News

Tim Atkin MW has awarded one wine full marks in his just released South Africa Report. As a single-origin, dry-farmed, old vine Chenin Blanc, the 2023 Alheit Vineyards Nautical Dawn “exemplifies a reflection of place and vintage rather than the imposition of style in the cellar. By sublimating his ego, Chris Alheit has succeeded in expressing authenticity in the bottle.”  (Alheit himself describes what he does as “zeroing out the winemaking”.)

“A perfect wine in every sense, this Chenin Blanc - the variety South Africa has made its own - is emblematic of the terroir-driven approach I have come to associate with the country’s most exciting winemakers and see as a crucial feature of the new post-modern Cape wine scene.”

Saluting South Africa’s winemakers, cellar and vineyard workers and growers, their tenacity, self-reliance and flexibility, he says: “South Africa is incontrovertibly producing the greatest wines in its history.”

The 2024 edition of the report - the 12th - features no fewer than three wines with scores of 99. They are the 2022 Porseleinberg Syrah and two wines from Sadie Family - the 2022 Columella (a Syrah-dominated red blend of Mediterranean varieties) and the 2023 Mev Kirsten (Chenin Blanc). Both Porseleinberg and Sadie Family have been top scorers in past editions of the report.

Alheit Vineyards has garnered the title of 2024 Overall White Wine of the Year, while the Porseleinberg Syrah and the Sadie Family Columella, both Swartland wines, share the Overall Red Wine of the Year honour. Callie Louw of Porseleinberg is Winemaker of the Year.

Underscoring the rigour and resolve Atkin finds amongst South African winemakers, his Young Winemaker of the Year is Stephanie Wiid of Thistle & Weed, who works with viticulturist Etienne Terblanche. Drawing “parallels between thistles and weeds and the uncompromising tenacity and survival skills of grapevines,” as they describe it, they source fruit “off the beaten path”, for both their site-specific and regional blends. Wiid’s 2023 Brandnetel Chenin Blanc, that scored 96, is made from Stellenbosch fruit.

The Winemaking Legend crown goes to Günter Brözel, who arrived in South Africa from Germany in 1956 at the age of 21. He was cellarmaster of Nederburg for 33 years, bringing international acclaim to the winery for the rigorous standards he set in the vineyards and cellar, and the many innovations he introduced, including noble late harvest wines. Wines he made during the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s still exhibit remarkable endurance and longevity.  In 1985 he was the first locally based winemaker to earn the International Wine & Spirit Robert Mondavi International Winemaker of the Year. Now 90, he remains an active and astute industry commentator.

Bosman Family Vineyards is this year’s Viticulturist of the Year. Its Bosman Adama plant improvement unit in Wellington, “the most prominent transformation scheme in the winelands” is 26% owned by a workers’ trust. It is a major supplier of vine cuttings, notably of drought- and heat-tolerant southern Mediterranean varieties to local producers. The unit forms part of the South African Plant Improvement Scheme (Plant SA), that monitors and controls the quality of the local industry’s grapevine plant material.

Atkin tasted a total of 2,259 wines for the report. There are 13 wines scoring 98, and 19 achieving 97. In total, 217 wines rate 95 and higher, across a range of vintages from 2015 to 2023. By far the majority of these are Stellenbosch wines, followed by the Swartland. As expected, Bot River, Constantia, Elgin, Hemel-en-Aarde, Robertson and many other high-profile origins appear, but also on this year’s honour’s roll are the newer Cape Agulhas, the Cape South Coast, Ceres Plateau, Elandskloof, Elim, Greyton, Klein Karoo, Malgas and Sutherland.

Atkin makes the point that the national vineyard might have declined to below 88 000 ha, “but better viticulture and site selection, superior virus-free plant material and a broader palette of grape varieties that don’t need new oak to show their best all confirm for me that there isn’t a single style that South Africa doesn’t do well. And the wines are improving with (almost) every vintage.”

At the same time, “transformation has finally reached something close to critical mass… The number of black graduates who have studied oenology and viticulture is growing exponentially.”

He highlights the increasing diversity of varieties being established with 111 varieties deemed suitable for wine at the time of writing.

He lauds evidence of greater precision in the vineyard, more considered pruning and the growing accent on soil and vine health and is encouraged by the ongoing research into different grapes, clones, rootstocks, trellising systems, cover crops and ploughing conditions to cope with climate extremes.

The Podium 2024:

• Winemaker of the Year: Callie Louw of Porseleinberg
• Young Winemaker of the Year: Stephanie Wiid of Thistle & Weed
• Viticulturist of the Year: Bosman Family Vineyards
• Producers’ Cellar of the Year: Perdeberg Wines
• Winemaking Legend: Günter Brözel
• Best Cellar Door Experience: Ernie Els Wines
• Overall White Wine of the Year: 2023 Alheit Vineyards Nautical Dawn Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch
• Overall Red Wines of the Year: 2022 Porseleinberg Syrah, Swartland; 2022 Sadie Family Columella, Swartland                                                         
• Overall Rosé of the Year: 2023 Terblanche Family Vineyards Elmie Rosé, Stellenbosch
• Overall Sparkling Wine of the Year: 2018 Graham Beck Cuvée Clive Cap Classique, Western Cape
• Overall Sweet Wine of the Year: 2021 Klein Constantia Vin de Constance, Constantia
• Overall Fortified Wine of the Year: 2022 Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve, Calitzdorp
• Red Wine Discovery of the Year: 2021 Fairview Lanner Hill Syrah, Darling
• White Wine Discovery of the Year: 2023 Kruger Family Wines Karoo Chardonnay, Sutherland
• Rosé Wine Discovery of the Year: NV Vinevenom Shining Rosé No. 2, Swartland
• Sparkling Wine Discovery of the Year: 2016 Villiera Pithos CC, Stellenbosch
• Best Value White of the Year: 2024 AA Badenhorst Secateurs Chenin Blanc, Swartland
• Best Value Red of the Year: 2022 Mullineux Kloof Street Rouge, Swartland
• Best Value Rosé of the Year: 2023 Noble Hill Mourvèdre Rosé, Simonsberg-Paarl
• Best Value Sparkling Wine of the Year: NV Pongrácz Blanc de Blancs Cap Classique, Western Cape
• Best Value Sweet Wine of the Year: 2023 Van Loveren VRL Special Late Harvest Gewürztraminer, Robertson
• Best Value Fortified Wine of the Year: NV KWV Classic Collection Cape Tawny, Western Cape

To purchase the report, where more detail can be found, visit www.timatkin.com