Entries for this year’s Chardonnay Report 2025 sponsored by global financial services company Prescient are now open.

Winemag.co.za will be generating a number of category reports throughout the year – see here. Each report will be based on the outcome of a blind tasting of wines entered within a specific category and includes key findings, tasting notes for the top wines, buyer’s guide and scores on the 100-point quality scale for all wines entered.

Wines will be tasted by a three-person panel consisting of Christian Eedes as chairman, James Pietersen, CEO of Wine Cellar, Cape Town merchants and cellarers of fine wine, and wine writer Malu Lambert.

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Entries close Tuesday 23 September. For the rules and entry form, click here.

Entries for this year’s Cabernet Sauvigon Report sponsored by financial institution Prescient Fund Services are now open.

Winemag.co.za will be generating a number of category reports throughout the year – see here. Each report will be based on the outcome of a blind tasting of wines entered within a specific category and includes key findings, tasting notes for the top wines, buyer’s guide (wines ranked by quality relative to price) and scores on the 100-point quality scale for all wines entered.

Wines will be tasted by a three-person panel consisting of Christian Eedes as chairman, James Pietersen of Wine Cellar, Cape Town merchants and cellarers of fine wine, and Francois Rautenbach, wine and hospitality specialist.

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Entries close Tuesday 23 September. For the rules and entry form, click here.

I’ve been musing about what’s going on with local wine-auctions. Firstly because Eben Sadie has been complaining publicly (not only with regard to auctions, but also brokerages like those of Wine Cellar and Rueda) about his older vintages being traded “at crazy prices” with “greed taking the place of ‘drinking’” (he especially doesn’t like his customers “flipping” their allocations). Secondly, because  it’s getting increasingly clear that wine auctions have been successful enough that all the auction houses now want in on the business – and yet the auctions themselves are not achieving the sales and prices that they were a year or two back.

Strauss & Co, working with wine-men Roland Peens and Higgo Jacobs and making use of the storage facilities at Wine Cellar in Cape Town, where Peens is a Director, started their auctions in 2019. I think I wasn’t popular for being doubtfuly unenthusiastic in an article called “The rise of wine speculation in South Africa”, about this move to, as Strauss said, “bring an exciting new asset class to our client base”.  I said, with leaden irony, admitting I was being curmudgeonly and over-romantic about wine: “You thought wine was for drinking with pleasure? Don’t be naive, it’s much more important than that: it’s an asset class. Transform yourselves, from wine-lovers to wine-collectors.”

Well, this strategy to help establish a firm, public secondary market for wine in South Africa prospered (and I have been both a seller and purchaser), both generally in the auction and brokerage worlds and specifically for Strauss. A recent celebratory review says that Strauss “has sold more than 68,000 bottles with an average price of R2,060 per bottle on its auction platform”. That R140 million take includes foreign wines, which have hugely dominated the top end of prices achieved for individual wines. The most successful local producers in terms of total sales value are Kanonkop and Sadie Family Wines. Next, in order of sales volumes are Meerlust, Klein Constantia (for virtually only Vin de Constance), Vilafonté, Alheit, and Mullineux.

(A word about all the sale prices mentioned in this article, for those not au fait with auctions. These are the total price that the bidder pays, comprising the “hammer price” and a commission paid to the auction house plus VAT on that, totalling something towards 25% of the hammer price; it does not include the commission that the seller also pays. No wonder that all the auction houses are muscling in on what has been a pretty successful line.)

The recent downturn is, by definition, only relative. It refers both to the volumes being sold and prices paid. To an extent it is the result, as Roland Peens told me, of a generally poor market and squeeze on buying power; and also of the passing, as he admitted, of the Covid-19 period “when prices went crazy”. Perhaps we should also connectedly invoke, as some people do, a “maturing” of the secondary market,with customers, that is, getting more sensible and less carried away by the unusual excitement of pressing that “Bid” button.

I’ve spent some hours looking at the well-organised records on the Strauss website and doing some arithmetic (you can look up any producer ever included and find a full record of the achieved sales and failed offerings.) An emblematic result is that for Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2015, the top-selling wine overall (I’m omitting CWG bottlings and larger formats in all that follows, for the sake of ease).

