Bright, exuberantly fruity Citrus & Vine is from an exciting family estate with a state-of-the-art cellar to boot. The land has been in the family for generations, but their first winery was only built just over a decade ago. The property lies in the Breede River Valley – with rich calcareous soils, the region is renowned not only for delicious, ripe fruit wines, but also for its citrus orchards, and for breeding horses. In fact the family excels at all three, and the wine’s name celebrates two of them.
Citrus & Vine, made purely from the South African speciality white grape Chenin Blanc, exudes lively and intense guava, lemon and passion fruit notes. Chill down and enjoy this fresh white solo, or with a peach and haloumi salad or chicken.
Critic Jancis Robinson MW was impressed by "the great strides that have been taken in red wine quality" in South Africa. After a tasting, she wrote, "Most of the reds I encountered were really delicious — with fine examples of Cabernet Sauvignon". This ace red is from the De Wet winery in Robertson. It's a 19th-century family estate with extensive plantings of Cabernet (nearly half their vineyards) and count themselves specialists of this grape.
For the Heritage Reserve, winemaker Johann Stemmet searched out the finest, lowest-yield grapes from the limestone soils of this great region. Ageing nearly half the wine in French and American oak has lent a rich layer of spice to the dense notes of cassis. Open early and get the steak sizzling.
Critic Tim Atkin declared, "For wine lovers, South Africa offers something special," while the Press Association wrote, "South African winemakers are producing an abundance of world-class wines". Excelsior Estate has been doing just that for 150 years, since its foundation in Robertson in 1870. It's still owned today by the De Wet family, with Freddie and his son Peter running the show. Their philosophy is that great wine is made in the vineyard, so they put much work into tending their vines.
Their Heritage Reserve wines use their finest grapes from the lowest yielding vines on the region's premium limestone soils, all to ensure intense flavour. Ripe, but with zesty freshness, this white is great with ginger-spiced pork or noodle soup.
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Our old pal at Flagstone, Bruce Jack, called Gerhard Swart "the best winemaker I have ever met" – high praise indeed from someone with a lot of talent himself.
With the 2010 General Smuts Trophy under Gerhard's young belt, Winemaker of the Year in 2017, 5 Stars from John Platter and many other impressive awards, it's perhaps of no surprise. Gerhard's thirst for knowledge means he's always looking for ways to improve and produce something new and exciting. Crush magazine wrote "What makes him truly exceptional is understanding the language of grapes from vineyard to cellar." You can taste that in this fresh, fruity white. A zesty blend of Chardonnay, aromatic Viognier and Chenin, it’s spot on with shellfish, and best of all with lobster.
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If you’re looking for a smart Chenin Blanc with amazing depth, this 2022 is bang on target. Established in 1928, Stellenrust is one of South Africa’s most successful family wineries. But this is much more than just an old school estate. This is a crazy passionate team of young winemakers. Together they work spectacular vineyards, in the heart of the renowned Stellenbosch Golden Triangle, where they produce modern, limit-pushing wines. And Chenin is something of a speciality. Hence two Chenin Trophies.
88% of the old-vine fruit is fermented in stainless steel, while the remainder is put into oak to give a greater degree of complexity. Then five months on lees produces a creamy texture that makes the wine ideal to serve solo, or with chicken.
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