Greg Sherwood MW: The difficult task of setting prices for SA fine wine

As the Cape continues to baton down the hatches for the ongoing stormy winter months, some climate alarmists are instantly pointing to the effects of global warming for the amplified nature of the current weather. While they may well be partially correct, it is of course important to remember why le Cap du Bonne Esperance has also been known as the “Cape of Storms” for hundreds of years. Add to this, climate change potentially dialling up the volume, as well as the massive and rapid urbanisation of the Western Cape in recent decades, and you realise that there is quite simply a whole lot more urban infrastructure for winter storms to play havoc with than there was 50 or 100 years ago.

Here in the UK, summer has resembled a new Microsoft update that has suddenly frozen while about 66% downloaded. Nothing of course to do with the global Microsoft IT meltdown, but more to do with the ever-unreliable great British summer. On current numbers released this week, the summer temperature across the UK has average 12.8 degrees C… 1 degree C below normal, setting the 2024 summer on course to be the coldest in the past 24 years. So, this could well be the year to dip into your savings and invest in a nice sunny Mediterranean family holiday.

You may think all this weather talk is a polite way of saying nothing has really been happening in the UK wine trade in the past summer weeks. Well, you’d be wrong. A highlight of the past week was an incredibly interesting and engaging South African masterclass hosted by Liberty Wines, importers of prestigious producer names such as Mullineux, Thorne & Daughters, Spice Route, Momento Wines and Crystallum.

With the consumer market well loaded with wines from the delicious 2021 vintage in South Africa, these are generally selling fast, with many producers already long sold out, necessitating offering 2022s and 2023s to the UK trade. Considering the sticky state of the current broader market in the UK, this ongoing demand for South Africa’s best wines certainly points strongly towards a converted and committed British consumer fan base, across multiple target market segments, that continue to enjoy the wealth and diversity of styles within the South African fine wine category.

The Liberty Wines masterclass featured several wines from four of their premium South African producers, including Charl du Plessis from Spice Route, John Seccombe from Thorne & Daughters, Marelise Niemann from Momento, and Chris Mullineux from Mullineux.

With the focus firmly on their new release wines, much of the commercial discussions did revolve around the absolute value for money that South African wines continue to represent in the UK market, but also the slightly thorny issue of how these producers are able to manage the ever rising costs of production in the local market, where headline inflation regularly hovers around 10%, while keeping their products affordable not just for export markets but particularly for local South African consumers.

It should be noted that if you were to hand pick three or four South African producers to hold up as top industry examples of how to manage your export pricing and annual price increases, you would be hard pressed to come up with a better list of names than Crystallum, Thorne & Daughters and Mullineux. These are all producers that have wisely established a strong perception in the UK of offering the highest quality wines at very reasonable prices, while simultaneously trying their hardest to mitigate annual increases from year to year.

With unrelenting cost pressures, trying to keep ones’ brands affordable in the local market while seeing increasing export demand at potentially higher end retail prices, makes servicing both local and export markets equitably an increasingly difficult proposition nowadays. As Chris Mullineux pointed out, there are no hard and fast answers to this endless problem, but wineries can work harder in the local SA market to engage with their consumers to build knowledge and brand loyalty through variable product tier pricing, as with their Kloof Street range, while also offering value enticements and rewards through their Wine Club membership.

Sadly, Peter-Allan couldn’t make this particular masterclass, but his Crystallum portfolio are undoubtedly some of the highest quality and most sensibly priced in the entire Liberty Wines international producer portfolio, often selling out only three or four months into the calendar year. A nice problem to have for sure. But the line-up, even without his wines, was pretty stellar, impressing a packed room of top trade and sommeliers.

Spice Route with Charl du Plessis, winemaker

Spice Route Tarragon Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2023, 13% Abv.

Bright and crystalline in the glass with a translucent lime green glow. Aromatics are packed with mint leaf, dry hay, and thyme spice over yellow apple and pear fruits with hints of talc and crushed granite minerality. Rich concentrated and wonderfully textural with a real front palate fruit concentration of yellow orchard fruits and exotic baking spices. Round, harmonious and superbly balanced. 95/100 GSMW

Spice Route Chakalaka Red Blend 2021, 14% Abv.

A rich, exotic aromatics boasting black berry, plum and earthy loamy notes with dried mint leaf, black olive, crushed gravel and subtle Asian spices. The palate is vibrant and fresh showing macerated plum, stewed black berry and curry leaf with a black peppercorn spice on the finish. The palate is wonderfully sleek, full bodied, but elegantly fresh and zippy with a real fruit accessibility and vibrancy on the finish. 93/100 GSMW

Thorne & Daughters with John Seccombe, winemaker & owner

“I followed an organic process of finding vineyards and grapes, seeking out partners and growers, with most contracts sealed on a handshake. All based around personal relationships with growers.”

~ John Seccombe

Thorne & Daughters Rocking Horse White Blend 2022, 13% Abv. 

An invitingly crystalline yellow green colour in the glass. The aromatics are intense and perfumed, showing yellow apple, pear purée, wet straw and hints of white citrus and granitic mineral spice. On the palate, the fruit flavours are equally intense and incredibly pure, glycerol and round in the mouth, coating it from side to side with notions of apple pastille, white peach and nectarine fruit concentration. Seamless, beautifully balanced and impressively long on the finish. Really superb for the vintage. 96/100 GSMW

“I have always wanted to work more with Grenache than Cinsault. My winemaking success with the prior over the latter has been notable!” 

