned chef Alejandro Serrano.

Colourful meal created by renowned chef Alejandro Serrano for the Casa Pasión event to launch Campo Viejo’s Reserva Pasión Limited Edition

Serrano, who at just 21 broke the mould by becoming the youngest Spanish chef to receive a Michelin star for his innovative restaurant in Miranda de Ebro, was a perfect choice to partner with for this passion-themed event. Bringing an unusual approach to the region’s cuisine, he creates menus solely from seafood and vegetables, which highlighted the adaptability of the carefully paired Campo Viejo range of wines.

Special Reserva

‘Making something simple special’ is how Federico Leonard, Global Wine Ambassador for Campo Viejo, summarises the winery’s approach to winemaking. With this in mind, the winery commissioned young Spanish artist Misterpiro to design a special label for limited release, which was exclusively showcased at Casa Pasión. A contemporary artist whose paintings exude colour and vitality, Misterpiro worked in collaboration with head winemaker Ignacio López to create a unique design for the most famous wine in the range, Campo Viejo Reserva.

The unique label maintains the classic Campo Viejo orange design at its core but is bordered by Misterpiro’s ‘pasión’ design, based on paintings created during the artist’s various visits to the vineyards. Misterpiro explains that he was inspired by his impressions of the winery and terroir, which looked different on each of his visits to Rioja.

Working with López, the artist tasted individual tanks and barrels to find ‘the nuances within the different varieties’ which enabled him to reflect these in his energetic design. Misterpiro, originally a graffiti artist, has gradually introduced more traditional techniques into his repertoire over time. But his focus very much remains on the outdoors – hence the perfect synergy of his creative label design for Campo Viejo’s special edition.

Artwork on display at Campo Viejo Casa Pasión

Wine as art

López draws a parallel between art and the art of winemaking. ‘What we use as winemakers are the vines, landscape and soils. The intention is to express something that moves you,’ he explains. The winemaker believes that Misterpiro’s unique design represents the landscape in the same way that his wines express the Riojan terroir. ‘Misterpiro’s art speaks for itself, and we feel the same way about our wines – when you drink them, you should know where they come from,’ he expands.

Lopez also feels that Misterpiro’s creative process is comparable to the considered ways of winemaking. Remarking on the similarity between the reflective process of winemaking and blending, he highlighted how the artist painted several pieces along the way, leaving each one for a while before returning to use the colours in a different way.

Campo Viejo Casa Pasión in Logroño, Spain

Long-term inspiration

It is apt that Misterpiro’s colourful new label design was inspired by the vineyard, as this is where Campo Viejo is focusing most of its attention. As the biggest brand in Rioja, the winery understands its responsibility to both its growers and the environment. Several years ago, it stopped using herbicides and since then, has helped growers adapt to more sustainable vineyard management. Regenerative viticulture underpins the winery’s practices across the estate.

Although its commitment to the sustainable practices is long-term, the winery’s innovative approach to its brand is ever-changing, seeking to meet the market’s demands for something ‘dependably new’. The Limited Edition Reserva featuring the Misterpiro-designed label hails from the 2017 vintage and will be available over the festive season. It marks the first release in the ‘Pasión collection’ and exemplifies Campo Viejo’s tagline that ‘with passion, anything can be extraordinary’. And if Casa Pasión is anything to go by, this Limited Edition Reserva off to an extraordinary start.

Flamenco performers at Casa Pasión

Discover more about
Campo Viejo’s Casa Pasión
Campo Viejo’s collaboration with MisterPiro

Connect on
Facebook   |   Instagram   |   YouTube

The post Campo Viejo launches Limited Release Reserva appeared first on Decanter.

Founded in Fuenmayor by a group of like-minded friends in 1998, Bodegas Altanza has, from its inception, had the single intention of making authentic Rioja wines with a modern twist. Rioja wines that are able to express terroir, grape variety and tradition in a pure and sophisticated way. This philosophy has been applied with particular attention when crafting the winery’s Reservas, whose production sits upon three core premises: the use of estate-grown fruit only, a focus on Tempranillo and the thoughtful use of French oak.

The rule of exception

These are the building blocks for the creation of Bodegas Altanza’s four flagship Reservas: Altanza Reserva, Altanza Familia, Altanza Club and the Spanish Artist Collection. Yet, although the underlying principles are the same, each of them offers a particular expression of Tempranillo, resulting in different and distinctive age-worthy Rioja wines. Together with the Gran Reservas in the winery’s range, the four Reserva wines make up 50% of the winery’s production – a daring quality-focused proposition, that sets it apart from most of its counterparts, where focus is often placed on high volume, young wines.

A narrative with chapters

Because these wines are embedded in the estate’s identity, the story of the Reservas of Bodegas Altanza offers a complete and perfect overview of the producer’s history and evolution. It all began with the eponymous Altanza, the first Reserva the winery produced, first released in 2001. Elegant, with richness of fruit balanced by velvety tannins, and with lovely persistence, the wine encapsulates Altanza’s style in a straightforward and unpretentious way.

Its successor was Altanza Familia, a more modern expression of Reserva with extended ageing, following 18 months in barrels, in foudres and in bottle prior to release. This lends it a particular finesse, underlined by beautiful freshness and velvety tannins, with finely carved black cherry, liquorice, dried fig and tobacco flavours, topped by a layer of pepper and clove.

Carlos Ferreiro, Winemaker

Having received a 96-points nod from Decanter in 2023, the award-winning Altanza Club, started as a limited release wine available to members only. It has been made available to the wider public since 2005, due to popular demand following outstanding reviews from international critics. With production limited to 183 barrels (French new oak), members can buy a whole vessel and have the wine tailor-finished for special events, gifts or landmark dates.

Last but not least, the Spanish Artist Collection is a special series, released in exceptional vintages only, now especially sought after by collectors. Launched in 2001, it quickly turned heads for its masterful marriage of winemaking and artistic excellence, with each vintage depicting the works of renowned Spanish artists. The current edition – Velázquez Reserva 2011 – is the sixth to be released. The product of the excellent 2011 vintage, it features paintings by Diego Velázquez, the leading painter of the Spanish ‘Golden Age’. These truly are Altanza’s masterpieces and long may its harvests yield such works of winemaking art.

Discover more about Bodegas Altanza

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram  |   YouTube

The post Altanza - the home of modern Rioja Reserva appeared first on Decanter.

Thanks to its exceptionally diverse terroir, distinctive signature grape varieties and new generation of passionate winemakers – from committed small-scale artisans to distinguished winemaking dynasties – Maremma Toscana DOC is today one of Tuscany’s most innovative and dynamic appellations.

From the hills to the sea, across the entire province of Grosseto in southern Tuscany, this pristine territory – with more than two millennia of winemaking heritage, yet still not completely tamed – is attracting ever-greater attention with an array of wines appealing to a wide range of palates.

Whether it’s for white wines – in particular Vermentino, the region’s calling card – or its increasingly sought-after rosés, varietal reds or red blends, Maremma Toscana’s variegated, coastal-influenced terrain is justly considered unique in the wine world.

Vermentino’s ideal home

‘Since Etruscan times, this has been the ideal habitat for grape vines and, thanks in part to the dazzling sunlight found here, indigenous and international varieties now thrive under the aegis of sustainability and technical innovation,’ explains Francesco Mazzei, president of the Consorzio Tutela Vini della Maremma Toscana.

Right now, Vermentino is the appellation’s crown jewel. Tuscany’s archetypical coastal white has enjoyed considerable success in its fresher, simple styles, but longer-aged versions with more complex vinification are now attracting more attention. From 2023, lovers of fine white wines should look out for Vermentinos carrying the ‘Superiore’ wording on their labels – denoting complex, age-worthy wines that can only be marketed a minimum of 14 months after harvest.

New discoveries

Another one of Maremma Toscana’s success stories has been Ciliegiolo, a recently rediscovered variety now primarily used to make varietal wines that offer its trademark bright cherry flavours and a characteristic lively freshness. To these one might add the more structured wines from the Tufo sub-region and inland Maremma, sheltered by the Colline Metallifere, as well as the region’s increasingly sought-after rosés and red wines – both single-varietal and blends – produced from native or international grapes.

Native varieties Ansonica (a white variety), Alicante Nero (Grenache) and Sangiovese are increasingly being explored by a new generation of winemakers to further carve out Maremma’s regional identity, while international grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah, introduced since the 1990s, are yielding benchmark wines in their categories, thanks to the region’s unrivalled maritime terroir.

The impressive, palate-pleasing characteristics of Maremma wines and the efforts of new generations of winemakers are key elements in the ever-higher levels of quality that the region is achieving. For wine professionals and wine lovers, there has never been a better time to focus on Maremma Toscana DOC.

Discover more about Consorzio Tutela Vini della Maremma Toscana

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram   |   YouTube

The post Maremma Toscana DOC - unrivalled terroir on the shores of the Mediterranean appeared first on Decanter.

