The anticipated superb quality of the 2021 harvest in the Cape winelands is coming to fruition as this year’s wines are finding themselves released to the market. Neil Bruwer, winemaker at Chamonix Estate in Franschhoek, says that the estate’s Unoaked Chardonnay 2021, which was bottle last month and ready for distribution once the Covid-19 lockdown is over, is an indicator of the exceptional quality consumers can expect from this year’s wines.
Diemersdal, the Durbanville wine estate which has been under ownership of the Louw family for six generations, has become the first wine farm in the Durbanville wine region to achieve WWF Conservation Champion status. This unique wine initiative, managed by the World Wide Fund for Nature and unique to the Cape winelands, underscores the local wine industry’s commitment to conservation, the close relationship between wine farmers and their natural environment, and the indigenous natural setting where the country’s wines are made.
Image caption: winemaker Lizelle Gerber.
The appointment of Lizelle Gerber as winemaker at Org de Rac brings a wealth of experience and an award-winning reputation to the cellar-team of Swartland’s best-known organic wine farm. Lizelle joins veteran Frank Meaker at the helm of exciting new developments at Org de Rac in the year in which the estate celebrates its 20 years of operation since founder, the late Nico Bacon, committed to pioneering organic wine farming on his Swartland farm.
All three wines in Diemersdal Estate’s The Journal range achieved Gold medals at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, recognised as one of the wine world’s most prestigious wine competitions which was held in London, this year for the 18th time. Decanter Gold medals went to Diemersdal’s The Journal Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, The Journal Pinotage 2019 and The Journal Sauvignon Blanc 2020.
In its best showing at any South African wine competition to date, Diemersdal Estate in Durbanville was named Best Producer at this year’s Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, which this year celebrates its 20th year as one of the countries leading wine awards ceremonies. Diemersdal came out at the top of the heap of the entries representing the finest the Cape has to offer, winning the Trophy for Best Pinotage with its Pinotage Reserve 2019 and Gold Medals for the Private Collection Bordeaux Blend 2017 and The Journal Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
The anticipated influence of this year’s long, cool and slow-ripening vintage in the Cape Winelands is currently present in the tanks and barrels of Chamonix Estate’s young wines from 2021, and the cellar team is champing at the bit to introduce these to the discerning wine public. Picking-season in Chamonix’s Franschhoek mountain vineyards commenced two week later than normal with the cool conditions persisting through-out the harvest. This resulted in a harvest only ending at the end of April, the wines of which are being seen as destined for classic status.
Top image: Andrew Harris
DGB, a leading South African producer and distributor of wine and spirits, has announced the appointment of Andrew Harris as Marketing Director of its Wine Division with effect from 1 July this year. Harris, who joined DGB in 2019 currently holds the position of Marketing Manager and succeeds industry stalwart Jacques Roux who is retiring after 18 years as Marketing Director.
Just over a month after beginning its 2021 harvest, Diemersdal Estate from Durbanville has bottled its first Sauvignon Blanc, the estate’s signature grape variety. The Diemersdal Sauvignon Blanc 2021 hit the market on 5 March, the first Sauvignon Blanc from this year’s Cape vintage to be found on shelf.
The second vintage of Diemersdal estate’s The Journal Sauvignon Blanc underscores this range’s commitment to showing the farm’s Durbanville terroir through classic, old-school styles of winemaking. The just-released The Journal Sauvignon Blanc 2020, following the maiden 2019 version introduced last year, is made from a single vineyard planted with vines of between 28 and 38 years old. The wine was fermented in barrel, after which it spent 11 months in new and second fill oak, the barrels specially made in France and Austria for Sauvignon Blanc aging.
