A rising tide of winemaking talent
The South African wine industry has seen very significant changes over the past decade, driven by a new generation of winemakers who have taken up positions at famous old estates or set up independent ventures of their own. These pioneers, most (but not all) home-grown, have uncovered a wealth of old vineyards and new vine-growing regions in their search to find their own unique expressions of vine and place.
We have put together two mixed case options to allow you to explore this diversity: a 6-bottle case focused on newcomers who have shaken up the South African wine industry; and a 12-bottle case which allows us to also include a few of the old-guard producers who have enjoyed lasting success over many decades.
2019 Miles Mossop Introduction Roussanne:
One of a crop of fine winemakers to have emerged from Charles Back's Spice Route project (Eben Sadie is another). After stints at Thelema and Tokara, and a few harvests abroad, Miles began working exclusively on his own projects in 2018. His Introduction wines offer staggeringly good value; this Roussanne is made in a lean, aromatic style, with tropical fruit and a touch of smoky reduction reminiscent of fine white Burgundy.
2018 Richard Kershaw GPS Series Chardonnay:
An English Master of Wine who originally trained as a chef, but switched careers to become a chef de cave (winemaker). He branched out on his own in 2012, making wines in the cool-climate region of Elgin. His 2018 GPS Chardonnay, from a tiny vineyard in the Lower Duivenhoks River, is a stunning expression of the variety, seductively delicious and beautifully balanced; not to be missed.
2020 Kaapzicht The 1947 Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc:
Danie Steytler returned to his family farm in the Bottelary Hills, Stellenbosch, in 2009 after 5 years abroad working in Napa, the Languedoc and Sweden. The old Chenin Blanc vineyard on the farm, identified as the second-oldest in the country, was initially generously shared out to a few friends (including Chris Alheit) but from 2013 Danie began bottling his own expression of The 1947, an intense, extravagant barrel-aged Chenin of magnificent weight and complexity.
2019 Scions of Sinai Swanesang Syrah:
Bernhard Bredell is the 7th generation of his family to farm grapes on Sinai Hill in the Lower Helderberg region of Stellenbosch. He worked at Radford Dale and abroad in the Rhone Valley and Priorat before setting up his own project in 2016, purchasing fruit from his family's farm. Swanesang (swan song) is bush-vine Syrah from the vineyard behind his family's old homestead, planted by his father in 1999. Minimal-intervention winemaking has produced a tight, nervy Shiraz which coats the palate with meaty umami flavours and tart dark fruit; benefits from an extended decant.
2018 Lismore Cape South Coast Pinot Noir:
Samantha O'Keefe left California in search of a new lifestyle for herself and her family. She found it on a dairy farm in Greyton, where she started planting vines in 2004. At the end of 2019 a fire destroyed her winery and most of her vineyards, but she has worked hard to rebuild and replant. Her 2018 Pinot Noir is a blend of purchased fruit, 70% from Walker Bay and 30% from a high-altitude enclave of cool-climate vineyards called Kaaimansgat; crisp and savoury, with rose petal aromatics and bright red fruit on the palate.
2019 Lukas van Loggerenberg Breton Cabernet Franc:
After two years in the Finger Lakes, USA, Lukas returned to South Africa to work at Druk My Niet in Paarl, before striking out on his own in 2015. Based in a shed on a farm in Stellenbosch, he makes tiny quantities of wine from purchased fruit. His Cabernet Franc consists of 6 barrels from vines in the Polkadraai Hills just outside Stellenbosch, vinified in an aromatic, savoury, restrained style reminiscent of the wines of Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley.
12btl case:
2018 Lismore The Age of Grace Viognier:
The only producer with two wines in this selection, which says a great deal for the esteem in which Samantha is held by us at Uncorked. Her elegant barrel-fermented Viognier is sourced from a cool vineyard-site in Elgin; exceptionally well-balanced, with all the generosity of the varietal, yet tempered by a focused, zesty finish.
2020 Alheit Vineyards Hereafter Here Chenin Blanc:
Chris and Suzaan Alheit are icons of the ‘new wave’ of SA winemakers – their first vintage was in 2011, and they have gone from strength to strength since, working with single-vineyards of very old vines. This young-vine cuvee is therefore unusual for them; two parcels contribute to this maiden vintage, one on granite in the Polkadraai Hills and the other on red clay and decomposed shale in the Upper Blaauwklippen Valley, Waterkloof.
2019 Jordan Wine Estate Nine Yards Chardonnay:
In 1982 Ted and Sheelagh Jordan purchased a large farm in Stellenbosch. Their son, Gary, joined them in 1985, and he and his wife Kathy have overseen the transformation of the farm into a wine estate, with the cellar completed in 1992. Winemaker Sjaak Nelson has been at the estate for over 20 years. The Nine Yards Chardonnay is their top white, a barrel-selection sourced from relatively high-lying estate vineyards; unapologetically full-bodied yet very well-balanced.
2016 Newton-Johnson Granum:
Although they started making wine in the Hemel-en-Aarde in 1997, Felicity Newton and David Johnson only actually bought their own farm in 2001. Their first vintage from their own fruit was 2009, and their reputation has skyrocketed ever since. Granum is sourced from a section of their farm where the boulders were too large to be removed, and so the vines had to be planted in amongst them, at a very high density en échalas, trained to a single supporting pole (as in Côte Rôtie). The resulting wine is an outstanding, elegant blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre.
2017 Meerlust Rubicon:
Meerlust was founded in 1693; they have been making their Bordeaux blend, Rubicon, since 1980. The final vintage to be overseen entirely by Chris Williams, the 2017 Rubicon is spectacular, with dark fruit and wood-spice aromatics and a complex, structured palate which combines power and elegance to give superb long-term potential. An exceptional vintage from a South African icon.
2019 Hamilton Russell Walker Bay Pinot Noir:
Emul Ross, winemaker at Anthony Hamilton Russell's eponymous estate since 2014, spent his early career working with Erica Obermeyer at Graham Beck and with Gottfried Mocke at Chamonix. His work at Hamilton Russell has been exceptional, and never more so than in 2019, when the January fires forced them to declassify all their estate fruit due to smoke taint. They rose to the challenge, however, and sourced fruit from elsewhere in the valley to produce a more approachable, earlier-drinking Pinot Noir. Unique, never to be repeated and absolutely delicious.
