Varietal tastings, hero regional varieties, changing consumer preferences, the evolution of winemaking styles, old vines, and ancient soils were in the spotlight in tasting trends during 2024. A specific focus on a signature white or red wine variety in vertical flights has replaced the shotgun approach to showcasing an entire portfolio of wines. Events focused on celebrating heritage in a big way in the build-up to milestones such as the centenary vintage of Alto, the upcoming centenary of Pinotage (1925), and the bicentennial anniversary of Durbanville in 2025.
The message is that new world is old world in wine tradition and liquid history in the Cape.
Two wine appellations stepped up to the mark in particular – Durbanville and Wellington – highlighting the three hundred year heritage of these wine regions in the city’s backyard. A series of intimate wine tastings of older and newer expressions of signature varieties in Durbanville showcased the evolution of regional heroes such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinotage, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Generational family owners, grape growers and winemakers hosted media at a series of heritage lunches and dinners at Bloemendal (founded 1702), De Grendel (1720), Durbanville Hills, Groot Phesantekraal, and Meerendal (1702). Way to go Durbanville.
Master lesson in pruning
They say you can never teach an old dog a new trick. But on a memorable rainy mid-winter’s day, Andri Hanekom, winemaker and viticulturist at Bloemendal in the Durbanville Wine Valley, did just that. Over the years, I’ve planted new vines, walked the talk of terroir in single vineyards, and blended wine from barrel at media tastings. But this was a day for a lesson in vine pruning, co-hosted by Felco, the global benchmark in Swiss-made forged pruning shears and sequiturs. While Andri talked about the art of seasonal pruning, I expanded my viticultural Afrikaans over borselkop (the rough winter cut), stompsny (the spring cut) and bokkop sny (the horn cut).
Putting it all to practice, media guests each got to prune their own gnarly Sauvignon Blanc vine while chanting Andri’s mantra of "one bunch per shoot", eagerly stripping out old growth, pruning the vine back to two eyes ("the size of a matchstick") like a small buck’s horn. The concept is to reduce the chances of rot, strip the "morning sun" lower leaves of Sauvignon Blanc, cut back on methoxypyrazines, lower yields, and encourage small berries with concentrated flavours. Some of us proved severe, disciplined hackers – others more liberal.
“We have to be viticulturists as well as winemakers,” concludes Andri, who heads up a team of forty skilled pruners at Bloemendal. While regretting that many wine consumers believe that Sauvignon Blanc should be drunk within the new vintage, he demonstrated the ageability of the single block expressions of their iconic Suider Terras Sauvignon Blanc (planted in 1982). The terroir of cooler temperatures and longer ripening period in the Durbanville Wine Valley combined with the chemistry of low pH, higher TA and good tannins from new oak are the secret to making great Sauvignon for Andri. Elizabeth Meyer, the new winemaker at D'Aria Winery, echoed his sentiments over a tasting of the cellar's acclaimed Songbird Sauvignon Blanc.
Head for Durbanville Hills
A benchmark vertical tasting of signature Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot at Durbanville Hills was another highlight on the wine circuit in 2024. One of the smallest and oldest appellations in South Africa, Durbanville, with some 2000 hectares of vines in a national vineyard of 89 000 hectares, draws 100 000 visitors every year. Some of the founding ten wine farmer members of Durbanville Hills – over half of the valley’s harvest goes to this gateway cellar – gathered with media to celebrate twenty-five years of making award-winning wine at this showpiece winery. We tasted barrel samples of the 2024 Pinotage and Semillon after a walk-through of the new high-tech visitor's centre with its soil displays and virtual reality goggles to fly over the valley terroir.
Senior red and white winemakers, Wilhelm Coetzee and Kobus Gerber, led media on a memorable vertical flight of reserve Sauvignon Blanc from 2010 to 2024 and reserve Merlot (one of Martin’s passions) from 1999 to 2022.The winemakers emphasised that fruit from the inner Durbanville Valley (riper, black fruit character) and outer valley (red, raspberry and strawberry fruit) produced very different flavours in the red wines. The vertical flight of Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc, one of the biggest producers of the variety in in South Africa, demonstrated the consumer preference and evolution of wine style from green, pyrazine to more tropical, thiol flavours. The Merlot flight showcased the signature plush chocolate and dark plum thread.
The legacy of Martin Moore
I first visited Durbanville Hills in 1999 to interview Martin Moore, the great South African cellarmaster, chef and foodie who passed away in 2023. He left a legacy of iconic winemaking and played a major role in putting Durbanville on the global map. I remember feeling a giddy sense of vertigo while interviewing Martin on the high steel walkway suspended over the custom cellar. Over the years, we shared many lunches and launches, even the infamous Terence Conran visit.
