Best Riesling – unusual delights from top Cape cellars

IT SEEMS LIKE only yesterday that you could count the number of South Africa’s good Rieslings on a few fingers and that the labels of these wines were so much more confusing than they are today. Shame on the producers – including Theuniskraal and Van Loveren – who persist in calling wines what they’re not, namely ‘Cape Riesling’ instead of Crouchen or Crouchen Blanc or anything but Riesling. And there are still wines on the shelf labelled Weisser Riesling and Rhine Riesling – names devised to distinguish from Cape Riesling, Paarl Riesling and SA Riesling that suggest different varieties and, for those familiar with the geography of Europe, a product of Germany.

Today there are around 20 dry to off-dry and semi-sweet whites from Riesling that are being made at various South African wineries. There are also numerous fine examples of dessert wines that require Riesling grapes to be left on the vines until super ripe, raisin-like and packed with the stuff required for Natural Sweets and Noble Late Harvests. And the taste profile is quite different to what many wine lovers would have associated with the variety 15 or 20 years ago – much less of the oiliness and fuel-like characteristics that many German and French/Alsace wines of this sort also exhibited, particularly as they got older, and which some wine lovers regarded as an acquired taste (or simply not worth bothering about). Although, that said, it should be interesting to see how the tastes of the recent releases develop over the years ahead, what with Riesling being renowned for ageing well and growing in complexity if we’ll just be patient.

Jordan ‘The Real McCoy’ is a lovely dig at those wines that aren’t the real deal, helping to clarify matters for consumers who might still be wondering what’s what and wowing judges at South Africa’s Trophy Wine Show and Top 100 Wine Challenge as well as at the Five Nations Challenge contested in Sydney, Australia. According to the winemakers at the cellar in Stellenbosch Kloof, the 2011 vintage is characterised by “intense lemon-lime flavours… A crisp fruitiness… Hints of spiciness…”

Hartenberg Wine Estate on the other/north-eastern side of the Bottelary Mountain in Stellenbosch has been equally successful with its Riesling of late, reaping top awards at the Trophy, Top 100 and Five Nations shows as well as at the local Veritas Awards. After launching their maiden vintage in 1984, the team now makes four different styles from what are said to be the smallest bunches and berries of all white grape varietals: a dry version, a very limited-release dry style involving maturation in eight-year-old barrels, an off-dry wine and a Noble Late Harvest dessert. With “delicate floral hints” and a “spicy richness”, the palate of the 2010 dry version shows “layers of soft summer fruits”, according to the winemakers, “finishing off with a lovely tropical zestiness”.

Groote Post Vineyards, on the other hand, stand out as having produced the only Riesling to be ‘Highly Recommended’ in the 2013 edition of Platter’s SA Wine Guide. The 2012 vintage, say the vintners outside Darling, is a semi-sweet with “none of that oily terpene character yet. It is fragrant with wafts of honeysuckle and jasmine. The palate is fresh and spicy… with gorgeous apple and apricot notes and a touch of ginger.”

Here then, together with the prices per bottle ex-cellar, are those vintages of delightful SA Rieslings that have impressed most of late – click here for details of the various awards and click on the names/links below for a virtual tour of the respective cellars.

Altydgedacht 2012 – R60

Groote Post 2012 – R70

Hartenberg 2010 – R60

Howard Booysen 2010 – R135

Jordan The Real McCoy 2011 – R79

Nederburg The Winemaster’s Reserve 2012 – R47

Sutherland 2009 – R60 (Thelema)

 

 

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