Glenelly’s logo is nothing if not striking: a dignified young lady riding a perkily-trotting rhino, while balancing an ornate – and enormous – wine glass. Unusual, certainly, yet it captures the power, elegance and balance Glenelly strives for in its wines, as well as the estate’s three key elements: its aristocratic European ownership, African soul and, of course, wine.

Glenelly is owned by May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, who spent 30 years as managing director and owner of Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac and was voted Decanter’s Woman of the Year in 1994. Nine years later, at the age of 78, she headed to Stellenbosch in search of a new project.

Why South Africa? The story goes that de Lencquesaing had sponsored the Bordeaux blends category in a wine competition for many years, and her interest was piqued by handing out the trophy most years to winners from Stellenbosch. She realised there must be something special there and made her move, buying Glenelly Estate.

Not that it was a ready-made wine estate by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, at the time, it was just a fruit farm, with not a single vine. The new owners had to pull up an awful lot of plum trees to replant their 57 hectares.

Bordeaux reds and Chardonnay went in, and a spectacular gravity-flow winery over four floors was sunk into an old quarry. It’s far bigger than currently required, but the team at Glenelly are planning for the future.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

On the foothills of the Simonsberg, Glenelly is one of the closest wineries to the centre of the town of Stellenbosch, its vast floor-to-ceiling window in the fermentation hall looking out over schools, churches and the estate’s after-school care centre for its workers’ children. Knowing that education is key to their future, Glenelly follows and supports the children’s progress very closely.

‘Because of our proximity to the town, we like to say that we are the Haut-Brion of Stellenbosch,’ jokes de Lencquesaing’s grandson, CEO Nicolas Bureau.

Glenelly has embraced regenerative viticulture, striving to nurture the life of the soil as much as the health of the vines. Most of the vineyards are in a natural amphitheatre, facing from south-east through south-west, and after 20 years the team are understanding the nuances of their terroir. Cabernet, for instance, is showing more promise than Merlot, which is more sensitive to the heat and is slowly being replaced. The best red blends are already Cabernet-dominant, and this looks set to increase over time.

There’s a genuine polish and elegance to the wines, which remain remarkably well priced, given their aristocratic heritage.

‘Quality is key, and with time, you start building a following for the style we are pursuing. You don’t create a reputation with [a high] price,’ says Nicolas Bureau. ‘We’d rather start from the bottom up and put our prices up slowly as demand increases.’

On this evidence, it most surely will.

Glenelly Estate – Four wines to try:

Lady May, Stellenbosch, 2017

With 24 months in barrels, most of them new, you’d expect this wine to be an oak bomb. But there’s so much fruit concentration here, it simply absorbs it. 90% Cabernet, it shows a tightly-coiled cassis nose, with a brooding inky liquorice element shadowing in behind. Further flavour elements appear on the palate – Christmas spices, graphite – as it moves with lithe power. Made with sensitivity and precision, it’s undeniably one for the long haul.
96 points
Drink 2023-2050 | Alcohol 14.5%

Estate Reserve Red, Stellenbosch, 2016

This used to be mostly Cabernet and Syrah, but now it’s a Bordeaux blend with a 12% dollop of Syrah – a formula that on this evidence works really well. There’s plenty of shiny blue Cabernet fruit on the nose, but the other varieties take over on the palate, with a gentle undertow of blackberries, a shading of graphite and a dusting of herbs. It’s full-bodied, but classily put together and excellent value, too.
95 points
Drink 2023-2035 | Alcohol 14.5%

Estate Reserve Chardonnay, Stellenbosch, 2021

‘Chardonnay can get fat,’ says winemaker Jerome Likwa, ‘and that’s not what we want.’ Despite 100% barrel-fermentation they’ve achieved their goal. This is a pretty style of Chardonnay – bright and light-footed, with crisp, clean pear and apple compote flavours leading onto a creamy palate with some minerality and tension. Elegantly crafted.
92 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 12%

Glass Collection Cabernet Sauvignon, Stellenbosch, 2020

Glenelly are acquiring a strong reputation for their Cabernets, and it’s easy to see why; for the price, this, from their affordable ‘Glass Collection’ range, is excellent. Bright, pure blackcurrant fruit, with elegant tannins and a touch of cedary cigar-box, it’s brisk and refined, with perfectly judged oak use.
91 points
Drink 2023-2028 | Alcohol 14.5%

Discover more about Glenelly Estate

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Glenelly Estate appeared first on Decanter.

When people leave their homes in a hurry, they tend to prioritise what they take with them. So it says a lot about the Bruwers’ French Huguenot ancestors that when they embarked on a new life in the Cape in 1688 they left the Loire clutching bundles of vines.

About 60 miles north of the tip of Africa, super-dry Robertson is very different from Rouen; it’s only possible to even grow grapes there thanks to irrigation from the Breede River, and the Bruwers’ first vineyards were on alluvial soil near the river.

This area is no place for the faint-hearted, particularly once you move up into the hills. The soil is extremely rocky, and preparing the land for vines – and looking after them – is hard work.

It takes resilience and creative ingenuity to thrive here. Which perhaps explains the pride that Abrie Bruwer – current joint custodian of the land with his sister, Jeanette – has in his enormous workshop, where intricate machines of all descriptions are created, adapted and repurposed to do battle with the unforgiving terrain.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

In many ways it captures much of what Springfield is all about: no-nonsense common sense, self-reliance and a tendency to take the right, rather than the easy option. The estate’s motto, ‘Made on Honour’, is apt – not least because it is reflected in the wines, too.

The Life From Stone Sauvignon Blanc is practically hewn out of quartz, from the most unforgiving of vineyards; the Work of Time Bordeaux blend and Méthode Ancienne Cabernet each have seven years of age before they are released – more than a Rioja Gran Reserva. These are serious wines, made by people who are serious about what they do.

Well, most of the time anyway. Jeanette Bruwer wryly tells the story of the family’s attempt to see how wines would age at sea.

In 1999 a case of Methode Ancienne Cabernet was duly lowered down off the side of a boat in the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately the experiment hit the buffers when they couldn’t find the wines again. After three years of fruitless searching they gave up.

Then on New Year’s Day 2003, the errant case of wines mysteriously reappeared. Covered in barnacles and somewhat pungent the bottles might have been, but the wine itself was magnificent.

‘I like a wine like a person with lines on its face and no make-up,’ muses Jeanette. ‘It needs life experience and time.’

Springfield Estate – Four wines to try:

The Work of Time, Robertson, 2017

Always mostly Cabernet Franc-dominant, there’s some serious age on this Bordeaux blend, which spends two years in oak and five further years in bottle. Although there’s still plenty of silky dark cassis fruit on this six-year-old wine, its defining factor is perhaps its cool, river-pebble heart. Flavours of cedar, graphite and cherry-lip wrap around it obediently, and it centres the wine beautifully.
94 points
Drink 2023-2040 | Alcohol 14.5%

Life From Stone Sauvignon Blanc, Robertson, 2022

This wine’s name is a reference to the tough, rocky quartz soils where it’s grown. And there’s a definite cold, steely glint to the pale, almost green-flecked wine itself. Tight grass and citrus wrap around sappy green fruit and a smoky minerality. Defiantly itself, it’s as bracing as a salty lungful of ozone on a chilly, spring seafront.
93 points
Drink 2023-2026 | Alcohol 12.5%

Methode Ancienne Chardonnay, Robertson, 2020

How ‘ancienne’ is Springfield Estate’s méthode ancienne? Well, put it this way, they control the fermentation temperature by opening and closing the cellar door! Very hands-off, the wine shows plush yellow peach flavours, with a creamy, slightly cinnamon-spiced mid-palate from the influence of 70% new oak. The succulent palate tapers to a gently salty point on the long finish. One for crayfish.
93 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 13.5%

Albarino, Robertson, 2022

‘We had a lot of fun with this,’ says Springfield’s co-custodian, Jeanette Bruwer, and it shows. Fleshy peach flavours are underpinned by a joyful bedrock of tangerine and pink grapefruit and sprinkled with a dusting of ginger. It’s impossible to dislike. Particularly good, given how young the vines are, so we can expect more of this variety in future.
89 points
Drink 2023-2026 | Alcohol 13%

Discover more about Springfield Estate

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Springfield Estate appeared first on Decanter.

Creativity, research, innovation and heritage: these are the values that shape the style of Fear No Dark, a new project from the Pasqua family that expresses the most daring reaches of their oenological vision.

Although Pasqua Wines is a respectful custodian of its history, it sees tradition as a motor of innovation and does not remain tied to the rules of the past: the constant drive to innovate has propelled the company beyond the confines of the familiar.

