South Africa A new wave of winemaking, a new vintage and new wines
A pioneering spirit typifies South Africa’s exciting new wave wines and the bright spark producers who are revolutionising this always surprising region. Let buyer Joanna Locke MW be your guide to the very best that the Cape has to offer in 2021. Resilience is something we have all learned to embrace over the last year, and no more so than in South Africa. The wine industry has bounced back, energised by an against-the-odds delicious 2020 vintage, and by the skilled surfers of the Cape’s exciting new wave, displaying its insatiable thirst for innovation and discovery. The pages that follow celebrate all of that, taking in some old favourites and introducing some new and surprising finds. 2020 produced a fine vintage in the Cape, lifting hearts and minds and helping grape growers, winemakers and sellers to see a way through the year that was
8 | SPRING 2021
Joanna Locke MASTER OF WINE
to follow (harvest falling at the start of the year in the southern hemisphere). It had not been an easy early season, and many wineries faced local lockdown even before harvesting was finished, but common sense prevailed and the wines in the cellar are proving to be a wonderful reward for the resilience and perseverance that characterises the Rainbow Nation. Many 2020 wines have yet to be released but we have made a selection of great-value wines that stood out in our early tastings. At the smart end, South Africa’s new wave has been gathering momentum and critical acclaim, and its producers are making some of the Cape’s most exciting wines. Add to that new grapes, new styles – some using ancient techniques – new faces, renewed social conscience and a celebratory fizz and you are set for a celebration, South African style.