At three sales in 2019, a total of 42 bottles of Paul Sauer 2015 were sold for an average of R1,762. This even after Tim Atkin had famously awarded the wine 100 points. The May 2020 auction estimated an expected price in line with that, but something happened, and the average price rose to R5,784; it went even higher in June. The Covid effect, it would seem, even more than the fame brought by the Atkin score. Speculators piling in, do you think, or wine-lovers with FOMO? But Covid passed and, after a bit of a dip for a few years, Paul Sauer 2015 was still getting average prices over R4,500 in 2023 and 2024 (R1,000 a bottle more than was being paid for the 2009 vintage, for example).

A comparative collapse came only this year: in March, 27 bottles got an average of R3,604 and in July six bottles got R3,517 each. Even more telling than this decline is the fact that another six bottles didn’t find a buyer.

That’s the story of Paul Sauer 2015. More briefly, with a different point, let me tell you about another famous Stellenbosch red on Strauss auction: Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Like Kanonkop, this wine showed that there is some demand for older vintages, but it’s not great. The 2000 vintage got R1,495 per bottle in 2021, and 2007s and 2009s were getting about R1,200. Some 2011s for some reason went for nearly R2,000, though most went at about half that. Not great prices. This year, 2015 Le Riche Cab Reserve has been going for R1,270. That’s a famous vintage, now approaching maturity, being sold for scarcely more than the current 2021 costs retail. The seller will probably have lost money on the deal, given inflation and the costs of storage. The buyer did nicely.

Let’s look at a few other well-known, supposedly rather “cultish” wines. At the Cape Heritage sale ths year, Van Loggerenberg Kameraderie Chenin 2018 got R625 per bottle, and this is not an untypical price received for various vintages of this wine over the years. It’s less than R100 more than the current vintage. David&Nadia Aristargos 2013 and 2014 did reasonably well at R586 – a vaguely decent jump, at least, on the current release price of about R450, though the seller is unlikely to have made a profit if they’d been paying storage costs at Wine Cellar, for example, also taking inflation into account. But four lots of Badenhorst single-vineyard chenins didn’t even sell at their lower estimate of around R700. Nor did a number of Sadie whites sell (which I suppose would please Eben if it means they get drunk instead), while Palladius 2016 and Skurfberg 2014 got, respectively, R2,540 and R1,465, more in line with the high prices Sadie wines usually get.

Generally, it seems to me that there are a few producers (especially Sadie and Alheit) whose wines mostly get great prices, making decent money for the seller as well as the auctioneer; some are more in the Le Riche mould described above, and others are inbetween. The secondary market is very patchy, at best. I would say that, for more middling producers, the auctions at present offer great deals for wine lovers who want maturing or mature wines for which someone else has paid the storage costs – and Strauss at least is careful about the provenances of wines they sell, though I’m not at all sure that all auction houses are.

The aim and hope of the auction houses and brokerages – as well as those wine-buyers who have the speculation bug – is to build a viable secondary market for Cape wine. I think we can say they have effectively started the process, but there’s a way to go. It needs more people buying and carefully laying down wine; at present the supply of older vintages – pre-2015, say – is very limited. That, together with buying and selling it, also requires confidence in the value of maturing such wines to go beyond the pretty small element of the industry that presently enjoys it. I suppose it also needs more people with a taste and appreciation for older wine, and that’s no more universal than is the ability to afford serious wine.

• Tim James is one of South Africa’s leading wine commentators, contributing to various local and international wine publications. His book Wines of South Africa – Tradition and Revolution appeared in 2013.

• Wines must contain a minimum of 85% Chardonnay and be certified as South African.
• Wines entered must be current release or soon to be released (minimum stock requirement: 100 x 6 bottles). Producers may enter as many different wines as they see fit.
• Entries close Tuesday 23 September.
• An entry sample takes the form of two bottles plus a fact sheet. Samples must be delivered to 44 Liesbeek Rd, Rosebank between 08h30 and 15h00 on Thursday 25 September. LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
• In the event a wine achieves Top 10 status, 18 bottles must be set aside at no charge, these to be served at promotional events.

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An entry fee of R1,395 including VAT per wine applies and you will be directed to our online shop to make payment after you have completed the entry form below. Please note that if you want to enter multiple wines, each will require a separate form although payment can be made all at once.

The following received via email from Simon Shear, a writer and content strategist specialising in financial services, currently based in London

My low-cost flight dipped into western France, the evening glittering, as it tends to on these long globally-warmed European summer days. The sun glinted off the water snaking into the Atlantic. It was the Loire. We were flying into chenin country.