Challenging darkness

Fear No Dark presents a bold metaphorical challenge to the absence of light, the ultimate symbol of the unexplored. With the release of this new project, Pasqua Wines continues its quest for innovation, seeking new oenological horizons without fearing the unknown. The wine bears out the winemakers’ belief in the potential of a shadowy parcel within the extraordinary Mai Dire Mai vineyard in Montevegro, tended by the Pasqua family since 2010; an embracing of darkness as a place of undiscovered possibilities. Pasqua handles the grapes with both ancestral knowledge and state-of-the-art technology, daring to vinify grapes of unapologetic concentration and an assertive and powerful character; mastering a fierce raw material to sculpt an elegant wine.

The Mai Dire Mai vineyard

A Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend with 5% of the indigenous Oseleta, Fear No Dark reveals a different side of a vineyard already praised for the Amarone Mai Dire Mai. The specific parcel Fear No Dark hails from is a northeast-facing plot, covering 5.1 hectares in one the property’s most secluded areas. With limited sun exposure, and kissed by the breezes from Mount Lessini, the plot is notably cool, allowing for a longer maturation cycle. Pergola-trained and with a density of 4,000 vines/ha, it was one of the first plots to be planted at Mai Dire Mai, 40 years ago, delivering small yields of concentrated and very complex fruit. To tame this complexity, Fear No Dark rests for 16 months in new French oak 500-litre tonneaux and 225-litre barriques.

‘We have been working on this project since 2010, the first vintage of Mai Dire Mai Amarone,’ explains CEO Riccardo Pasqua. ‘We have since studied the character of each parcel and, recognising the potential of that specific shadowy plot, have patiently observed its potential. We have waited 10 years to consolidate and position the Mai Dire Mai range, which has since become one of our most successful brands,’ he continues. ‘Today, having refined the knowledge of each micro-parcel and of how to vinify Cabernet Sauvignon – and having been validated by both national and international critics – we are ready to present Fear No Dark. It is testimony of our strength of vision and of the coherence of all our projects.’

Riccardo, Umberto and Alessandro Pasqua

Winemaking as art

The first release of Fear No Dark, the 2020 vintage, of which only 12,000 bottles were produced, was marked by balance and harmony. A mild and dry winter was followed by a rainy and troubled spring, offset by a summer without extreme temperatures and with ideal levels of rainfall. During harvest, in the second half of October, optimal conditions, dry and warm, allowed the best grapes to reach the winery in perfect condition.

The result is a wine positioned between a Valpolicella Classico and an Amarone, in the ultra-premium segment, released to market on the full moon, 29 September 2023, and available on allocation only. The date was intentionally chosen within the framework of the Luna Somnium art project, consolidating the connection between Pasqua’s winemaking legacy and the fine art world. Luna Somnium is a installation unveiled during the latest edition of Vinitaly and exhibited at the Gallerie Mercatali di Verona. Through the symbol of the moon, it evokes a new vision of reality via the emotional power of art, calling on the audience to shed preconceptions and attachments to what is already known, to change perceptions and to remain open to new perspectives.

Embracing the unknown

Luna Somnium therefore becomes an invitation to free interpretation and expression, a dream that combines poetry and technology, envisioned through the power of human imagination. This makes a perfect parallel with the essence of Pasqua Wines, exemplified by Fear No Dark and Mai Dire Mai; a laboratory of constant research, open to dialogue and confrontation, where the new and the unknown are embraced rather than feared.

Discover more about Pasqua Wines

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram  |   Twitter  |   YouTube

The post Fear No Dark - a bold new statement from Pasqua Wines appeared first on Decanter.

Bruwer Raats is a man who makes an impression. ‘It doesn’t matter who’s in a room,’ said one winemaker, ‘when he walks in, everyone notices. It’s hard to put your finger on. He just has… presence.’

The same could be said for his wines, which have gained an impressive reputation since Raats started making them under his own name in 2000. They’re not big or showy; they’re just stand-out good, regularly picking up five-star ratings in South Africa’s influential ‘wine bible’, the Platter Guide.

Raats began without either vines or a winery of his own. Instead, he bought fruit from local farmers he liked and trusted and (like many young start-up winemaker operations) rented space in an existing winery.

Although he has had his own farm since 2003, it’s purely for blending the top red wines. He still rents or shares cellar space in a local winery and has long-term agreements with three local farmers to lease their vineyards and grow the grapes together.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

The vineyards are almost all in the Polkadraai Hills – the smallest sub-region in Stellenbosch at just 1000 hectares. Grapes from these slopes have become among the most sought-after in the region, with the decomposed white dolomite (granitic) soils infusing the wines with a distinctive minerality and chalkiness – particularly Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc.

Winemakers Mzokhona Mvemve, Bruwer Raats and Gavin Bruwer

These are the two varieties which Bruwer decided to focus on when he started out, reasoning that it was better to specialise than generalise. But people were still taken aback at what was then a left-field choice.

‘Starting on those two varieties in 2000 was crazy,’ admits Sam Raats, Bruwer’s son, who is following in his father’s sizable footsteps. ‘Chenin Blanc was for brandy or bulk wine and everyone told my dad that Cabernet Franc was a blending variety.’

To say he’s proved the doubters wrong since would be something of an understatement. Sam is spending the 2023 vintage in the Loire so will doubtless come back enthused with more ideas for both varieties.

If you want to see what Bruwer Raats is capable of with other varieties, it’s worth checking out his MR de Compostella. Made in conjunction with his great friend, Mzokhona Mvemve, the first black graduate from the university of Stellenbosch’s Viticulture and Oenology course, it’s a Bordeaux blend of five varieties – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec – whose proportions change from year to year.

Raats Family Wines – Four wines to try:

Family Cabernet Franc, Stellenbosch, 2020

While the Raats Dolomite Cab Franc is brightly sappy and Loire-like in style, here Bruwer Raats is looking for a more Bordelais style. From the best Cabernet Franc vineyards it has a darker, black-cherry fruit character with herbal cedar and oregano top notes and a beautiful cool river-pebble stoniness at its heart.
95 points
Drink 2023-2032 | Alcohol 13.5%

MR de Compostella, Stellenbosch, 2020

Bruwer Raats’ collaboration with his great friend Mzo Mvemve, this is a powerhouse of a Bordeaux blend made from the best parcels of fruit in the best vineyards. The blend changes every year, but this is Cab Franc dominant, which brings a gentle wisp of coriander leaf to the cassis and cherry-lip fruit flavours. Serious weight, but it’s also refined and pure with the dolomite soils providing energy and drive through the palate.
95 points
Drink 2023-2040 | Alcohol 14.5%

Old Vine Chenin Blanc, Polkadraai Hills, 2022

If the Raats Original is Chenin at its most relaxed, this is what the variety tastes like when it makes a bit of an effort. A bit of concrete egg-fermentation and some time in old oak add extra layers of weight and texture beneath the custard apple, melon and white peach flavours. Superbly well made, it’s beautifully balanced and effortlessly structured.
94 points
Drink 2023-2028 | Alcohol 13%

Original Chenin Blanc, Polkadraai Hills, 2022

When the Wine and Spirit Education Trust wants to show students an example of Cape Chenin, this is the bottle they turn to – and it’s easy to see why. With its green fig, pineapple and mouth-watering citrus flavours it’s an absolutely textbook example of unoaked Stellenbosch Chenin. Brilliant Tuesday night glugger.
90 points
Drink 2023-2025 | Alcohol 13%

Discover more about Raats Family Wines

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Raats Family Wines appeared first on Decanter.

Klein Constantia occupies a special place in the heart of anyone interested in wine from the Cape. Not only because it is the birthplace of what can probably, without hyperbole, be called the New World’s first ever icon wine – the extraordinary Vin de Constance sweet wine, which was wowing European courts in the 18th century – but also because the estate is so indelibly linked with the history of the Cape.

Klein Constantia is part of the original farm owned by Simon van der Stel, the immensely influential governor of the Cape from 1679. And yes, in case you were wondering, the town of Stellenbosch is named after him.

He was given the estate in recognition of the diligence and skill of his service; a thank-you which involved a whopping 763 hectares of prime land behind Table Mountain.

There was, originally, only one ‘Constantia’ estate, but over the years, as owners’ fortunes waxed and waned, it was split into two. Due south of Cape Town, towards Cape Point, Klein Constantia is a truly beautiful spot with spectacular views out towards False Bay and the Cape wine lands.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

Van der Stel knew about wine, and as well as a house, garden and orchards, he also put in 10,000 vines, among them Muscat, Chenin Blanc and Semillon. He was very definitely on the right lines, because even today this breezy spot – around five degrees cooler than Stellenbosch on average – is very much a white wine area.

Of Klein Constantia’s 65 hectares of vineyards, all but seven are white. And if you needed any further proof of how cool it is here, over half of them are Sauvignon Blanc. Winemaker Matthew Day is a huge fan.

