South Africa isn’t new to wine, having started viticulture somewhere around the 1630s. It isn’t new to us either as we started to explore the wines soon post apartheid. A lot of folks have given them a spin and it’s hard for us to know where to start. There are people out there open to the idea while others still think about the parochial bottlings with very aggressive flavors that pushed them in another direction.
It probably isn’t news for us to tell you that there are some exciting things going on down there. Current favorites include the Tania and Vincent Careme Terre Brulee Chenin Blanc Swartland 2020 from Loire maestro Vincent Careme. We’d had consistent good luck with Chenin from this part of the world and you can find some very tasty examples like this one for under $10.
Recently we were reacquainted with a high performing, well priced Sauvignon Blanc under the Bayten label. This wine achieved ‘legendary’ status under a different moniker, Buitenverwachting, as a multiple 90 point scorer and a Spectator Top 100 or 2 along the way. Classic Cape Sauvignon at a great price.
We hadn’t seen it in a while and found they had gone through a couple of changes. Now in a different shaped bottle under the name Bayten Sauvignon Blanc Constantia 2020 (with the intimidating Afrikaner name, Buitenverwachting, reduced to small, light print) it soldiers on doing exactly what it has always done…providing a sleek, delicious, well-priced option in Sauv. Blanc. Bright and lively from the get-go, it delivers a good blast of tropical fruit and grapefruit with well infused minerality. Clean, driving and a bargain at this price, like the good old days but easier to say.
Speaking of transplants, we had not seen the Topiary Chardonnay Franschhoek Valley South Africa 2019, a complex and fresh wooded Chardonnay in a Burgundian style made by Philippe Colin (yes, that Philippe Colin). The purveyor told us that Philippe was in the process of retiring and moving here permanently. If he can make things like this at this kind of price, we’re all for it.
The grapes are handpicked early in the morning to retain freshness, the must is settled and the alcoholic fermentation starts with wild yeasts in a stainless steel tank for 1 week, before to be transferred into 450L (double a traditional barrique) Rousseau Piano oaks (French). Then, the malolactic fermentation is done naturally during the following 12 months with batonnage (lees stirring) done every 2 weeks. There’s definitely a Burgundy spin to the apple, spice and toast flavors, and a more ‘old school’ (like before global warming) snap of underlying acidity.