South Africa Trip October 2018
Western Cape, South Africa
Tasted Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - Friday, October 12, 2018 by kingkanu with 331 views
Introduction
I've had people and merchants singing the praises of South African wines for many years but never really gave it the headspace, or cellar space, to understand it enough, so it was high time I gave it due attention to see if its as exciting as many people have painted it. I decided to stay on the south coast for most of the time, being a fan of cooler climate wines and particularly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, so based ourselves in the town of Hermanus by the beautiful Hemel-en-Aarde valley but within easy driving distance of Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Elgin, then we drove up for couple of days in Riebeek Kasteel in Swartland where there's a set of young gun wine makers creating a lot of buzz and a lot of old vines to work with, finally a couple of nights in Cape Town to sample the cosmopolitan delights and enjoy some more lovely wines in some top restaurants. This was all made a bit easier by getting a grant as part of the Oddbins Prize for top scoring non-trade student of the WSET Level 3 Certificate in wines and spirits.
Flight 1 - Tasting at Lukas van Loggerenberg (13 Notes)
We had tried his Geronimo Cinsault beforehand which was great and on the recommendation of a friendly merchant we got in touch and asked could we come and taste. Lukas makes his wine in an old shed overlooking Devon Valley in Stellenbosch, its not glamorous in any way but the wines were so good. He doesn't use any enzymes, yeasts or other additives, uses old oak barrels and has a non interventionist approach, but his wines are pristine and clean. He is Tim Atkins best young south african winemaker in 2018 (so we read when we got home) Lukas generously spent a lot of time with us explaining all about his wines and tasting a number of wines from barrel as well as whats been bottled, i really liked the style, there's nothing heavy handed here but a careful expression of the fruit that he works with, he is definitely a winemaker to keep an eye on.
Flight 2 - Tasting at Richard Kershaw Wines (6 Notes)
This was quite the information overload. Richard Kershaw MW is a man in the thick of the South African wine industry. Starting as a winemaker he then went onto do his MW and now consults for or manages a whole range of wine businesses on top of his own eponymous wine label. Richards passion for wine knows no bounds and over the course of a couple of hours he shared his deep insight and knowledge freely. His winery is a warehouse / barn in a custom crush, seeing concrete eggs, permeable plastic eggs, stainless steel fermenters of all shapes and sizes gave us an inkling of how Richard was experimenting at all levels to try and make those small incremental changes to make the best wine possible.
He is also a fanatic about clones, alongside his main 'Clonal Selection' range, he also releases individual clones from individual sites as his 'Deconstructed' range and a further 'GPS' range to explore areas outside of Elgin. He's passionate about Elgin, being quite a high elevation, it's cooler and also has the luxury in the Western Cape of being comfortably self sufficient in water. He spoke about the need to drive grape prices higher in the area to combat the apple growing industry which dominates in Elgin with their premium fruit, so as to encourage premium wine grape growing.
He covered so much ground it was so impressive, i think he could have carried on for much longer but another appointment dragged him away, mores the pity, but it was a super informative visit and his wines are superb with real elegance and a true sense of place. I am now a fan.
Flight 3 - Tasting in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley (11 Notes)
We spent a gentle few hours driving through this beautiful valley stopping for a few tastings in some gorgeous tasting rooms with incredible views. the valley is really close to the cold sea so creating a cool climate perfect for grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, although other varieties also thrive. I didn't realise quite how young this region is, so when the vines have had chance to mature further there could be some real treasures produced here.The tasting rooms were geared up for general tourism (its an hour or so from Cape Town) but were only serving the standard cuvees so i didn't get wowed by anything here, but there's plenty of very serviceable wines being made at fairly reasonable cellar door prices
Flight 4 - Tasting in Riebeek Kasteel (13 Notes)
Here unfortunately most of the producers i wanted to visit were overseas, however the Swartland Independent Producers group run a small shop in town called The Wine Kollective where you could buy wines from all their producers which covered all the noted names and many I'd never heard of, you can even get the super limited bottlings there if you're lucky. Riebeek Cellars have a tasting room in town, it used to be the local co-operative but is now a regular company, while not exciting or likely to appeal to the wine geek there's some palatable wines considering the budget pricing, but there's a lot more interest to be found elsewhere for not much more money
Flight 5 - Odd bottles (5 Notes)
a selection of wines drunk over dinner during the trip
Closing
South Africa's western cape is a diverse set of regions with each having a distinct character and wine styles, however the new young wave of winemakers are breaking free to create modern and stylish wines that they want to drink and quality is increasing all over. There's so much value for money here, its one of the most affordable regions that i've been to in every way from accommodation, car hire as well as eating and drinking. I don't know why i took so long to see what everyone was talking about, but this crash course was more than enough to whet the appetite for further exploration.