‘I love the variety,’ he says unequivocally. ‘It’s my favourite wine to make. It is serious and it is ageworthy.’ He’s worked with Loire legend Pascal Jolivet, and incorporated some of his techniques – wild fermentation, no additives, no settling before fermentation to name but three – to create wines of texture and longevity.

Their best Sauvignon vineyards are a good way up the side of the mountain, at around 250 metres above sea level, before it gets too steep and rocky to plant. The cool east- and south-east-facing slopes are perfect for the variety.

The only problem, in fact, is baboons, who live on Table Mountain and munch their way through an astonishing 27 tonnes of ripe fruit every year!

Klein Constantia – Four wines to try:

Vin de Constance, Constantia, 2020

Enticing bright gold in colour, there’s a regal air to this sticky delight that befits its one-time status as European court wine. An intense explosion of flavours – peaches, sugared grapes, candied lime plus lemon, ginger and vanilla pod. It’s a drink to savour slowly – either on its own or with a plate of blue cheese. Count the finish in minutes…
95 points
Drink 2024-2043 | Alcohol 13.7%

Clara Sauvignon Blanc, Constantia, 2021

A blend of the best Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in the Perdeblokke, 250m up on cool East and South-facing slopes, this combines intriguing elements from its different terroirs. Exuberant tropical fruit flavours – mango and fig are the predominant note, but smokier, more saline flavours lick in around the edges – and the finish has real grip. Quite oily and textural, it’s one for scallops or lobster.
94 points
Drink 2023-2033 | Alcohol 14%

Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Constantia, 2022

Currently only 10% of this well-priced Estate blend is barrel-fermented, but winemaker Mathew Day has hopes of increasing this to nearer 50%. There are plenty of enticing tropical fruit flavours, backed up with zingy, zesty herbal notes to provide lift, and a taut minerality on the finish. If you want the essence of the Klein Constantia estate, this is it.
93 points
Drink 2023-2028 | Alcohol 13.7%

Anwilka, Stellenbosch, 2019

This Stellenbosch estate (co-owned by Klein Constantia) is undergoing a long, slow process of regeneration. There’s no shortage of intensity – dark, ripe fruit, liquorice spice and deep colour – though tannins still squeak in around the edges of the finish. Needs time to settle down but has potential.
89 points
Drink 2023-2038 | Alcohol 14.9%

Discover more about Klein Constantia

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Klein Constantia appeared first on Decanter.

Weather extremes are on every winemaker’s mind and Slovenia is no exception. 2022 was the hottest and driest year on record, then 2023 was the wettest in 40 years. Rebula/Ribolla Gialla, the flagship grape of the beautiful, hilly, cross-border regions of Brda and Collio, has sailed through both seasons with grace.

Deep resilience

Due to its ability to root down 12 metres in search of scarce water in hot years, Rebula is a resilient and resourceful grape. Under conditions of water stress, it produces secondary metabolites giving more complex flavours and higher quality wines. In wetter years, on the other hand, the region’s special opoka bedrock becomes the hero. Its page-like layers of marl, calcite and sandstone fracture easily so water drains away quickly, and grapes keep their quality and concentration.

Brda and Collio’s Alpine-meets-Mediterranean climate also offers sunshine to ripen grapes but constant mountain breezes keep the bunches healthy. Rebula is late ripening, so misses the hot summer season nights and always retains vibrant acidity, along with moderate alcohol.

Sustainable by nature

This set of natural conditions, along with the determination of local growers, means that the region is sustainable by nature, with 99% of the grapes grown on short terraces that hug the steep hillsides. This is good for sun exposure but also helps to retain enough moisture (there’s no need for artificial irrigation), while at the same time allowing heavy downpours to drain away without erosion damage. Wildflowers fill the spaces between vine rows and the 20 plant species and five bird nests that researchers seek as a measure of sustainability in vineyards, are easily found here.

Something for everyone

Wine is a drink that truly interprets what the vine does with the land and climate, though Rebula’s versatility allows winemakers to stamp their own stories on the wines too. Whether it’s fine sparkling, fresh mineral whites, layered age-worthy classic examples, skin contact wines or even rare, sweet passito styles, this heroic combination of grape, landscape and people can offer something for everyone. And with Trieste just an hour away and Venice a straightforward 90 minutes’ drive, it’s easy to start your wine journey in this stunning wine region. Welcome to the Brda/Collio hills.

Rebula – twelve wines to try:

Marjan Simcic Domaine, Rebula Opoka Medana Jama Cru, Goriška Brda Slovenia 2020
Available from Orbit Wines (UK), Banville & Jones Wine Merchants (USA)
A complex, expressive wine with aromas and flavours of tropical fruit, mango, sweet spice and dried peach. Hints of tangerine add a zesty edge. It’s intense and generously juicy, with a firm structure of fine-grained tannins and a sapid mineral finish.
Drink 2023-2033 Alc 13%
96 points

Scurek, Rebula Up, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2020
Available from Cask Cartel (USA)
Glorious aromas of sun-ripened peach, mock orange and dried apricot lead to a rich, velvety palate with juicy flavours of dried peach, apricot and mandarin, completed by a fine, mineral aftertaste with hints of salted lemon.
Drink 2023-2027 Alc 13%
96 points

Erzetič, Orbis Rebula, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2019
Available from XtraWine (UK)
A bright golden wine with endless layers of bouquet – meadow herbs, toasted nuts and fruity notes of quince, pineapple, bergamot zest and candied peel. The fruit is generously ripe, mouth-filling, and silky with gentle acidity and lovely length.
Drink 2023-2028 Alc 13.5%
95 points

Gradis’ciutta, Sveti Nikolaj Rebula, Slovenia 2021
Available from www.gradisciutta.eu
Beautifully expressive with scents of vine peach, Mirabelle and lemon zest. It’s a sleek, graceful wine, expressing generous yellow plum fruit, juicy acidity and harmonious creamy oak, then a lingering finish.
Drink 2023-2027 Alc 13%
94 points

Edi Simčič, Rebula, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2021
Available from Bancroft Wines (UK), August Imports (USA)
Refined and elegant with a bouquet of ripe pear, camomile, iris and wild thyme. To taste, flavours of juicy Asian pear, ripe apple and Acacia blossom are enhanced by subtle vanilla, with a persistent, saline finish.
Drink 2023-2030 Alc 13%
94 points

Ferdinand, Rebula Brutus, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2019
Available from MacArthur Beverages (USA)
Destemmed berries spend 12 months in barrel, giving amazing aromatic complexity with dried apricots, bitter orange zest and wild thyme. It’s surprisingly fruity to taste, with melon, mango and zesty notes, and a robust backbone of savoury umami tannins.
Drink 2023-2030 Alc 12.5%
94 points

Sturm, Ribolla Gialla BIO, Collio Italy 2022
Available from Ester Wines (UK), Sturnik Wines & Spirits (USA)
This organic wine has a delicate bouquet of pear, green melon, honeysuckle and mint. It’s mouth-watering, with pear and melon notes, a touch of mandarin zest, underscored by a vibrant core of bright acidity.
Drink 2023-2025 Alc 13%
93 points

Klet Brda, Bagueri Rebula, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2020
Available from Berkmann Wine Cellars (UK) and The Thief Fine Wine and Beer (USA)
There’s an inviting nose of white peach, toasted pine nut, meadowsweet and a touch of fresh quince. It’s refined and supple to taste, with lemon oil, nectarine, candied pineapple and lingering citrussy freshness.
Drink 2023-2030 Alc 13.5%
93 points

Medot, Rebula Journey, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2022
Available from www.medot-wines.com
A light golden wine with aromas of meadowsweet and fresh quince, leading to a generously fruity palate with hints of nectarine, melon and hedgerow blossom with a lasting, mineral finish.
Drink 2023-2028 Alc 13%
91 points

Dolfo, Dolfo Rumena Rebula, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2022
Available from XtraWine
Crisp, vibrant and linear in style, with inviting aromas of yellow plum, camomile and lemon flower, then gentle ripe apple and golden melon fruit in the mouth, with an appetising saline finish.
Drink 2023-2026 Alc 12.5%
90 points

Jermann, Vinnae Ribolla Gialla, Venezia Giulia, Italy 2022
Available from Berkmann Wine Cellars (UK) and Maze Row Wine Merchant (USA)
A whistle-clean, bright version of Ribolla Gialla, first produced in 1983. It’s light straw gold with subtle notes of green apple, peaches and cream, and a twist of meadow herbs, backed by crisp lively freshness.
Drink 2023-2027 Alc 12.5%
90 points

Klet Brda, Quercus, Goriška Brda, Slovenia 2022
A benchmark example of classic, fresh Rebula. White peach, green apple and touches of meadow herbs on the nose lead onto flavours of peaches, lemon oil and green almond on the finish with a refreshing touch of zesty acidity.
Drink 2023-2027 Alc 13%
89 points

Discover more about Brda Home of Rebula

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram  |   YouTube

The post Rebula - a natural answer to climate change appeared first on Decanter.

