South Africa’s brightest stars descend on London

Thirty of South Africa’s most exciting winemakers will congregate in London’s Soho this Thursday for a “New Wave” tasting organised by five UK importers.

Showcasing the best of South Africa’s “New Wave” producers, the tasting will take place at The Vinyl Factory in Soho between 10am and 6pm.

Put on by Swig, Fields, Morris & Verdin, New Generation Wines, Indigo Wine and Dreyfus Ashby, among the producers pouring their wines will be Adi Badenhorst, Chris Alheit, Rebecca Tanner, Chris Mullineux and Sebastian Beaumont.

“It’s probably the best tasting of South African wines ever staged in the UK. These guys and girls are the country’s most interesting winemakers representative of the renaissance of smaller wineries and individuals infusing their wines with personality,” enthused Robin Davis, owner of Swig.

A troop of talented young winemakers has emerged on the scene in South Africa in recent years. Sharing ideas and bouncing off one another, they are responsible for some of the most intriguing and exciting wines being made today.

Click through for a photo galley of winemakers to look out for at the tasting.

Adi Badenhorst of AA Badenhorst

The enfant terrible of the Swartland, Adi Badenhorst grew up among the vines, and, after working harvests at Château Angelus and Alain Graillot in the norther Rhône, chose to settle in the Swartland where he makes a magnificent white blend and an old bush vine red blend from Shiraz, Mourvedre, Grenache and Cinsualt in Paardeberg.

 “We make wines with immense character. We’re using what we can afford and are making the best wines we can. I want to make something, involving interaction from my family,” he says. 

Chris Alheit of Alheit Vineyards

Working with his wife Suzaan, Chris uses traditional Cape varieties to make authentic Cape whites. The pair are passionate about old vines, preferring to let the terroir talk by keeping cellar work simple. “Fine wine is grown, not made,” says Chris. Having worked harvests together in California’s Napa Valley, Western Australia, St Emilion, the Clare Valley in South Australia and the Mosel in Germany, the well-travelled pair made a base at Alheit Vineyards, high on the Hemel-and-Aarde Ridge in Walker Bay.

Their debut, Cartology 2011, is intended to be a picture of the Cape as seen through the lens of its mature vineyards. Composed of rare parcels of mature bush vines from Perdeberg, Kasteelberg and Franschhoek, the Chenin Blanc/Semillon blend is naturally fermented and aged in old French oak barrels. Sulphur is only added following the completion of fermentation, when the wine is stable of its own accord. The result is a rich, mineral wine with notes of stone fruits, lime and honey.

Johan Meyer of JH Meyer and Mother Rock Wines

Mick Hucknall doppelganger Johan Meyer shares his time between Mount Abora Vineyards in the Swartland – named after the mountain in the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem Kubla Kahn, and his own boutique project, JH Meyer Signature Wines in Elgin. Part of the Swartland Revolution, at Mount Abora, the enthusiastic Meyer makes a pair of Chenin Blancs and a Cinsault rosé. “I’m trying to make a seriously good pink,” he insists.

His Koggelbos Chenin is deliberately made in an oxidative style from low-yielding old vines, then fermented in French oak and kept on its lees for four months. Over at JH Meyer, which sprang into existence in 2011, Meyer makes just 1,000 bottles of Pinot Noir and 1,000 bottles of Chardonnay a year, selecting grapes from small vineyards in the cool climate Elgin region and operating out of Meerhof Winery.

“I fell in love with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay while working in New Zealand and Santa Barbara. There’s great potential for both grapes in South Africa, and, as they are less widely planted, you have a chance to put your own stamp on the wines if you do a good job,” he says.

Peter-Allan Finlayson of Crystallum

Peter-Allan Finlayson’s wine roots run deep. Son of South African Pinot Noir pioneer Peter Finlayson of Bouchard Finlayson, Peter Jr has branched out and set up his own boutique Pinot project, Crystallum, where he makes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from prime parcels grown on deep clay soils in the Walker Bay.

Part of The Hundred Club, along with the aforementioned Chris Alheit and Donovan Rall of Vuurberg, Finlayson studied philosophy and economics in Stellenbosch before moving back to Hermanus to satiate his passion for wine, founding Crystallum in 2007 with his brother Andrew, having first clocked up numerous harvests in Pinot’s heartland, Burgundy. Fruit is sourced from four vineyard sites in Hemel-en-Aarde. “We nurture what comes off the vines rather than manipulating it to fit a predetermined outcome,” says Finlayson, whose next focus is single vineyard wines.