~ John Seccombe

Thorne & Daughters Wanderer’s Heart Red Blend 2022, 13.5% Abv.

Leading with 45% Syrah, this is a vibrant red blend with 33% Grenache playing a very strong supporting role. Rich and sensual on the nose, the aromatics reveal rich layers of stewed black plum, red currant, black berries over subtle leafy, sappy, spicy nuances. On the palate the mouthfeel is beautifully elegant and seamless, pure, bright fruited with a notable sapidity, sleek creamy texture, well integrated acids and a long, spicy, brambly length with undertones of wild strawberry, mulberry, and black cherries macerated in brandy. A wonderfully accomplished, energetic red Rhone blend. 94/100 GSMW

Momento with Marelise Niemann, winemaker

“Our biggest challenge is looking after vineyards, keeping them healthy, and thriving, allowing them to adapt to hot and dry vintage conditions. I currently work with nine different growers and 17 different vineyards.”

“I use a lot of oxygen action on the musts, oxidising a lot of the phenolics, creating a much more stable wine, with SO2 only used 8 to 9 months from harvest. I often take the wine off the lees to protect delicate flavours as no settling enzymes or additives are used. Super care and precision are the order of the day.”

~ Marelise Niemann

Momento Chenin Blanc / Verdelho White Blend 2021, 13% Abv.

Beautifully fragrant and ripe on the nose with aromatics of pineapple pastille, jelly babies, lemon rock candy, over wet straw, baking spices and subtle granitic mineral hints. The palate boasts an incredible intensity, textural sleekness and concentration, vibrant and sweet fruited with peach and yellow orchard fruits, pineapple, brioche, sweet apple strudel and lemon curd nuances on the fresh, energetic finish. A really delicious and characterful wine. 95+/100 GSMW

Momento Grenache Noir 2022, 13% Abv. 

Made from fruit sourced from dry-grown bush vines planted on decomposed Granitic soils in the Swartland. Light coloured and translucent in the glass, the aromatics are elegant and restrained with delicately fragrant notes of violets, red cherry, raspberries and Victoria plum over delicate rose petal and potpourri nuances. The weight and intensity in the mouth is akin to a ripe vintage village red burgundy, sleek, elegant and mineral with supple chalky fine-grained tannins and an underlying bright wild strawberry and bramble berry intensity on the long, cool, classical palate that finishes with a refreshingly tart, bright freshness. One of the classiest pure Grenache Noir wines produced in South Africa. 94/100 GSMW

Mullineux with Chris Mullineux, viticulturist and owner

“All the vineyards used were coincidently all planted around the end of the 1990s. The Mullineux 2021 Terroir Series represents a truly great vintage in the Swartland” ~ Chris Mullineux

Mullineux Granite Syrah 2021, 13.5% Abv.

A wonderfully classical aromatics with complex notes of red and black berry fruits, strawberry compote, black cherry, red currant and cranberry intertwined with peppercorns, potpourri, dried violets and subtle cardamom notes. Very classical and old world in essence, boasting an impressive concentration, tightly packed powdery mineral tannins and a long, intense red and black fruited finish with lingering black cherry and raspberry pastille nuances. Ultimately, a very fine wine built around minerality, freshness and understated power. True class. 97+/100 GSMW

Mullineux Schist Syrah 2021, 13.5% Abv.

A beautifully elegant and harmonious wine with rounded, seductive aromatics of red and black berry fruits, black cherry, black plum, orange zest, citrus oil, and earthy lavender notes. The palate is seductively sweet fruited and elegant, but underpinned by creamy, chalky powdery tannins and seamlessly integrated fresh tangy acids, elevating the palate minerality and brightness to the next level. Undoubtedly one of the most attractive premium Syrahs produced in South Africa. 98/100 GSMW

Mullineux Iron Syrah 2021, 13.5% Abv.

Sourced from a 21-year-old koffieklip vineyard grown on iron-rich soils, yielding an aromatic expression that is always decidedly old world and Rhoney in style, with bold aromatics of dried herbs, granitic spice, clove and sweet Asian spices that melt into dark plum, black cherry, sweet black peppercorns, and subtle black olive and bloody, ironly nuances. Broad and creamy on the palate, there is elegance and power, seamlessly integrated acids and fine-grained chalky tannins, with hints of orange peel and cured meats and charcuterie. Long, intense and vibrant, this is always one of the most Northern Rhone-like expressions produced in South Africa. 97+/100 GSMW

A genuinely superb and engaging line-up of wines that represented a diverse selection of South Africa’s finest. If ever there was an offering to entice Gen Zs back to wine and reverse their general lack of interest in the category, this was it. A proverbial treasure trove of quality with enough excitement to make anyone reconsider exploring a “sober lifestyle”.

• Greg Sherwood was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and as the son of a career diplomat, spent his first 21 years traveling the globe with his parents. With a Business Management and Marketing degree from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Sherwood began his working career as a commodity trader. In 2000, he decided to make more of a long-held interest in wine taking a position at Handford Wines in South Kensington, London, working his way up to the position of Senior Wine Buyer. Earlier this year, he moved across to South African specialist merchant Museum Wines to become the Fine Wine Director. He qualified as a Master of Wine in 2007.