![\"Stellenbosch\"](\"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMAG2408-Stellen.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn January I was fortunate enough to find myself in South Africa for a week which was a fabulous escape from the short, dark days of the UK winter but also a fantastic journey of adventure and learning about this beautiful country. \u00a0I left a chilly Heathrow at 4 degrees and touched down on a bright morning in Cape Town to a day that peaked at a wonderful 28. \u00a0This was no holiday however, so I’m not going to bang on about the country and the top spots to visit, where best to spy the Big Five \u2013 no, I was there for wine and found a brilliant top five of my own.<\/p>\n
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The South African wine scene today is fascinating, there are great wines being made at almost every level.\u00a0 The variety of styles and regional diversity is huge.\u00a0 I started my adventure on the West Coast about 2 hours north of Cape Town in the very \u2018hip\u2019 wine region of Swartland.\u00a0 This is home to the sell-out wine festival called the \u2018Swartland Revolution\u2019 a sort of Isle of Wight Festival circa 1970, but with more wine and less Jimi Hendrix. This is rugged country on the limit for making wine \u2013 but where there is some altitude or where the vines are close enough to the Atlantic to the West \u2013 there is some very exciting winemaking going on.\u00a0 A super example is the Spice Route Winery.\u00a0 This is a no frills, frontier out-post.\u00a0 But the winemaking is fabulous and the results seriously sophisticated, but also brilliant value.\u00a0 Try the 2013 SPICE ROUTE Pinotage<\/strong><\/a> (\u00a312.50) – These vineyards are not irrigated and the grapes are left to reach good ripeness on the vines, this is clear in the lovely, juicy and fruit-driven style you find in the glass. Delicious, quite a rounded Pinotage, there is still some leather, some smoky notes but lots of glossy dark black berry-fruit too. \u00a0This is really attractive drinking and is currently the only Pinotage to pass muster and make it on to our list!<\/p>\n From here I headed inland and south \u2013 to the historic wine Capital of the Cape, Stellenbosch. The bustling university town is surrounded on all sides by beautiful, rolling, vineyard-laden countryside.\u00a0 This is hemmed in by the enormous ridges of mountains, the various \u2018bergs\u2019 that seem to jut out of nowhere, straight up, almost at right-angles to the ground.\u00a0 My first stop was at DeMorgenzon<\/a>. This could not be more different to the set-up at Spice Route.\u00a0 A mixed border of beautiful flowers line the mile long drive that take you up to the impressive, old winery building, set in acres of beautifully manicured lawns, ponds and flowerbeds.\u00a0 The vines are immaculate, and the carefully selected wildflowers that grow between the vines add more colour still.\u00a0 It is an idyllic spot, but what is most extraordinary here is that they pipe music into the vineyards to enhance growth.\u00a0 After many years of ongoing research with comparative \u2018control\u2019 plots of vines some exposed to the music, others not listening to Bach – they have decided that music – and specifically Baroque music – really does affect the way the vines grow.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, the quality of wine being made here is very impressive.\u00a0 A personal favourite is the DEMORGENZON Maestro White<\/strong><\/a> (\u00a313.95) \u2013 this is a delicious blend of Roussanne, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Viognier. Winemaker Karl’s aim with the Maestro is to touch every corner of the palate – to make a complete wine that delivers nuance and texture along with a great fruit rush and some grounding minerality – mission accomplished!\u00a0 This is deliciously drinkable and a fascinating wine to drink on its own, but will happily\u00a0accompany many dishes.<\/p>\n Having hit the coast south of here I then headed up through the incredibly steep Sir Lowry\u2019s Pass to the rolling, green high ground of Elgin.\u00a0 This is like another world, Elgin is traditional fruit growing country and the Cluver family\u2019s history is steeped in Apple production.\u00a0 The conditions are cooler than in Stellenbosch which means varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir thrive here, the 2013 ELGIN Village Pinot Noir Paul Cluver<\/strong><\/a> (\u00a39.95) is an absolute steal.\u00a0 Bright red fruit core with lovely restraint and a minerality that keeps it all beautifully high toned and perky \u2013 delicious, easy drinking without the wallop of so many thicker, more jammy new world Pinots.<\/p>\n From here I headed back north to Stellenbosch; to two neighbouring estates each similar in so many ways and yet producing such fascinating and contrasting wines.\u00a0 First stop was Rustenberg.\u00a0 One of the grandees of the South African Wine scene. Old school and traditional, but not stuck in the past at all.\u00a0 It is one of South Africa\u2019s oldest estates dating back to 1682, and by 1781 it was producing 3,000 cases of wine each year. The impressive winery provides a great illustration of what is going on here \u2013 a beautiful, polished modern winery has been built within one of the original \u2018Cape Dutch\u2019 style winery buildings that dates back to 1814.\u00a0 To do this the thatched roof was removed, the floor lowered and a two story winery built on its own free-standing skeleton, the lid was popped back on and from the outside you would never know how up to date things are here.<\/p>\n The winemaking too is forward thinking, yet classic.\u00a0 A great example of what they do so well is the 2011 RUSTENBERG Buzzard Kloof Syrah<\/strong><\/a> (\u00a315.75) this comes from the coolest part of the Rustenberg vineyards, high up the hill, just before the steep cliff of the Simonsberg that towers over Stellenbosch. The results are great – the grapes which are all French Syrah clones – have a long slow ripening that gives a lovely depth and complexity to the perfectly ripened fruit. There is lovely wood-spice too and a perfect bit of grip, surprisingly Rhone-like, think Gigondas, but with lovely South African suppleness.<\/p>\n Final stop was just next door at the brand spanking new Glenelly winery. On approach this impressive glass box of a winery juts out of the hillside like Bond villains lair \u2013 all glass and steel \u2013 and impressive site.\u00a0 This is super modern, but has a very classic, old-world spirit as it was bought in 2003 by May de Lencquesaing, famous for her 30 year tenure of Chateau Pichon Lalande, top drawer Claret from Pauillac.\u00a0 At 78 she sold up in Bordeaux and started afresh here in Stellenbosch. Her faith in the potential of this land is being proved more and more with every vintage the 2009 GRAND VIN DE GLENELLY Glenelly Estate<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 (\u00a312.50) is a fabulous local interpretation of classic Bordeaux.\u00a0 Luke the winemaker substitutes the traditional Merlot that you would find in Bordeaux with Syrah, which blends beautifully and makes a remarkable, chic and polished red to rival anything at this price level from France. The amazing influence of Bordeaux \u2018royalty\u2019 on this South African wine is as clear as the joyous January skies here \u2013 brilliant, sophisticated drinking.<\/p>\n These \u2018Big Five\u2019 finds from my \u2018wine safari\u2019 of the Cape show the enormous breadth of exciting styles and the depth of talent, making such brilliant wines today in this part of the world. I would encourage you to overlook the jewels of South Africa<\/a>\u00a0for your future\u00a0drinking.<\/p>\n![\"Maestro\"](\"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/10634..png\")
<\/p>\nDemorgenzon\u2019s brilliant White Maestro, raised on Bach and Haydn!<\/em><\/h6>\n
![\"Rustenberg](\"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMAG2386Rust-House.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe classic \u2018Cape Dutch\u2019 manor house at Rustenberg<\/em><\/h6>\n
![\"Glenelly\"](\"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMAG2395Glenelly.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTrimming the vines at the impeccable Glenelly Estate<\/em><\/h6>\n