How different a year can be? Some would say the more things change, the more they stay the same!
I never understood that until I started working with the natural cycles of nature. We are so dependent on it, and year on year dawns a (not so new) realization that we are so under the sway of it. We may think that we hold some power over it, but in actual fact, it is nature that controls the factors that have the ultimate say over quality in any given vintage.
Today, 13 July, Delaire Graff Estate has ranked 36th internationally - by the World's Best Vineyards 2023, an annual list highlighting the finest and most diverse vineyards across the globe.
Owned by jeweller Laurence Graff OBE, Delaire Graff Estate is dedicated to beauty in its many forms. Much like polishing a diamond to reveal its brilliance, Graff has transformed an extraordinary natural setting into a world-class destination - renowned for its wine, hospitality, cuisine and contemporary African art collection.
The major topic of conversation in the Cape winelands has been - and still is - the exceptionally wet winter we are currently experiencing, once which will be talked about for years to come.
Those drenching summer rains continued into autumn, and with determination and a resistance to respite, continued until the end of June. Halfway through the year, De Wetshof has already seen 250mm of rain, some 50mm less than a good annual average, and only nature knows what lies ahead for the rest of 2023.
Meridian Wine Merchants has once again been named as the leading wine distributor in South Africa's on consumption sector, according to the latest Wine On-Premise Report on the local industry from Australian wine specialists survey company Wine Business Solutions (WBS). For its 2023 report on the state of wines listed and consumed in the South African hospitality sector, WBS surveyed some 40 000 individual listings on wine lists, including suburban restaurants, fine dining, hotels, pubs and clubs and game lodges, finding Meridian to be the top wine distributor in this environment responsible for 22.5% of all wines finding their way onto the wine lists of these establishments.
The just-released De Wetshof Limestone Hill, one of South Africa's most popular unwooded Chardonnays, emphasises the reputation 2023 is garnering for being a top vintage for white wines in the Cape, especially Chardonnay. This despite inclement weather and heavy rainfall playing havoc in the Cape winelands during the 2023 harvest season.
According to Johann de Wet, CEO of De Wetshof Estate in Robertson, the bulk of the farm’s Chardonnay vineyards had been harvested before the heavy rains fell on the winelands at the beginning of March.
Paul Clüver Family Wines in Elgin underscored its consistency as an award-winning wine producer in this year’s National Wine Challenge (NWC) by being announced joint-winner of this competition’s Vineyard Consistency Award for the most Top 100 places in the 13 year-history of the South African wine show.
The pioneering Elgin winery this year put-in another extraordinary showing in the NWC/Top 100 competition by winning two Grand Cru accolades for Best Wines in Class for the legendary Paul Clüver Seven Flags Pinot Noir 2018 and the Seven Flags Chardonnay 2021.
Diemersdal Estate in Durbanville underscored its quest for greater complexity in the farm's Sauvignon Blanc offering by being one of only four South African producers to win a top-scoring Platinum Award at the Decanter World Wine Awards held in London.
The Platinum recognition went to Diemersdal The Journal Sauvignon Blanc 2022, a wine inspired by winemaker-owner Thys Louw's infatuation with the Sauvignon Blanc wine from Sancerre in France.
The Decanter World Wine Awards is deemed one of the world's largest and most important wine competitions. This year 18 250 wines from 57 countries were entered and judged by 236 leading international critics.
Trying Weather Conditions Result in Expressive Quality Vintage 2023 on Paul Clüver Family Wines
As a Burgundy acolyte, Andries Burger, winemaker and cellar master of Paul Clüver Family Wines in Elgin, found renewed respect for the vignerons of that famous French wine region with this year’s challenging weather conditions Paul Clüver Family Wines experienced during vintage 2023. “Burgundy is known for steep variations from vintage to vintage due to the erratic weather conditions that differ yearly in that part of the world,” says Andries Burger. “The unexpected rainfall experienced in Elgin and throughout the Cape this year, seldom seen in our summer, gave me practical insight into what Burgundy goes through during harvest in terms of its ever-changing array of climatic challenges.”
The Haute Cabrière Education Centre has now been given a fresh purpose as the new home of the Franschhoek Hospitality Academy.
At Haute Cabrière, we are not only passionate about wine, but also the people who enjoy it, who craft it, who serve it and who love to learn about it. As a family-led Franschhoek estate which is home to a beautiful restaurant, event venue, tasting room and bakery – hospitality is one of our core missions, alongside the creation of quality wines for people to enjoy together.
We have always been a team that enjoys learning new things, coming up with new ideas, and pursuing our passions – in wine, in food, in service, in life. Education is at the core of our ability to do so as it gives us the tools, insights and skills to do what we love. Education and sharing knowledge has therefore always been important to us.