In July, the first-ever Steenwold Tasting brought together a panel of industry professionals to reassess South Africa’s now-iconic 2015 vintage, ten years on, and tasted blind. What emerged was nothing short of a watershed moment for South African wine.
Neal Martin, writing for Vinous, summed it up simply:
“If the aim of this event was to prove that the best South African wines can not only survive in bottle but also evolve to manifest secondary aromas and flavours, then job done.”
At Museum Wines, we’ve long championed the age-worthiness and world-class potential of Cape Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. In light of Steenwold’s findings, we’re featuring Draaiboek wines’ newly arrived site-specific Chardonnay, showcasing exactly why South Africa’s whites are now being compared with the greats of Burgundy, and often outperform them on quality-to-price ratio.
“Some of the Steenwold flights were equal to the Côte de Beaune Premier Crus or surpassed them, plus of course… …most of these wines cost a fraction of Burgundy. In terms of quality-to-price ratio, I cannot think of another wine-producing country that comes close. Yes, you can quote me on that.” – Neal Martin.
These wines aren’t just drinking beautifully now, they’re proof of South Africa’s evolution, and a reminder of the extraordinary value still to be found.
#SteenwoldWine
Steenwold Inspired
Highlights…
96 Points – Greg Sherwood MW | 17.5 Points – Jancis Robinson MW
“This fantastic maiden release wine from Draaiboek Wines draws on the very finest elements of the cool climate terroir of Elgin to create a wine from a dry-farmed eight-year-old single vineyard situated on south westerly facing slopes, 255 metres above the coast. Fermented in French oak using 25% new barrels, the wine was aged for 10 months on its fine lees before being bottled unfiltered and unfined. The Kinkel shows a slightly tighter, more restrained aromatic profile on the nose, with subtle hints of lime blossom, lemon peel, Granny Smith apples, dusty limestone, lemon grass and white stone fruits. For all its reserve and wound spring tension, you can sense the electricity pulsing below the surface, waiting to explode on the racy, energetic, saline palate that shows subtle hints of flinty reduction. Once again, like its sibling Onskuld, the oaking is extremely elegant, pinpoint and precise, in no way obscuring the beautiful white citrus zest and liquid minerality that bristles on the taut palate. Seamless, crystalline and delightfully focused, this is a thoroughly exhilarating expression of cool climate Chardonnay and definitely a new release not to be missed! Drink from 2024 to 2034+.” – Greg Sherwood MW.
97 Points – Greg Sherwood MW
“The Hemel-en-Aarde Valley has been a market leader for premium Chardonnay in South Africa for over two decades, with Elgin slowly starting to muscle in on this dominance in the last 8 to 10 years. The Onskuld Chardonnay, sourced from two single vineyard blocks in the higher altitude Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge ward, combines the magical mix of power, purity, and intensity to deliver a wine that has all the crystalline purity of cool climate Elgin but with a greater fruit concentration, mineral focus, and tangy fresh piercing acid intensity. A fabulously complex wine on the nose with notes of fennel root, bay leaf, honeydew melon and green citrus, following on to a resonating palate with deliciously tangy acids that are resplendently sleek and glassy, supporting crystalline yellow citrus pastille fruits. This is a rare example of a cool climate South African wine with effortless class and precision, pinpoint focus, but also a bold, racy finish. If this wine was attempting to seduce me, I admit, I am well smitten. A true beauty to drink on release and over the next 10 to 12+ years.” – Greg Sherwood MW.
“Kinkel means ‘twist’ in Afrikaans. From a single, eight-year-old, southwesterly-facing, dry-farmed vineyard located 255 m above sea level in the southeastern region of Elgin. Vines are planted in decomposed Bokkeveld shale containing about 20% clay. Cooler temperatures and rainfall followed favourable winter conditions. This delayed ripening by nearly two weeks. Hand-picked on 3 March 2022 and moved directly to the press for gentle whole-bunch pressing. Fermented in French oak barrels, 25% new, and matured on fine lees for 10 months. No fining or filtering was done prior to bottling. Only the best barrels were bottled.
This is, quite frankly, outstanding. There is so much guttural grip and scrape and timbre to the wine that it feels like what it tastes like: sage leaves (their oils and tiny velvet hairs and resin-sticky sap and tongue-twisting bitters); pineapple skin (rugged, sweet, chewy, things you want to spit and things that bite and acid that spite spikes your tongue and then sweetness, again); white pepper (fine-ground, floating in air like dust motes, like quarry dust and chalk catching the back of your throat); chalk (like licking a saliva-punctuated-pauses piece of white scrawl that ever so slightly screeches curves across your tongue). It’s like the Sylvia Plath of Chardonnay. Reader: I fell in love. Watch these guys like a hawk. My hand hovered over 18… (Brilliant labels, by the way.)” – Tamlyn Currin.
