2018 off to a good start at Ormonde: top winemaker, top Sauvignon
DROUGHTS aside, to state the obvious… Darling can be a pretty good place to grow vines and harvest grapes for making lovely wines – especially Sauvignon Blanc. So good, in fact, that it’s remarkable how many producers based outside the district use fruit from the area – even though few spell this out on their labels. Successful wines from non-Darling wineries in recent years, where the origin is fairly clearly spelt out, have included The Mentors Sauvignon Blanc from KWV of Paarl, Groenekloof Sauvignon Blanc and Groenekloof Shiraz from Neil Ellis in Stellenbosch.
Of the Darling outfits, top performers are the Basson family’s Ormonde Private Cellar close to town on the Atlantic Ocean side and Cloof Wine Estate on the Malmesbury/Swartland side – see the SA Wine Classification. The folk at Cloof have a couple of top Shiraz offerings and a decent Pinotage heading up their portfolio. Ormonde has excelled over the years with Semillon and Shiraz, but mostly with Sauvignon Blanc under various labels – such as the 2015 Ondine Sauvignon Blanc, awarded a gold medal at Concours Mondial du Sauvignon in Austria shortly after the appointment of Razvan Macici as cellarmaster following his tenure as the boss of winemaking at Distell.
According to the Ondine label: “The legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn will always be associated with Ondine, the ballet created expressly for her by Sir Frederick Ashton. Her unearthly beauty and fluid grace perfectly evoked the water sprite who lived in a fountain, in a haunted, watery world of mystery. The ballet is filled with rippling images of waterfalls, sea and streams.”
Ondine Sauvignon Blanc 2015
WO Darling. Cold-fermented in tanks. Three months on the lees. Mature – near its peak of development.
Alc 14.02, R/S 1.3, TA 5.8, pH 3.4.
Winemaker’s Tasting Notes: asparagus, ripe fig and gooseberry on the nose, with undertones of green pepper and zesty minerality on the palate.
R95 per bottle – Ondine wines available exclusively from Ormonde Private Cellar in Darling.