Bruce Jack, it’s safe to say, is not like most winemakers. As a profession, cellarmasters tend to be reluctant to talk about much outside their sphere of expertise, coming alive when the conversation turns to viticulture or winemaking techniques – often the more arcane the better.

Jack, however, is pretty much the opposite. Time in his presence can cover anything from politics to African history, the correct way to serve tea and the joys of print media. Getting him to talk about wine at all is something of an effort, and even then it comes with frequent high-speed digressions into wineland folklore. These stories can be sad, funny or educational – but never boring.

Jack trained as a winemaker at Australia’s famous Roseworthy college, which produced a generation of top winemakers who transformed the wine world in the 1990s. Like many of them, he’s happy to travel the globe, and makes wine in Spain and Chile and has four different wine ranges in South Africa.

He freely admits that the cheaper, bigger-volume ranges from outside the Cape are what allow him to play, experiment and – you suspect – scratch his creative itch with, for instance, the wines from Drift Estate and his brilliantly labelled Ghost in the Machine range.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

The farm was bought by Jack’s father, who wanted to retire somewhere where he ‘couldn’t see the lights of his neighbours’ farm at night, but which was two hours from an international airport.’ Jack searched all over the world for just such a spot, before settling on this 200-hectare estate in the Overberg Highlands.

About 50km north of Elim, at the southernmost tip of Africa, it’s remote and quiet, the vast spaces filled in the summer by gently whispering wheat. While still close to the Atlantic (which meets the Indian Ocean just a bit further along the coast), it’s also high, at 500m above sea level.

Initial plantings saw a lot of experimentation – everything from Malbec and Tannat to Barbera and Touriga Nacional. ‘But we now know what this farm will excel at,’ beams Jack. ‘Early-ripening varieties like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The only late-ripener that works here is Shiraz. There’s an elegance. You can’t push fruit here.’

The Drift Estate – Four wines to try:

Ghost in the Machine Shiraz, Western Cape, 2021

It’s almost worth buying the Ghost in the Machine wines just for the labels, which are, apparently, all unique. That said, this estate offering has beautiful perfumed red fruit, with white pepper and a drop of Worcestershire sauce spice. Powdery tannins and silky fruit, succulent and yet sapid – it’s proof of the potential of Syrah in this region.
93 points
Drink 2023-2034 | Alcohol 12%

The Drift Estate Moveable Feast, Overberg, 2019

Bruce Jack says this blend of Syrah and Malbec (plus about a fifth Tannat and Touriga Nacional) is about ‘capturing the essence of this part of the universe’. It’s a powerful concentration of damsons, blackberries and red cherries with a dusting of Christmas spices, nuts and violets in a firm structure. Very definitely one for the future – cellar for 10 years if you can.
92 points
Drink 2033-2050 | Alcohol 13.5%

The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc, Elim, 2021

Named after Vasco da Gama’s ship, which sailed around the cape in 1497, the Berrio is one of South Africa’s most famous Sauvignons. And is now (as of this vintage) being made by the original team once more. It’s a taut, pointed expression – all privet, green tea and gunflint, with a scattering of gooseberries on the top. Very ageable.
92 points
Drink 2023-2033 | Alcohol 13%

The Drift Estate Penelope MCC, Overberg, 2019

There is not a lot of the Portuguese red grape Touriga Franca planted in the Cape, and even less of it gets made into MCC (Methode Cap Classique). But perhaps it should. This fizz has already spent four years on lees, but still has plenty of attractive red cherry fruit and rhubarb on the nose, with a light wafery grip and saltiness on the palate.
90 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 12.5%

Discover more about The Drift Estate and PIWOSA

Connect on Facebook  |  X

The post PIWOSA producer profile: The Drift Estate appeared first on Decanter.

There are not many good things to have come out of the pandemic, but Radford Dale’s venture into cool-climate Elgin is one of them.

The company already had a winery in coastal Stellenbosch when Covid-19 struck and everything changed practically overnight.

‘The ground was shifting,’ recalls Jaques de Klerk, Radford Dale’s co-owner and head of viticulture and winemaking. ‘There was a ban on wine sales in South Africa and a lot of people wanted to get out. Buying the vineyard in Elgin was an opportunity that might not have existed were it not for the pandemic.’

The Elgin estate is a small one – just 20 hectares, of which only six were under vine at the time of purchase. Radford Dale have since increased this to 11 hectares, having planted more Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as the first Gamay in the region’s history. But, unusually, the estate has been farmed organically since it was first planted in 2007, meaning that the soil is teeming with life. ‘Chemicals nuke everything, the good and the bad,’ says de Klerk. ‘With organic vineyards there’s a balance. And there’s a natural vivacity to the vines. It’s like they are supercharged!’

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

As well as being hands-off in the winery and minimum intervention in the vineyard for a decade, Radford Dale are also champions of unusual varieties. Grenache is one. Most of this variety’s plantings are currently in Swartland, but the team at Radford Dale feel it has real potential in Stellenbosch, too, and is better suited to the climate than, say, Merlot.

Gamay is another. They were the first to plant it in the Cape for 20 years, in Stellenbosch, and own or manage 3.5 of the approximately 8ha currently in existence, so it’s clearly something they believe in. The combination of granite soils (as in Beaujolais) and Gamay’s ability to withstand heat make it able to produce good mid-weight or chillable wines even in higher temperatures.

But their championing of the underdog is perhaps most clearly seen in their Frankenstein Pinotage – a tongue-in-cheek reference to the not always stellar reputation that the variety has enjoyed. The team at Radford Dale, however, believe Pinotage is a grape more sinned against than sinning.

‘The creature [in Frankenstein] was ostracised and beaten, so it became a monster,’ says de Klerk. ‘When treated with compassion, its softer side reveals itself.’

They have learned from the mistakes of the way that the variety used to be treated – picked too ripe, extracted for a long time and heavily oaked to try to create big, powerful, Cabernet-like wines, to which it was exceptionally ill-suited. Or as de Klerk pithily puts it, ‘If its mother was Pinot and its father was Cinsault, why would you make it try and do Cabernet work? We like to appeal to Pinotage’s wonderful innate qualities and try to avoid provoking its mean side!’

Radford Dale – Four wines to try:

Radford Dale Organic Estate, Touchstone Chardonnay, Elgin, 2022

If you like a sweeter, riper style of Chardonnay, this isn’t for you. It’s taut, linear and restrained; not introverted exactly – it’s drinking nicely now – but certainly self-possessed. The fruit is white and edgy for the Cape – think cool pears and apples, not peaches – with a gleaming, pure needle-point of acidity shining through its flinty heart.
95 points
Drink 2023-2033 | Alcohol 13.5%

Renaissance Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, 2020

The RD team are big fans of Chenin on granite, and this wine – from 50-year-old vines on the dolomitic Polkadraai Hills – shows why. It’s a multi-layered offering of fresh Mirabelle plums, quince and apple compote, beautifully balanced by Chenin’s natural broad-mouth acidity. Texturally, it’s oily and waxy, with a taut saltiness – almost smokiness – in behind.
94 points
Drink 2023-2033 | Alcohol 13%

The Antidote Gamay Noir, Stellenbosch, 2021

This wine is so-called because it’s the antithesis of big, heavily-fruited wines. Certainly, there’s an attractive brambly mid-weight fruit character to this – baskets of red fruit with gentle tannins and a natural salivating acidity. If Gamay loves granite in Beaujolais, then why not in the Cape, too? On this evidence we’ll see more of it.
92 points
Drink 2023-2025 | Alcohol 12.5%

Frankenstein Pinotage, Stellenbosch, 2020

Winemaker Jacques de Klerk says that to get good Pinotage you need to treat it gently. This is whole-berry fermented at cooler temperatures and barely oaked in old 500-litre barrels. The result is a joyful, pure, juicy explosion of summer: black strawberries and currant bushes with zest and vibrancy. Bright, crunchy and chillable for late summer or early autumn.
90 points
Drink 2023-2026 | Alcohol 12%

Discover more about Radford Dale

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Radford Dale appeared first on Decanter.

With a rich history, a unique terroir and a precious stock of old vines, Tenuta Villa Bellini is a project like no other, especially in the context of Valpolicella, where in 2007 it became the first organic-certified producer. A small château-like estate, with vineyards, orchards and olive groves surrounding a breathtaking stately home whose origins date back to the 1400s, Tenuta Villa Bellini produces a limited range of organic wines marked by a trademark elegance. It offers a unique, filigreed expression of Valpolicella, that allows the vines and terroir to shine.

