Rickety Bridge The Pilgrimage Semillon 2017

On a journey.

What an asset Franschhoek old-vine Semillon is, none more precious than the 4.2ha block planted in 1905 on Basil Landau’s property. Rickety Bridge gets access to this block, former winemaker Wynand Grobler previously putting out a wine under the Road to Santiago label (in addition to making a batch for Landau under the Landau du Val label).

Going forwards, the wine will form part of the Rickety Bridge “Icon” tier of wines, to be known as The Pilgrimage, the 2017 now available at R450 a bottle. Matured for 11 months in a combination of foudre and older 500-litre barrels, the wine shows subtle peach and some bread-like character with notes of earth, hay and dried herbs in the background. The palate has layers of flavour combined with great mouth-feel, the fruit dense and providing plenty of side palate. Slightly less oxidative than the celebrated 2016 and just beautifully balanced.

Editor’s rating: 95/100.  

Find our South African wine ratings database here.