Diemersdal The Globe Sauvignon Blanc 2023
By Christian Eedes, 21 February 2025
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Glass, as a material for a fermentation and maturation vessel is “entirely neutral”, says Thys Louw of Durbanville property Diemersdal – not porous like wood, concrete or amphorae and more than stainless steel tanks when it comes to thermal conductivity.
Glass containers are catching on in France, being top Sauvignon producer Domaine Didier Dagueneau being a leading proponent, and Louw was inspired to introduce them locally. Costing R80,000 per 220-litre unit, Diemersdal now has five of them.
Maiden release of a wine from these vessels is The Globe Sauvignon Blanc 2023 from the same 1992 vineyard that produces the top-end Eight Rows. Following inoculation, the wine fermented at a temperature between 17°C and 19°C, the process taking 10 days to complete. Each globes was then covered with a sock to prevent light strike and maturation lasted 12 months.
The nose is restrained yet detailed with notes of peach, yellow apple, grapefruit, blackcurrant, white pepper and some waxy complexity. The palate, meanwhile, is powerfully built (alc: 13.78%) with dense fruit and a creamy texture, the acidity nevertheless punchy. A wine of presence rather than ostentation. Price: R750 a bottle.
CE’s rating: 95/100.
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8 comment(s)
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Kwispedoor | 1 March 2025
Will the Eight Rows be called Six Rows henceforth? 😜
Juergen Brucker | 24 February 2025
Hi Christan, thanks for the inside of this interesting development. In my humble view Diemersdal continues to lead the further development of Sauvignon Blanc in SA in line with its Winter Ferment Sauvignon Blanc.
At R750 a bottle and using grapes from 8 Rows vineyards which sells currently at R 210 a bottle and the limited number, it will be worthwhile to buy some bottles for a few real Sauvignon Blanc lovers.
Interesting to see how the wines matures in future.
James Mark | 23 February 2025
Christian,
Does Domaine Didier Dagueneau actually use glass globes for SB? I cannot find any evidence for it – it maybe not in the public domain – but never heard of them doing this? Open to correction 🙂
Mark
Christian Eedes | 24 February 2025
Hi Mark, The following from Diemersdal head winemaker Juandré Bruwer: “When we were there in 2022, he [Benjamin Dagueneau] had three globes that he was testing. The following year (2023) he bought about 30 globes. As far as my knowledge goes, the globe is not in the current vintages available on the market. Maybe a new wine coming out in near future or he is using it in his blend.”
Mike Froud of Top Wine SA | 21 February 2025
Is Diemersdal the first and only SA wine producer using glass ‘globes’ as fermentation vessels?
Christian Eedes | 21 February 2025
Hi Mike, Certainly the first…
Mike Froud of Top Wine SA | 21 February 2025
Thanks Christian. And the best Diemersdal Sauvignon Blanc yet, you say… It will be as interesting to know which other South African producers are now also using glass fermentation vessels, and for which wines, given that apparently they were only developed around a decade ago and have been in use internationally for just a few years now. Presumably the reason Thys Louw put The Globe 2023 in a so-called Bordeaux-shaped bottle, unlike other versions of his Sauvignon Blanc, has to do with the globes being made in/imported from Bordeaux, France.
Christian Eedes | 24 February 2025
Further to the question as to who’s using globes locally: De Wetshof has some of the 220L version while a few other cellars are waiting for the release of the 400L.