Champion status for Durbanville Sauvignon – for the time being anyway!
IT’S NOT that the district of Darling – including the Groenekloof ward – is no longer the source of good Sauvignon Blanc. A number of top wineries outside the area continue to source some of the fruit for some of their wines from Darling – KWV of Paarl, for example, produces a particularly fine Sauvignon from Darling grapes under The Mentors label. But as regards those cellars in the district, Ormonde is the only one that’s had significant success with Sauvignon Blanc on a consistent basis of late – in part with their ‘Chip off the Old Block’ and Ondine lines. Most deserving of the crown as champion Sauvignon Blanc territory in the Cape today is Durbanville – maybe not as many successful Sauvignon wines as those on sale at Stellenbosch wine farms, but a much better hit rate.
Compared to around 170 cellars in Stellenbosch of which perhaps as many as 20 have a reputation for great Sauvignon, there are no more than a dozen or so wineries on the Durbanville wine route yet virtually all of them are guaranteed to hit the spot with any of their various wines made using this variety. Pound for pound, Durbanville’s main rival these days when it comes to South Africa’s premier Sauvignon Blanc vineyards tends to be Elgin. The top-notch Reserve Sauvignon of Tokara in Stellenbosch is made from fruit that is trucked across the mountain from Elgin, with notables among the Sauvignon Blanc producers located in the Elgin basin including Almenkerk, Highlands Road, Iona, Paul Cluver and Shannon. The Cape Peninsula and Cape Agulhas come into the reckoning too, of course, however there’s sound justification for the Durbanville folk making such a fuss about their annual Season of Sauvignon festival.
There are only a handful of Sauvignons in the Top Wine SA Hall of Fame. Graham Beck Pheasants’ Run is one of them – Robertson cellar, Durbanville grapes (from Phizante Kraal), and you might well wonder what’s to become of the label after GB announced that they’re going to focus exclusively on bubbly. Another in the Hall of Fame is Diemersdal Eight Rows – from a specialist Sauvignon Blanc producer in Durbanville with five or six different expressions of the grape on their winelist. Six of the Top 20 (three of the Top 10) in the SA Sauvignon Blanc Classification are Durbanville wines. And to see what has been getting good reviews this year and last, click here.
New on the block? Nitida’s Golden Orb, positioned as their flagship at R280pb for the 2015 vintage. Very good, according to the judges of the 2016 Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition who chose it as one of the trophy winners, although some might query the story behind the choice of name and the illustration on the label of a spider and her web in a protea bush…
DURBANVILLE’S TOP SAUVIGNON CELLARS IN 2016
D’Aria – The Songbird is a must according to Veritas
De Grendel – some regard Koetshuis to be among the best in the land
Diemersdal – MM Louw and the Reserve ticking most boxes, as does Eight Rows
Durbanville Hills – Rhinofields being top of the range
Klein Roosboom – the Reserve is the one to go for
Maastricht – only white from a red wine specialist
Nitida – Golden Orb and The Wild Child, need one say more?
Phizante Kraal – and about to pick up where Pheasants’ Run left off?
