TO POP
Graham Beck 30th Celebratory Exclusive Magnum, R765 (1.5L)
Just the thing to initiate festivities – for one thing it’s a magnum, and even if we’re keeping things a bit smaller this year, nothing says celebration quite like a big bottle. Plus, this limited edition is in tribute to 30 vintages of Graham Beck, an innings certainly worth raising a toast to. Especially when you consider the way the producer has paved the way forward for category; with many pavements across the globe pounded by Cap Classique specialist, cellarmaster Pieter Ferreira along the way. A classic blend of chardonnay and pinot noir the bubbly itself is quite special in that the cellar’s three-decade old perpetual reserve was used for the dosage.
Anna Christina MCC 2018, R195
First off the label is brilliant, such eye pleasing simplicity and symmetry. The MCC itself continues in that vein of modern elegance, with good interplay between freshness and richness from 15 months on the lees. Clean crisp chardonnay flavours, green apples and bright lemon flesh against buttery brioche, the acidity fresh and persistent, tempered by creamy, soft mousse.
Testalonga I Wish I Was A Ninja Pet Nat, R200
Made from 100% Colombar from a Wellington vineyard planted in 1998. The dryland vines are next to a river, which has a moderating effect on temperatures, helping the grapes retain high natural acidities as well as fruit flavours. This naturally sparkling wine is bottled under crown cap, and after 10 months the bottles are riddled, disgorged and topped with the same wine and crown capped again. No SO2 was ever added and neither was any settling or fining agent. Aromas of white pear and peach, as well as limey citrus continue on the palate, the mousse is light and creamy, with that refreshing acidity making it, in a word, moreish.
FOR THE TABLE
Clos du Ciel 2016, R695
This Helderberg chardonnay was named for its vineyard, a special site planted almost 30 years ago by the legendary John Platter the founder of the eponymous guide. The name translates to “Heavenly Vineyard” from the French and has been farmed organically as well as with biodynamic principles. Also preferring a lighter touch in the cellar winemaker Jasper Raats ferments the juice with native yeasts, without the use of enzymes or fining agents. The wine is then matured in French oak barrels for 11 - 12 months, bottled unfiltered and further left to mature for approximately a year prior to release. Heavenly it is – as light and ephemeral as a bank of white clouds, but with an intrinsic luminosity that is impossible to manufacture – truly an expression of site, one of extraordinary clarity and grace.
Olifantsberg Grenache Blanc, R195
This is one of those hidden gems, as soon as you open it prepare to be delighted, like a kid at Christmas; so yes totally appropriate for the festive feast, especially with roast chickens and hams, or like I enjoyed, with seared tuna steaks. In the making whole bunch grenache blanc was naturally ferment in French oak barrels as well as foudre; then aged for 10 months on the lees. A playful balance between green apples and peach, an umami herbal tug and a finely woven texture that sits lightly on the palate – the acid, a lighting streak, pulling the fresh fruit and that lees richness along in its wake.
Cape of Good Hope Riebeeksrivier Chenin Blanc 2018, R150
A steal. Exceptional sites make exceptional wines. Riebeeksrivier on the western slope of the Kasteelberg in the Swartland is home to some of South Africa’s most iconic wines from the Sadie Family Columella to the Mullineux Schist, and more. Made from bushvine chenin planted in 1988, the wine presents as immediately fine. Intensity of fruit expression marries with a nutty richness, tempered with crystalline acidity and a long, long finish.
Radford Dale Nudity 2018, R415
Syrah undressed. Winemaker Jacques de Klerk’s mission is to present the wine in its most elemental state. Nude and unembellished. Famously known as a “zero sulphite” wine, no other additives or treatments are used, and the wine is bottled unfiltered and unfined. It plays in the lane of dark brooding fruit, powdery night flowers, a seam of black liquorice. The way it evolves in the glass reminds me of dusk; the night encroaching, the day’s scents of warm earth and spice receding into cool blackcurrant, the sting of green herbs. The palate is austere, coiled; with a fresh acidity and fine-boned tannic structure.
Pilgrim Wines is the Bastardo do Castello 2017
South Africa's first Bastardo, made by celebrated winemaker, Henry Kotzé (previously of Morgenster and now at Mulderbosch) for his own label, Pilgrim Wines. A project with his viticulturist wife, Riëtte – the Bastardo comes from 66 vines planted on a mountainside Stellenbosch vineyard. The grape is also known as trousseau in Jura (thought to be its home), but it is also widely cultivated in Spain and Portugal. Light-bodied in a pinot noir sense, that there is still plenty of structure – red cherry and rose petal abundance open things up, but then the aromatics get meatier, more herbaceous, on the palate its deft and energetic, with an intriguing blood orange finish.
Steenberg Catharina 2017, R310
Back to Bordeaux. The Catharina is Steenberg Vineyard’s flagship red and has been produced from the estate for 20 vintages; the style and components of the wine have changed over time, but it was originally always a Bordeaux blend. Winemaker Elunda Basson believes the estate’s cabernet sauvignon and malbec are coming into their own and felt it was time to return to the classic blend. A blend of merlot, petit verdot, malbec and cabernet sauvignon – cool Constantia fruit offers a rainbow of red fruits, cranberry and raspberry freshness, heady cherry, a subtle, appetising spearmint character. On the palate the wine sinks easily, plush and velvet, but deftly supported by gentle oaking and a good natural acidity.
And… for under the tree
Vin de Constance 2017, R1250
Arguably South Africa’s most famous wine. Packaged in a box that folds open like the start of a great book, sits the 2017 with its historic misshapen bottle. Spiced marmalade, orange citrus, honeyed beeswax and a hint of caramelised pineapple on the nose lead to a core of pure fruit, as if cut with a laser – so defined, such clarity; the refreshing acidity is finely integrated, the finish, an echo chamber of flavour.
De Toren Z 2016, R466
Styled to perfection in a slick black box with a gold clasp, a real bump of pleasure unhooking the latch and seeing this beauty inside. Named for Zephyrus, the Greek God of the Westerly Wind, the grapes for this wine come from ocean-facing vineyards, which benefit from sea breezes in the summer. Favouring the Right Bank approach of being merlot led,De Toren Z is a blend of the five Bordeaux varietals; juicy hits of mulberry and raspberry underscored with deeper tones of damson fruit and blackberry, fennel and aniseed, some roasted coffee and just a hint of fresh leather; pure silk framed by judicious oaking with a creamy, cherry-toned finish
Vilafonté Series C 2018, R1700
A thrill opening this elegant box, subtly designed to make you immediately start thinking about the wine’s origins, the Vilafonté soils where the fruit is grown. Powerful in the most classic sense with dark violets, liquorice and pencil shavings on entry, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec and cabernet franc. Concentrated flavours of blackberry and cassis on the palate, poised for evolution, a promise in its austere intensity, a crackling energy. Precise tannin structure, and an intricate framework gives the wine shape and persistent length.