Reviving a precious heritage

Allowing the viticultural heritage of Tenuta Villa Bellini to come to the forefront has been the project’s goal since the beginning of its modern history, in 1989, when the estate pioneered wild-yeast fermentation in Valpolicella at a time when the practice was rather frowned upon. The team has thus been able to sublimate the intrinsic value of the alberello-trained vineyards, not least the ungrafted, pre-phylloxera plots planted by Count Bellini over a hundred years ago, to create a range that stands out for its purity and expressiveness.

The philosophy of Tenuta Villa Bellini rests upon three core values: respect for tradition, attunement to nature and viticultural excellence. Growing on natural, southeast-facing terraces, the vines, aged between 35 and 200 years, are farmed according to organic and biodynamic principles and provide the raw material for a very limited production of elegant, sophisticated and age-worthy wines. Yields are kept low for maximum concentration and aromatic depth, and only the best fruit reaches the cellar, where it is fermented with a pied de cuve produced with fruit from the estate’s oldest vines.

With its architectural jewel, incredible stock of old vines (unique in Valpolicella) and dry stone walls, Tenuta Villa Bellini tells the story of a place where beauty, heritage and craftsmanship have long evolved together. A small paradise where art and technique work alongside to express the excellence of nature.

The post Tenuta Villa Bellini - a meeting of history and viticultural excellence appeared first on Decanter.

De Grendel is currently owned by De Villiers Graaff, who has the distinction of being the only hereditary (British) title holder in South Africa, his family having acquired his title by a combination of ancestral opportunity and chance.

In 1911, for reasons possibly not unrelated to South Africa’s recent independence, George V sent three baronet titles out to the Cape to be awarded to whoever the country’s rulers saw fit. The new government, by all accounts, didn’t hold much truck with inherited titles but were anxious not to offend the Brits, so decided to award them to older, unmarried bastions of society with the intention that the title would die with them.

For two of the new baronets, this scheme worked perfectly. But a year after receiving his, David Graaff, a successful businessman and mayor of Cape Town, married the much younger Eileen van Heerden, and they started a family. The baronetcy would live on.

Graaff first bought the De Grendel estate outside Cape Town in 1890. On a (rare) traffic-free run it’s still only 20 minutes from the city, with spectacular views of Table Mountain, Cape Town and False Bay. It’s well worth a visit, not least for its excellent restaurant.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

It’s a big estate – 420 hectares – though only around a fifth of it is planted to vines. The first were planted in 2000, mainly because De Villiers’ grandfather was concerned that vineyards would detract from what he saw as prime cattle-grazing land!

While biodiversity-friendly farming is practised across the 420ha farm, there is also a 100ha conservation area set aside for the protection of indigenous flora and fauna, including the highly endangered Renosterveld; De Grendel was granted WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Conservation Champion status in 2023.

Sustainability is not a new concept or a one-off project at De Grendel. The Graaff family motto, justis favet creator (‘the creator favours the just’), underpins the De Grendel philosophy of a shared history, shared responsibility and shared future for all those who live and work on the farm.

The main varieties are now Sauvignon Blanc, which does particularly well, Merlot, Shiraz/Syrah, Petit Verdot and Pinotage.

De Grendel isn’t only about its estate wines, however. They buy in grapes from near Elim, along the coast to the east, and also have vineyards on the Ceres plateau, 200km north-east of Cape Town, which are justifiably generating a lot of excitement. The Shiraz wines from these two areas are fascinatingly different, yet united in their excellence, and there’s surely more to come from both spots.

‘We began with 1,800 cases, now we’re at 80,000 cases,’ says cellarmaster Charles Hopkins. ‘It’s a fairytale that’s taken ten years.’

De Grendel – Four wines to try:

Op die Berg Syrah, Ceres Plateau, 2021

This wine from the Ceres Plateau has turned heads since it was first produced, and it’s easy to see why. Like their Elim Shiraz, there’s no noticeable oak here, it’s all about the fruit character: tightly packed cherry and mulberry flavours interwoven with lavender and a dusting of dry spice. Powdery tannins with a finely integrated acid line, it is a yogic wine: loose-limbed and flexible, but strong and poised at the same time.
96 points
Drink 2024-2030 | Alcohol 13%

Sir David Graaff, Coastal Region, 2015

With an aristocratic name and an aristocratic (and genuine) crest on the bottle, it’s just as well that this wine delivers. From one of the best vintages of the last 10 years, even with some good bottle age (it’s a ‘blast of tannin’ when younger), it’s only now starting to show its potential. Darkly powerful black plum and cedar unfurl into spices, tobacco and griottes on the palate. Opulent and rich, it’s a kind of Cape Grange. One to put down for 20 years, if possible.
95 points
Drink 2030-2050 | Alcohol 14.5%

Elim Shiraz, Elim, 2020

From Elim, the windy southern tip of Africa, this Shiraz (only ever in magnum) defies its light ruby colour to pack in a lot of complexity. Black cherries and blackberries mingle with thyme and oregano, with a frisson of black pepper. The tannins are very fine, and there’s an attractive natural lift to it as well, which suggests real longevity.
93 points
Drink 2023-2032 | Alcohol 13%

Sauvignon Blanc, Cape Town, 2023

De Grendel’s biggest-production wine, this is a good example of affordable, approachable Cape Sauvignon. Tropical fruit flavours of guava and pineapple are countered by citrus and blackcurrant bush, while a smattering of Semillon adds further limey punch. A good match for spicy prawns or a Thai salad.
89 points
Drink 2023-2025 | Alcohol 13.5%

Discover more about De Grendel

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: De Grendel appeared first on Decanter.

Not so long ago, if you talked about a winery having ‘undergone big changes,’ it would usually mean that they had removed ancient equipment, replaced it with gleaming stainless steel and a tonne of new barrels and, in all probability, hired a Rolexed consultant to advise on both winemaking and viticulture; it would mean they had gone full-on modern.

But Avondale are pursuing the twin paths of ancient and modern at the same time.

Jonathan Grieve’s family bought the (then quite rundown) farm in Paarl in 1996, and by the millennium were fully engaged in making big, powerful, oaky wines. But it was an experiment that only lasted a few years.

‘To me, it didn’t fit in with what we were trying to achieve,’ says Grieve, a trained artist who is rarely seen without his cowboy hat. They switched to organic viticulture in the early 2000s and by 2004 began to farm biodynamically in what Grieve describes as a ‘soil-up approach.’

The transformation has been dramatic. When the family first arrived the vineyards were, as Grieve puts it, ‘amazingly quiet’, with very little life. Now the rows between the vines are planted with soil-enriching cover crops for 95% of the year, a crack squad of ducks patrol the vine rows looking for snails and a herd of Angus cattle provides manure. There is, in short, life everywhere.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

The manure – while not exactly glamorous – is key to the estate’s biodynamic preparations. Combined with other natural ingredients such as crushed eggshells and basalt dust it’s mixed into barrels, covered and half-buried in the earth to mature. Months later, this results in entirely natural but carefully controlled biodynamic fertiliser.

‘Balance is achieved through everything,’ says Grieve. ‘Microbes, micro-nutrients, cover crops, predators…’

It’s all designed to keep the vineyard in sync with the rhythms of the seasons and the day.

So far, so timeless. So the winery itself, super-modern and spotlessly clean, is something of a shock – in a good way. As well as multiple small tanks (to ferment in small batches) there are barriques, 600-litre casks ‘for the Rhone varietals’, amphorae and 24 qvevris buried into the floor.

The combination of timeless vineyard practices and modern winemaking kit is clearly working. The wines – particularly the multi-varietal blends, which are consistently excellent, both reds and whites – are textural, complex and multi-layered without ever being particularly big or showy.

There is quiet ambition and real cohesion here – it’s definitely an estate to watch.

Avondale – Four wines to try:

Cyclus, Paarl, 2019

There aren’t many Roussanne-driven blends in the Cape, but this five-way blend (Viognier, Chenin, Chardonnay and Semillon are the others) suggests there maybe should be. An elliptical wine that starts with a bright point of citrus, broadens through flowers, greengage and kaffir lime, then tightens once more to a mineral, pebbly finish.
96 points
Drink 2023-2035 | Alcohol 13.5%

Anima Chenin Blanc, Paarl, 2020

From 25-35 year old vineyards, there’s a 15% orange wine (skin contact in qvevri) component to this Chenin, plus 12 months in very old barrels. The result is a textural, multi-layered wine with creamy Mirabelle plum and pineapple flavours, underpinned by a salty minerality.
94 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 13.5%

La Luna, Paarl, 2016

A Cabernet-dominant five-way Bordeaux blend, there’s plenty of trademark Paarl plum and cassis fruit in here. But coming as it does from ‘under the mountain’, there’s also more acid lift behind the plush fruit than you’d expect. Silky but with a graphite seam, it’s drinking nicely now, but still tastes younger than its years and has a long life ahead of it.
94 points
Drink 2023-2040 | Alcohol 14%

Qvevri, Paarl, 2021

Despite being fermented and aged totally in amphorae (qvevri), there’s an element of cru Beaujolais to this Grenache-focused red. It begins with juicy red fruits – redcurrants and strawberries – before taking a bit of a sideways turn into something darker and more structured on the palate, with a chalky finish. Attractive mid-weight wine with real personality.
93 points
Drink 2023-2027 | Alcohol 12%

Discover more about Avondale

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Avondale appeared first on Decanter.