2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Break a Leg Blanc de Noir Rosé
South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch
(10/4/2018)
11.7% 100% Cinsault some clay in the soils. Salmon pink, crisp, clean, strawberries, green herbs, sage, lavender, textural with a long finish. a good interesting rose.
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2017 Lukas van Loggerenberg Chenin Blanc Trust Your Gut
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
45% Swartland grapes from vines around 35 years old, 45% Polkadraai and 10% from the same Paarl block used for Kameraderie. 10 months in old oak. no battonage, no malo. 13% lovely quince and pear nose, crisp clean linear with good acidity, some peach and a touch of green herbs on the nose, a good savoury finish
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2017 Lukas van Loggerenberg Chenin Blanc Kameraderie
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
single vineyard chenin blanc, 2 hectares of vines around 60 years old,Lukas picked the top and bottom of the vineyard separately. 13% 5 barrels made. quite a powerful nose of quince, pear, more concentrated on the palate than the trust your gut cuvee, more pear, nectarine, some sage and a very fine acid line through this
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2017 Lukas van Loggerenberg Cinsault Geronimo
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
100% Cinsault, 60% Stellenbosch, 40% Paarl. 80% whole bunches, 3 weeks on its skins followed by 9 months in old oak 500L barrels. 13%
bright and brambly fruits with cherry and pomegranite, lip smackingly juicy and delicious
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Cinsault Geronimo
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
in 2018 this is 100% Cinsault and 100% Stellenbosch fruit. this vintage had small bunches and berries producing darker and more intense juice than the 2017 more of a black fruit profile with black cherries dominent
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2017 Lukas van Loggerenberg Cabernet Franc Breton
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
Cabernet Franc in a Loire style as the name suggests. grown on granite soils, 60% whole bunch, 11 months in used french oak. 12.5%
Strong legs. Cherry and Lavender make for a lovely nose, the palate is fine and refreshing, some green capsicum among the fruits, a fine saline finish, lovely Cabernet franc here
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2017 Lukas van Loggerenberg Graft
South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch, Polkadraai Hills
(10/4/2018)
55% Cinsault of 45 years old vines, 45% Syrah of 28 year old vines. 100% whole bunch, 11 months in neutral oak. quite a cornas nose with taopenade and white peopper, really juicy fruit, some fine tannins, so young and tight now but should be a beauty.
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Cabernet Franc Breton
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
barrel sample. this year the fruit was all destemmed. 13.5%. strong legs, still quite lactic, lovely blackcurrant fruit with fine tannins, deeper and more intense this vintage
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Pinotage
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
Barrel sample. 1 barrel made, single vineyard 50% whole bunch. 13%
quite floral with peonies and lavender, lots of juice on the mid palate, plenty of tannins on the front of the tongue which keep building
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Syrah
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
barrel sample. a beautiful bright red colour, quite an intensity of fruit flavours with plenty of medium grade tannins
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Syrah Private Label
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
barrel sample, being made for a private client, Lukas was quite rightly excited by the opportunity to make this wine from Porseleinberg fruit. made from very small berries, 100% whole cluster. tapenade, liquorice, quite briney, so deep and intense its almost painful to taste at this stage, fabulous potential. someone will be very lucky to drink this in 10 years or more
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Colombard
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
barrel sample, we were given this to taste blind, i was thinking a marsanne but it wasn't that oily. Organic fruit from a spot 9 hours drive north of Stellenbosch. Mid gold colour. crisp and intense pear, apricot, nectarine peach and mandarin, a veritable orchard, great finish
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2018 Lukas van Loggerenberg Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains
South Africa, Coastal Region
(10/4/2018)
barrel sample. served blind, i recognised gthe muscat from the nose, but from the palate guessed a early harvested gewurtz. all destemmed, 5 days skin contact. 11%. pale gold colour. very floral and grapey nose, like a beames de venise. more floral in the mouth with rose, citrus acidity, pineapple and peach, smells like it will be a sweet wine but drinks totally dry
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