I would be in Nantes for a long weekend, a short train ride from Angers, gateway to Anjou. From there, Savennières and its venerated whites. You could journey to Saumur if you were feeling ambitious.

I was feeling ambitious. I’d read up on soil and climate. I’d calibrated my palate with a glass of Ken Forrester. On the plane, I’d listened to a long podcast interview with Nicolas Joly, an invigorating mixture of quackery and wisdom.

In my imagination, I’d stroll into a prestigious domaine, identify myself as South African, and be whisked into the VIP section for Citizens of the Commonwealth of Chenin.

Until I remembered that Sunday in France is a write-off. And the Monday after that turned out to be Bastille Day, an embarrassingly Anglocentric oversight considering that the day is known as 14 Juillet in France. It’s like forgetting when Americans celebrate the Fourth of July.

In practice, we had one rushed afternoon to visit an estate or two. Still, I wanted to see chenin in its natural habitat and hopefully get a sense of how it differs from the stuff back home.

We duly arrived for our scheduled tour at a smallish winery in Anjou noir, named for its dark schist soils, distinct from the part of Anjou in which lighter-coloured limestone predominates. The difference is more than surface deep, affecting acidity, structure, minerality. On the actual influence of soil on wine, I defer to the experts, but that did not stop me pronouncing a distinct mineral note as I tasted. It’s a fun thing to say, impossible to argue with, and plausibly true. 

The entry level white, at just ten euros a bottle, was excellent value. But it seemed at the time like an impossible bargain. Partly because I didn’t do the maths and partly because arrived from London, which warps one’s sense of what’s reasonable. Ten euros is currently about R210, so hardly bargain basement by South African terms.

But it wasn’t just a calculation of price per ml. This was the entry-level everyday wine, but it tasted prestigious. Though simple and with some soft fruit, it was relatively lean, transparent and, yes, mineral. A flavour profile I suspect many of us associate with the more cerebral type of premium, or at least boutique, winemaking.

And while I was at a boutique winery, my sense was that I was tasting Anjou, at least one straightforward rendering of it. How straightforward was made apparent when the estate’s excellent mid-range chenin was served.

Looking back, I realise that I was already thinking about wine in a different way. Not ‘what kinds of wines do they make in this place’, or ‘isn’t it interesting how the stuff in this glass is the product of grape selection and winemaking technique and climate and etc’ but rather: ‘what does Anjou taste like here compared to over there’. Not ‘what is this place suitable for’ but ‘how does this winemaker express this place in that bottling’. In other words, I was thinking in terms of terroir.

Now this could be a distinction without difference, and to winemakers and pros the observation will be painfully rudimentary. But I wonder to how many ordinary consumers in South Africa (or outside of Europe more broadly) this way of tasting comes naturally?

It’s not like I was unfamiliar with the concept of terroir or that I haven’t heard countless winemakers talk explicitly in those terms: ‘I want my wines to be an expression of X’. 

Nor did I make a conscious effort to shift my perspective. It’s just that the small, subtle, interlocking and accessible appellations structure a kind of thinking, almost by default. (And give young producers something to rebel against, as evidenced by the preponderance of Vin de France designations at hip natural wine shops.) 

In a post about (to briefly gloss past it in these pages) this year’s Swartland Revolution event, Victoria Mason quotes Adi Badenhorst on the profound sense of place among Swartland producers, “not just a physical but a spiritual connection”.

As a cortado-sipping suburbanite who barely remembers to water my houseplants, I don’t pretend to know what that really means.  But, true to stereotype, it took a Ryanair flight and a summer weekend in an under-the-radar European city to get some sense of what it is not simply to see land as a vehicle to produce wine, but wine as a means of conveying a sense of place.

“Not known, because not looked for / But heard, half-heard, in the stillness / Between two waves of the sea.”

Quoting T.S. Eliot, Jonathan Steyn, convener of UCT GSB’s Business of Wine course, underscored what it means to view the South African wine industry with fresh eyes. Critical thinking, he said, helps us discover what’s hidden in the margins. 

During the programme, Yvette van der Merwe, OIV president and executive manager of SAWIS presented the latest industry stats. The 2024 data revealed that far more vines are being grubbed up than planted. Since its peak in 2006, the total area under vine has declined by over 15,600 hectares, that’s an average of 894 hectares per year. 

In 2024 alone, 3,535 hectares were uprooted, compared to 1,542 plantings. 