Martin’s larger than life presence pervades the starship cellar in many ways. I last talked to him at the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon tasting at Durbanville Hills in March 2023. The team at Durbanville Hills frequently quote his witticisms, paying tribute to the big man’s legacy: "A good Pinotage vineyard should be close to the sea." "Calling Durbanville Tygerberg is like calling a zebra spotty."
CEO Albert Gerber recalls that Martin, a passionate conservationist, was distracted at his last media tasting when he spotted an endangered suurpootjie (geometric) tortoise in the indigenous renosterveld around the winery for the first time – along with dwarf chameleons.
Stokkiesdraai in Wellington
If Durbanville Hills is the powerhouse of the Durbanville Wine Valley, Wellington Wines is the gateway to the Wellington wine route. The launch of the new tourism wine hub Go Wellington in late October by a dozen or more of the appellation’s cellars was a delightful landmark event (see my column on 11 November, Way to go Wellington). This new initiative in the wine of origin district, which is home to mostly boutique cellars, is rooted in three hundred years of viticultural history – as a wine and brandy distillery area and as the mother nursery of the nation which produces some 80% of vines for the industry.
Call it stokkiesdraai! We spent a day tasting three flights of Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, and Shiraz from Wellington’s wineries, including Andreas Wines, Bosman Family Vineyards, Canetsfontein, Diemersfontein, Doolhof, Dunstone, Imbuko Wines, Jacaranda, Mont du Toit, and Wellington Wines.
Master lesson in Cabernet
Another top ten tasting in 2024 was a vertical flight of Cabernet Sauvignon in May which celebrated the twenty-fifth vintage of Le Riche Wines, a specialist family producer of the hero red variety of Stellenbosch. Founder Etienne and son winemaker Christo le Riche (2010) presented a line-up of the new 2021 vintage, including three single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons and their acclaimed reserve Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from fourteen growers at premium sites in Firgrove (Steynsrust), Simonsberg, Jonkershoek, and Helderberg. The focus variety of Le Riche had its day. Christo says, "The challenge is to work with pure Cabernet Sauvignon to the point where it becomes complete by blending in other Cab components – NOT by blending in, say, Merlot."
Christo talks about the granite belt which makes Stellenbosch one of the best places in the world to grow Cabernet Sauvignon – and likes to distinguish between coastal and mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. He blends 32 batches of Cabernet sourced from small pockets to express the diversity of the Stellenbosch terroir. Specific blocks and sites are chosen for specific flavours and tannins. He adds, “We have made it our business to produce the definitive expression of Stellenbosch Cabernet. We meticulously select only the highest-quality fruit from the best possible terroirs Stellenbosch has to offer, adding complexity and mid-palate. Our wine style is orientated around crafting the best with minimal interference, letting exceptional terroir speak for itself."
Old vines, ancient soils
Waterford Estate, a benchmark red wine producer in the Blaauwklippen Valley, hosted a series of tastings on the theme of Cork and Conversation. Winemaker Mark le Roux (2009) and viticulturist David van Schalkwyk (2014) talked about how ancient soils, old vines, and older vineyards influence the style of wines – how the Waterford Estate terroir is composed of two soils, rocky granite and alluvial. I recalled how ten years ago, Kevin Arnold had shown us the deep rocky soils excavated for a new vineyard, aided by enthusiastic farm dogs digging holes deeper!
Deep in the cellar, we tasted a flight of single vineyard Waterford Estate Chardonnay, made from the third oldest Chardonnay vineyard in South Africa, planted in 1988 – and certified as a heritage vine by the Old Vine Project in 2023. Focusing on "the mineral edge of Chardonnay grown in granite soils", Mark discussed the changing style evolution of Chardonnay. The fruit profile changes as the vineyard ages, developing less of a peach and more natural citrus and early picked pineapple character, with lighter oaking from water-bent (not heated) staves in the barrel-fermented wines. It is the only white variety on a farm planted to eleven red varieties.
This turned into a master lesson in the art of making Chardonnay – as well as signature Cabernet Sauvignon. Mark concludes, "You allow the terroir to speak for itself. Winemaking should be a catalyst and express not alter the terroir. These ancient soils produce exceptional character."
Fly like an eagle
The annual release of new Chardonnay vintages by De Wetshof, a specialist Chardonnay producer in the Robertson Wine Valley is a highlight on the annual wine tasting calendar. The pioneering South African producer of the country’s first unwooded Chardonnay now makes different expressions of the appellation’s hero variety: Unwooded Bon Vallon, Calcrete and Limestone Hill; and barrel-fermented Finesse, The Site and Bateleur (the latter two are single vineyard wines).
This third-generation family wine farm is now in the hands of brothers Johann and Peter de Wet. To mark the naming of the rare African eagle named South African Bird of the Year in 2024, this year’s release focused on a vertical flight of the flagship Bateleur Chardonnay from 2006-2022. Made since 1991 from a vineyard first planted in 1987 from vine-cuttings sourced by patriarch Danie de Wet from vine cuttings from Clos de Mouches in Burgundy, this site is described by Johann as "a mystical vineyard, an iconic piece of earth, the fingerprint of the De Wetshof farm".