Both the Chardonnay and Pinot are fermented in French oak and aged for at least a year before bottling at Crystallum’s straw bale winery made from recycled steel, clay and stone. Wine writer Matthew Jukes has described the Pinot as, “a future cult wine in the making.” Finlayson meanwhile, believes it’s “more restrained and elegant” than his father’s concentrated Pinots.

Alex Starey of Keermont

Surfing winemaker Alex Starey is in charge of viticulture and winemaking at Keermont, a boutique winery set in an amphitheatre between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch mountain ranges. The fledgling 27-hectare estate, on the site of a former mineral water bottling plant, was acquired by Mark Wraith in 2003.

Having studied oenology at the University of Stellenbosch, Starey set his sites on Europe, working harvests in Priorat, Bordeaux and the Rhône. Returning home to South Africa inspired by the elegant Syrahs of the Rhône Valley, Starey was determined to make wine with a distinctly South African stamp. “We’re in a very special part of the woods here, so we’re committed to the estate concept,” he says.

Formed of 8ha including Chenin Blanc planted in 1971, the majority of plantings at the estate took place between 2005 and 2009. Producing just five barrels in his inaugural 2007 vintage, Starey currently makes four wines: a flagship red blend made up of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petit Verdot; a Syrah; Terrasse – a barrel fermented white blend featuring Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc; and, in exceptional vintages, dessert wine Fleurfontein. His minimum intervention philosophy eschews both fining and filtration.

Paul Nicholls & Rebecca Tanner of Fable Mountain Vineyards

Aussie Rebecca grew up on the N.S.W Central Coast. After gradating with a winemaking degree, she worked as a flying winemaker in Italy, France, Spain, Cyprus and Chile, eventually returning home to work at Lakes Folly in the Hunter Valleyand Cullen in Margaret River where she cultivated a love for biodynamics. Tanner has been a winemaker at Fable since 2009.

Her partner in wine meanwhile, grew up in Johannesburg and studied winemaking at Stellenbosch University. Like Tanner, after competing his degree he spent a stint as a flying winemaker in France, then headed to the Hunter Valley and the Barossa in Australia, joining Fable in 2009. The pair focus on Rhône varieties Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre at the estate on the rugged slopes of the Witzenberg Mountain range. They also make a white from Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier and Chardonnay.

Duncan Savage of Savage and Cape Point

Another keen surfer, Savage shares his time between Cape Point Vineyard, where he focuses on whites from Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay, and his own project Savage where he shines a light on reds made from Rhône varieties grown at high altitude. Made in tiny amounts, with the reds his focus is on freshness and elegance rather than a heavy use of oak.

“We’re constantly experimenting in order to attain our goal of being one of the world’s leading wine producers, and at the same time making sure we have loads of fun doing it,” he says. 

Marelise Jansen van Rensburg of Momento

Marelise grew up in Grabouw, where she has been making wine at Beaumont Wines since 2007, having graduated with a winemaking degree from Stellenbosch University and completed harvests in Spain, Portugal, France and the US.

In 2011 she released wine under her own label – Momento Grenache 2011, having been inspired by a stint of working with the variety in Priorat. She has since added two new wines to the Momento range: a Chenin Blanc/Verdelho blend and Momento Tinta Barocca. Keen on experimentation, she works with concrete tanks, whole bunches, and natural yeasts.

Donovan Rall of Rall

Rall set up his own vineyard project in 2008. Another Stellenbosch graduate, before going it alone he gained experience all over the wine world, returning to South Africa in 2007 for a season in the Swartland, where he was inspired to work with Mediterranean varieties from old vines.

Keen to keep things simple, Rall makes just two wines, a red and a white blend from the oldest vines he can get his hands on. Each parcel is vilified separately and matured naturally to reflect the character of each vineyard. Making just eight barrels in 2008, production remains tiny.

Samantha O’Keefe of Lismore

Tucked into the foothills of a dramatic mountain range at the bottom of Africa is Lismore Estate Vineyards in Greyton, headed up by Californian Samantha O’Keefe, who believes she has found “the perfect terroir” in South Africa.

O’Keefe produces a range of cool climate wines including a Chardonnay, Viognier, Syrah and barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc from grapes planted at 300 meters altitude that are both chilled by the winter snow and nourished by the African sun.