We’ve been writing quite a bit about South African wine recently (see South Africa's old-vine marvels, New Wave South Africa – latest crop and South Africa at a crossroads), so it’s high time for another South African wine of the week. You won't see much about this producer in the famous Platter's South African Wine Guide (2018 edition just launched) because they choose not to submit samples.
This marvel comes from the extraordinary north-western corner of the Cape winelands I visited on my last visit there two years ago and described in A Cape road trip. This is not obvious wine country. There’s not a manicured lawn in sight, and when I went up with wine writer Tim James, leading viticulturist Rosa Kruger and Swartland pioneer Eben Sadie to taste some wine there. Eben took along bottles, glasses and a corkscrew.
The farmers are just that. At the moment rooibos bushes are more profitable than vines. There are just three farmers up in this wild, arid corner, and it is so far off the beaten track that nomenclature is debatable. Rupert sells the wine as Citrusdal Mountain. Sadie, who also buys fruit up here, has long called the area Skurfberg. Whatever the appellation, the Laings, Vissers and Van Lills have the great distinction and asset of particularly old vines – and I applaud Rupert’s (or his advisor Rosa Kruger’s?) determination to credit the growers on the label. The picture of Rosa and Basie Van Lill was taken in the Van Lill's kitchen where we tasted; it was far too hot to think of tasting outside.
The average age of the dry-farmed vines responsible for the incredibly long windedly named Anthonij Rupert, Cape of Good Hope, Van Lill & Visser Chenin Blanc 2016 Citrusdal Mountain was 52 years and it tastes like it, the wine is so intense, yet has wonderfully ethereal lift, too. It absolutely grabs the attention of the taster, thanks to the density of the fruit and the tension that runs through it. The high daytime temperatures up here alternate with nights that have been cooled by Atlantic breezes off Lambert’s Bay in the distance.
Chenin Blanc is of course the most-planted vine variety in South Africa and dry wines made from the oldest vines tend to have a style all of their own: shades of honey and apple skins without obvious sweetness.
This was one of 35 dry Chenins tasted in a special tasting put on in London earlier this year to demonstrate the potential of South Africa’s old vines (see the tasting article South Africa’s old-vine marvels). They were almost all impressive in various ways, but this one seems to offer the best combination of price and quality.
My favourite wine of all, Alheit, Magnetic North Mountain Makstok 2016 Citrusdal Mountain, Chris and Suzaan Alheit’s interpretation of old-vine Chenin from this corner of the world, has a recommended retail rice of £65 a bottle. For what it’s worth, I gave the Alheit wine 18 points out of 20 and gave the Van Lill & Visser one 17.5. Their suggested drinking windows are, respectively, 2018–2026 and 2017–2024. These wines with their lovely natural acidity last!
The Cape of Good Hope range is just one in the Rupert stable, the others being L’Ormarins, Protea, Terra del Capo (geddit?) and Anthonij Rupert.
According to wine-searcher.com, the wine is available in Germany, South Africa and from several different retailers in the UK. I only wish wines like this were easier to find in the US.