Johann comments: "This is a tasting of a single vineyard, the distinctive terroir of a 3.5 hectare vineyard which produces incredible Chardonnay. The nineties are not my story to tell. This is my selection of vintages. Ageability is where De Wetshof starts to show signature minerality – and the fine backbone and structure of our Chardonnay. You must have a green tint in Chardonnay, no matter how old. I like tension and nervousness in my Chardonnay. Our wines express the vintage, some big and bold, others linear and fine. Some shoot the lights out."
From Burgundy to Oggendkop
Chardonnay led the varietal charge on the tasting circuit in 2024, staking its claim as the most widely planted variety in the world since 2020. While it was first planted in the Cape only forty years ago, local plantings have grown from 37 hectares in 1981 to 6500 hectares today, most less than twenty years old. Paul Cluver spoke about the cellar’s focus on this hero Elgin variety at the release of the maiden vintage of Clüver Prieur Colline du Matin Chardonnay 2019 – a collaboration between Paul Clüver Family Wines and Domaine Jacques Prieur from Burgundy.
Made from a single vineyard planted in 2015 on Paul Clüver’s Elgin estate, this late release 2019 wine represents the combined Chardonnay ethos of Paul Clüver, Martin Prieur from Domaine Jacques Prieur (a legendary producer in Burgundy) and Paul Clüver cellarmaster Andries Burger. The new wine's moniker, Colline du Matin (morning hillock), named after Oggendkop where it was grown, recalls the iconic Cotes de Beaune, home of world-famous Chardonnay.
A comparative tasting of Jacques Prieur's Clos de la Feguine 2020 and Paul Cluver’s Colline du Matin 2019 elegantly contrasted the distinction between old and new world styles of Chardonnay. Flying in to attend one of the most prestigious events of the year, Martin Prieur spoke about his hands-on work consulting with Paul Cluver since 2011 from planting to cellar. The release of the first vintage of 1 200 bottles at R1 200 raises the bar for flagship Chardonnay.
The French-Cape initiative reminded me of a memorable tasting last year of Delheim’s new Staying Alive Riesling 2022, a prestigious collaboration with Christoph Hammel of Germany.
Show and tell diversity
The annual reveal of the newest wine in the limited edition series of KWV's The Mentors has become a highlight on the tasting circuit. With five releases in the range under her belt – Carménère 2017, Petite Sirah (Durif) 2018, Malbec 2019, Nebbiolo 2017, and Tempranillo 2021 – veteran KWV winemaker Izele van Blerk remains tight-lipped about alternate varieties in the pipeline. She reveals The Mentors has a few tricks up its sleeve with Marsanne, Roussanne and Mourvedre in the barrel – as well as acclaimed varieties like The Mentors Grenache Blanc 2022.
Unveiling The Mentors Tempranillo 2021, Izele explains, "We need to promote our diversity in South Africa – not just culturally but in our climate, soils and vineyards. We try to be regional-specific and capture the unique character of a single vineyard in our choice of Mentors varieties. Each variety has to tell a story." For more on this tasting, click on my dedicated column of 17 June entitled Niche varieties: Cultivating diversity in the vineyard.
Pass the salt
A year of great food and wine tastings ended on a high note with a lunch tasting of Paul Clüver's Colline du Matin 2019, Seven Flags 2023, and Village Chardonnay 2022 at Culture Wine Bar on Bree Street, Cape Town. Owner chef Matt Manning, who earned his spurs at La Colombe, created a five-course degustation menu to match his incredible ipad wine list which lists by glass and bottle some of the world's most famous wine marques from around the globe. A great venue for a wine launch in a wonderful heritage building with private wine club to match.
Another gastronomic highlight was the De Wetshof tasting hosted at Salon restaurant at the Old Biscuit Mill, Cape Town. Media were treated to a tour-de-force by world-renowned owner chef Luke Dale-Roberts (founder of The Test Kitchen). The intimate space of Salon, voted best new restaurant at the World Culinary Awards 2024, created a six-course meal which showcased the smoky, pickled, fermented umami flavours of a Japanese, Korean, French, and Mexican menu.
Upper Union in Gardens remains a favourite venue for wine launches. Both the Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon and KWV The Mentors releases were hosted here by rising star chef Amori Burger who presents shared dishes which showcase local, seasonal ingredients and fresh global flavours in imaginative combinations in an elegant old Victorian double-storey building.
Last but not least, veteran chef Craig Cormack prepared a fabulous gourmet meal at his restaurant SALT at Waterford Estate, inspired by his collection of 233 salts gathered around the world on his travels.
Dedicated to the memory of Arco Laarman, one of the Cape’s great modern winemakers, who passed away in 2024, a mensch among men who leaves behind a legacy of wonderful wines and memories. Long live Focal Point Cinsault.