Unsurprisingly these numbers contribute to the loss of wineries too. Over the past 20 years, the industry has lost 2,085 producers. It’s a problem of profitability: farmers often lack cash flow to replant timeously. Planting vines is an expensive business, estimated at around R500,000 per hectare. Then at least five years before it’s a viable asset.

The data paints a picture of a rapidly ageing vineyard: soberingly in 2014, 18% of vines were over 20 years old. Today, that figure has more than doubled to 38%.

It’s not all bad news. There’s palpable energy in the fine wine segment, with top producers doubling down on quality. Particularly in Stellenbosch’s Helderberg. 

Helderberg Mountain Vineyards (HMV), the majority shareholder in Ernie Els Wines and owner of Alto, Stellenzicht and Blyhoek, has initiated a 10-year ‘Vineyard Rejuvenation Programme’ set to culminate in by 2032. 

“We want to ensure we are in control of quality by decoupling as much as possible from external supply,” explains Louis Strydom. Conveniently, the Ernie Els winemaker also sits on the board at Vititec, giving both him and HMV a strategic edge in vineyard health and clonal research. 

While eradicating virus is a significant part of their strategy, the plan is to also shift towards a vine replacement strategy. “If you can reduce the virus to something immaterial, then farmers that do not have capital reserves can avoid large investment tranches by systematically rejuvenating blocks, row by row, or vine by vine.  This way, they do not have large drops in producing hectares. Cash flow remains stable, and rejuvenation investment more manageable.  The cultivation of older ‘in-boet’ vines that can better integrate with existing vineyards also becomes less risky virus-wise as well as practical.”

Similarly, Hidden Valley is undertaking a full replanting of its 24-hectare farm, focusing on Bordeaux varieties and chardonnay.

Chris du Toit, ex-Graham Beck and now CEO at the aforementioned concern, emphasises that: “Replanting is still not growth, we’re merely replacing what was there.” 

Du Toit, who is writing his PhD on the bulk industry, says he is concerned for the long-term viability of that sector. He notes that only around 20% of the industry focuses on fine wine, while the remaining 80% is still bulk-driven. A major problem, he says, is that many wineries don’t understand their own financials. “You’ve got to get the basics right, before your business can grow.” The path forward he emphasises lies in premiumisation. Bulk wine is in decline, and global markets are shifting toward lighter styles and higher-quality drinking. “That’s the reality of where wine is headed.”

“Replanting a hectare here or there doesn’t move the needle. You need R2 million just to replant four,” commiserates Heinie Nel, group viticulturist for DGB. The company is currently replanting Klein Helderberg as well as Avontuur. Nel points out that leafroll virus is the bigger issue than vine age in terms of quality. Though he admits the two are linked. Many vineyards he says are still producing despite being too old and too diseased. “Producers are riding these vineyards until the wheels fall off.”

Though he observes, “We’ve been saying for 10 years there’ll be a shortage, and nothing has changed. We’re surviving because demand hasn’t outstripped supply. But that won’t last.”

One consequence of the ageing vineyard is that more producers are turning to their own plantings to secure fruit. “You need to be able to supply your own demand.” That said, Nel stresses the importance of supporting growers: “We can’t expect the industry to stay healthy without them.”

Catching up with Rosa Kruger, old vine champion and consultant vineyard manager, she reflected on recent seminars in France and Sardinia, where she presented on South Africa’s climate resilient farming and vineyard design strategies. “I’ve spoken with winemakers and academics from all over, and the reality is clear. Global wine consumption is declining, and producers everywhere are struggling to survive.”

One of our most pressing challenges, she says, is the lack of viticultural training. “There is a critical gap in vineyard expertise. Labour laws and a lack of industry culture around training make it difficult for producers to invest time and money into developing permanent, skilled workers.”

Despite this, she says there is a strong, unmet demand among farm workers eager to learn. “With trained vineyard workers, we could produce better wines and extend vineyard life, rather than ripping out vines as soon as production dips or leafroll virus takes hold.”

Planting for quality production, premiumisation of brands, vineyard training, sound business practices… The data may tell one story, but what’s hidden in the margins is the message that our industry needs to adapt across the value chain in order to grow.

• Malu Lambert is a freelance wine journalist and wine judge who has written for numerous local and international titles. She is a WSET Diploma alum and won the title of Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer of the Year 2019, among many other accolades. She sits on various tasting panels and has judged in competitions abroad. Follow her on X: @MaluLambert