With a long and illustrious career as a wine entrepreneur, following in the footsteps of both his and his wife’s family,  Dott. Carlo Campanini Bonomi has long recognised Sardinia’s undiscovered jewels and untapped potential. However, in 2000, when he left his wine venture on the island – then Sardinia’s largest wine producer, with 500 ha under vine – he didn’t think life would take him back to the Mediterranean paradise.

Yet, 21 years later, upon discovering that one of the estates that he most admired, Capichera – a pioneering producer of high-quality Vermentino di Gallura DOCG – was for sale, a dream was reignited. The appeal, both personal and professional, was irresistible. He knew that the preservation of a unique heritage was at stake and he wanted to protect the value of a singular terroir.

Old project, new dream

After securing the support of a trusted team of local professionals, as well as of the heads of viticulture and oenology at his Piedmont estate (responsible for the Marchese Raggio Gavi del Comune Gavi DOCG wines), Dott. Bonomi moved with confidence in his attempt to acquire Capichera. The sale was completed in 2022 and since then, he and his team have invested all their energy in the estate; surveying it and defining clear goals for its preservation and renovation..

‘We are planning extensive renovation work of the cellars, offices and overall infrastructure, while preserving the great heritage we’ve been handed,’ Bonomi explains. One of the main concerns, unsurprisingly, is the challenge of natural shifts. ‘We are undergoing important changes to ensure the soils, vineyards and winery are equipped to cope with climate change,’ he outlines.

Dott. Carlo Campanini Bonomi

A pioneering legacy

Although driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and vision, Capichera’s new owner is adamant that he is merely the next chapter of an existing, illustrious narrative. ‘We are part of a story which began in the 1970s with the foresight and tenacity of the Ragnedda family,’ he says. ‘They believed in Vermentino di Gallura when no one else did. We are now the custodians of a precious terroir, of a tradition that goes back a thousand years and of the history of an appellation that was rescued from quasi-oblivion and made famous throughout the world.’

And so begins a new chapter in Capichera’s history, with renewed belief in its founding ethos and on the capacity of its vineyards to yield world-class wines. ‘Capichera is and will remain a small family-owned company dedicated to producing the best possible Vermentino di Gallura, while also exploring the clear potential to produce high-profile red wines, not least, the iconic Cannonau di Sardegna,’ concludes Bonomi.

Discover more about Capichera

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram

The post Capichera - A Sardinian dream continues appeared first on Decanter.

Founded in 1958 by Osvaldo and Elsa Balbinot, Le Manzane has remained a family-run and -owned business throughout its history. Osvaldo and Elsa’s son, Ernesto, and his wife Silvana are now at the helm, and the couple’s children, Marco and Anna work with their parents too, unfolding Le Manzane’s  multi-generational story together. Their collaboration allows for different visions and expectations about the future to converge towards a common goal: preserving the winemaking tradition of Treviso with a focus on technical innovation and creative product development.

This integrated approach has allowed Le Manzane to become a leading boutique producer of Prosecco Superiore DOCG, known for its characterful wines, comprehensive range, beautiful labels and innovative packaging. The synergistic combination of experience and youthful energy has been equally important in achieving the winery’s reputation for style and character.

Being a family business is a fundamental part of Le Manzane’s identity, and the concept of ‘family’ transcends blood ties. The team of long-standing employees is as much part of Le Manzane as those who founded or were born to it – as is the local community, to which the estate has remained steadily committed.

Festive solidarity

This commitment is renewed annually during the Vendemmia Sociale (Social Harvest), a one-day event whose proceeds benefit a different charity each year. In 2023, the 12th Vendemmia Sociale raised funds for UNICO1, a non-profit organisation founded by former football player Diego Murari to help children diagnosed – like himself – with rare illnesses.

Le Manzane opens its doors to 500 people for a full day of festive activities, starting with a collective harvest and ending with a luncheon. In between, visitors of all ages can enjoy live music, tastings and guided tours, as well as grape stomping sessions. Vendemmia Sociale offers a full day of discovery exploring Le Manzane’s winery and production process as well as the local winemaking heritage. All this happens against the backdrop of the Prosecco Superiore hills, the landscape that gave birth to this tradition and culture.

A meaningful gift

To mark each Vendemmia Sociale, a special edition Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is released in December – just in time for a thoughtful and meaningful gift. A share of the profits from this wine are donated to the selected charity, an initiative that has raised more than €120k (£104.4) over the past 11 years.

With the festive season upon us and Prosecco a favourite celebratory wine, Le Manzane asks us to think about how we can make each bottle truly count, while looking at tradition and family under a new light.

Discover more about Le Manzane

Connect on
Facebook  |   Instagram  |   X   |   YouTube

The post Le Manzane – A multi-generation winery with heart appeared first on Decanter.

It’s never easy to veer from the path your parents have mapped out for you. So you can imagine that the young Gary Jordan must have felt somewhat apprehensive when telling his father that he didn’t want to follow him into the family’s shoe business. Not least because the business had been so successful that it had allowed his father, Ted, to buy his dream estate in Stellenbosch.

Fortunately, he needn’t have worried.

‘Thank God,’ said Ted. ‘The bouquet of old wine is an awful lot better than the bouquet of old shoes.’

It was music to Gary’s ears. He and his wife Kathy had both studied at California’s ‘wine university,’ UC Davis, and they had big plans for the farm. Principal among them was making wines that bore the family name, rather than selling their fruit elsewhere.

The Cape’s first husband-and-wife winemaking team, their debut vintage was in 1993, three years after Nelson Mandela’s release from Robben Island. Within ten years they had established an impressive reputation, which endures to this day.

There has been continual development and refining of what is planted at Jordan. Currently, the main varieties are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc for the whites, and Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz for the reds. But the styles for which they are justifiably best-known are their Chardonnays and Bordeaux-blend reds – some of the Cape’s most reliable performers.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

But things don’t stand still at Jordan. This year sees the release of their first Assyrtiko. Perhaps it’s Kathy’s Greek heritage, or perhaps it’s the logic of planting more heat-and-drought-resistant varieties in a place with the Cape’s climate and water issues; either way, the vines seem right at home.

Planted on the top of a sunny, 200m-high north-facing slope that is pummelled by the wind off False Bay, the vines can probably almost imagine they are back on Santorini – though here they are trained on wires, rather than wrapped round in a basket shape.

Despite being from such young vines, the Assyrtiko shows real promise; the perfect wine to sit with on a shaded terrace on a hot afternoon. Which, coincidentally, Jordan Estate is also able to provide.

Its restaurant (complete with leafy terrace) is one of the best in the winelands, and is a destination spot for Cape Town weekenders and sybaritic tourists alike. Handily, for those who are driving, they also have excellent accommodation just a 60-second walk from your table. Waking up to the squawking of native birds and the rustle of wind through the vines is a great start to any day.

Jordan Wine Estate – Four wines to try:

Nine Yards Chardonnay, Stellenbosch, 2022

Made the same way as the barrel-fermented Chardonnay, with pre-oxidation before fermentation, but from their best vineyard site and with a touch more oak. The result is a wine that’s richer and more brooding, with a structure that opens it up to serious ageing. Pineapples and nectarines, with a touch of grip, a dusting of spice and a tauter acidity. A genuine alternative to white Burgundy.
95 points
Drink 2025-2035 | Alcohol 13%

Cobblers Hill, Stellenbosch, 2018

Jordan’s deluxe Sophia red (particularly the superb 2017) is a top-class wine, but this four-way Bordeaux blend is nearly as good for a fraction of the price. Elegant powdery tannins effortlessly support dense layers of plum and black cherry fruit that resolve into a perfumed violet finish. Toned, ripe and seamless, it’s beautifully crafted.
95 points
Drink 2024-2040 | Alcohol 14%

Barrel-fermented Chardonnay, Stellenbosch, 2022

Jordan are renowned for their Chardonnays and this one from their Estate Varietals range shows why. It’s a winning combination of fleshy and toasty, of squashy peach and pineapple rolled in grilled hazelnuts and lightly squeezed with lime. There’s weight here, but no fatness. Precise – and excellent for the price.
94 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 13%

Assyrtiko, Stellenbosch, 2022

From a harsh, dry, wind-blown site on top of a hill – not many grapes will thrive here, but Assyrtiko (from Santorini) clearly loves it. This wine has flavours of pomelo and lemon with a light herbal touch and a pithy texture. Racy and bright, it’s ridiculously good for three-year-old vines. A variety that clearly has a bright future here.
92 points
Drink 2023-2024 | Alcohol 13%

Discover more about Jordan Wine Estate

Connect on Instagram | Facebook

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Jordan Wine Estate appeared first on Decanter.

If you want Ken Forrester to turn left at a T-junction, you should probably suggest to him that common sense, past experience and most experts suggest he should turn right, and then wait for the inevitable.

Ken is, literally and metaphorically, very much someone who ploughs his own furrow, sometimes dangerously so. In 2019, a high-speed mountain bike crash, at an age when most people consider golf an extreme sport, left him with ten broken ribs and a pierced lung.

Take, too, the establishment of his wine estate. He bought it in 1993, after Mandela had been released, but before the first post-apartheid elections. It was, to put it mildly, a time of some uncertainty. ‘A lot of people were leaving,’ he says. ‘But I thought it was the greatest opportunity to buy the biggest farm we couldn’t afford. And 30 years later here we are.’

If you think such visionary bravery meant that success was inevitable, think again. Ken trotted over to the UK with a case full of samples, assuming somewhat naively that buyers would be falling over themselves to taste with a new producer from a country that had, thanks to apartheid, been off the map for decades.

Instead, retailer after retailer told him to leave some bottles and that they’d get back to him if they were interested. Nobody was, and Ken’s gamble looked like a ruinous disaster. Until suddenly Oddbins came back and took a third of his production overnight. ‘If they hadn’t done that, we’d never have made it,’ he says candidly.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

Since then, it has been one long success story, driven in no small part by Ken’s championing of Chenin Blanc. The variety is widely planted across the Cape, and grows beautifully. But for most of the 20th century it had been used for producing brandy, and 30 years ago, most growers were pulling it out in favour of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay. But not Ken.

He kept the vines on his Helderberg estate, and struck deals with farmers to take fruit from their best Chenin vines from various appellations including Swartland and as far as Piekenierskloof and Bonnievale. The result was (and still is) white wines of extraordinary complexity and balance at all prices, and in every style: sparkling, unoaked, classically wooded and, of course, sweet. Not for nothing is he known as ‘Mr Chenin’.

There are other great wines in the portfolio, too – not least the Misfits range made by his young protégé Shawn Mathyse (now finally appointed Winemaker after an eight-year apprenticeship) and a good, chillable, Beaujolais Nouveau-style Pinotage.

But there’s more Chenin in the Cape now than the Loire, and Ken Forrester can take much of the credit for that, having done so much to create the category that now includes so many of his own competitors – although he firmly believes a rising tide lifts all boats.

Ken Forrester Wines – Four wines to try:

The FMC, Stellenbosch, 2022

A stalwart of the top end of South Africa’s Chenin scene for 20 years, FMC – from mostly 50-year-old bush vines – is a fine beast indeed. Bright, fresh white peach and pineapple flavours, layered by sweetly comforting vanilla cream from the barrel-fermentation. It’s plushly succulent, but retains brightness, elegance and purity.
96 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 13%

Dirty Little Secret Four, Piekenierskloof

From 60-year-old bush vines up in Piekenierskloof, Ken describes this as ‘the most fun I’ve had making wine’. Everything – skins, stalks, grapes – is cold-soaked for two weeks prior to fermentation in ancient barrels, before being blended with previous years’ versions, some of which is then retained to act as the base for the next year. Deep gold, it’s immensely rich, textural and tropical, with juicy stone fruits and lilac flowers leading into an intriguing salty pineapple finish. Extraordinary.
95 points
Drink 2023-2028 | Alcohol 13%

Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, 2022

Ken Forrester likes to talk of ‘cool sunshine’ – lots of sun, tempered by wind – and it’s a good description of his benchmark Chenin. A justly-celebrated combination of ripe fruit – apples, quince, pear – and a bright, energising acidity brought together by well-controlled oak. Exemplary control and balance at a crazily low price.
94 points
Drink 2023-2026 | Alcohol 13.5%

The Misfits Cinsault Met Sonder Stingels, Piekenierskloof, 2020

Ken Forrester isn’t all about Chenin – he does a great Petit Pinotage for chilled summer drinking, for instance. But this mid-weight red, made by his protégé Shawn Mathyse, is a step up. Perfumed and charming on the nose – all oranges, red fruit and spice, there’s an element of Campari to it – its initial softness on the palate fades gently into a drier, more steely-eyed grip.
91 points
Drink 2023-2026 | Alcohol 12.5%

Discover more about Ken Forrester Wines

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Ken Forrester Wines appeared first on Decanter.

Most wine businesses are happy to turn a profit and, ideally, leave a bit more for the next generation than they started with themselves. But Journey’s End Vineyards has loftier ideals.

With MD Rollo Gabb at the helm, it has ploughed enormous amounts of time and, yes, money into its vineyards, winery and local community. In the process, it has become one of the most eco-friendly and socially active businesses in the wine world. They don’t just want their business to be better in 20 years’ time, they want their community and environment to be stronger, too.

Journey’s End Vineyards is a sizable estate – around 140 hectares – but only 40ha are put aside for vines.  ‘Even though it’s prime viticultural land, I’m very keen on keeping big areas purely for wildlife,’ says Gabb. ‘We want animals and birdlife on the farm.’ Caracal, Blue Cranes and Cape mongoose are all regular visitors.

Officially, Journey’s End Vineyards is a Stellenbosch WO (Wine of Origin), but this is somewhat misleading: it’s in Somerset West, some distance south-east of the heart of Stellenbosch, right up against the Hottentots Holland mountain range that separates Stellenbosch from Elgin. It’s also just seven kilometres from the sea, right in the path of the Cape Doctor, the cooling and cleansing onshore wind that blows in every afternoon.

Winemaker Mike Dawson

This, coupled with cooler south-facing slopes and proximity to the mountains, has a big impact. While there is plenty of sun, temperatures fall significantly at night – from the mid-30s to 16 degrees by the evening. Despite enviable views over the vines out to False Bay, this is not a place for sundowners on the terrace – at least, not without a jacket.

Learn more about what unites the participating members in PIWOSA

You can see it in the style of the wines. There’s a brighter, more determined acidity in the whites, while the reds flirt with more savoury, even herbal characters. They’re understandably popular with sommeliers. ‘I’m very proud [of] what we are doing with Bordeaux varieties, in particular,’ says Gabb. ‘We’re not trying to do everything.’

In their wines, this may be true. But when it comes to social uplift, it’s emphatically not the case. Journey’s End Vineyards have been highly engaged with the local township in Sir Lowry’s Pass for many years, but really ramped up their help during the pandemic.

They created the Journey’s End Foundation, which has, among other things, helped fund a large assembly hall for the local school, created a support programme for women who have suffered gender-based violence, and provided over 4 million meals meals (and counting) at their network of soup kitchens.

On every level, it’s a magnificent legacy.

Journey’s End Vineyards – Four wines to try:

Cape Doctor, ‘The Red’, Stellenbosch, 2018

It’s fitting that this respected Bordeaux blend should be named after the wind that batters through the vineyard every afternoon, because it gives it a noticeable cooler-climate feel. Beneath the comforting cassis and plum pudding fruit it tightens into an almost European dark chocolate minerality. Structured and elegant, it’s one for the long haul.
95 points
Drink 2025-2035 | Alcohol 14.5%

Destination Chardonnay, Stellenbosch, 2020

Winemaker Mike Dawson describes this as his ‘easiest wine to make – it’s pretty hands-off’. This is from the ‘Covid vintage’; we’re lucky that they just finished harvesting before lockdown, because this is a lovely Cape Chardonnay. Succulent peach and apricot flavours with a comforting layer of almond butter are wrapped around bright, tight, high-wire acidity.
93 points
Drink 2023-2030 | Alcohol 13.5%

Griffin, Stellenbosch, 2018

A spell in Spain turned wine operations director Leon Esterhuizen onto the potential of carbonic maceration, and what works in Beaujolais is now also working brilliantly here. Gone are the unwanted bacon notes, and in their place are red and black summer fruits, lavender and charcuterie shop spices. Drinking beautifully now, but will age.
93 points
Drink 2023-2028 | Alcohol 14.5%

V5 Cabernet Franc, Stellenbosch, 2021

Cabernet Franc used to be solely a blending component, but the team at Journey’s End felt it had enough character to stand on its own – and they’re right. From this cool, windy estate, this still has benchmark Cab Franc herbal notes of oregano and black olive. Not a showy wine, but a nailed-on match for lamb with rosemary.
91 points
Drink 2023-2026 | Alcohol 14%

Discover more about Journey’s End Vineyards

Connect on Instagram | Facebook  |  X

Read more about PIWOSA

Sustainability: A fundamental principle and a future to preserve

Social uplift: It takes a village

The post PIWOSA producer profile: Journey's End Vineyards appeared first on Decanter.