Lambert’s pick: 10 top Agulhas Wine Triangle wines to discover
1 Trizanne Signature Wines, Reserve Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc, Elim 2018 95 £25 Alliance Wine, Carruthers & Kent
Top notes of stormy petrichor and lime layer into white peach, green apple, pear and melon, the brightness lashed to a skeleton of saline acidity like a billowing sail. The different parcels were wholebunch pressed and fermented in old French oak barrels. Luminous and light-footed, this equal-parts blend has a real sense of grace persisting through the long, dry and savoury finish. Drink 2021-2028 Alcohol 13.1% 2 Sijnn, White, Malgas 2019 94
£17.50 (ib) Cru
Unfiltered and unfined, this Chenin-led blend (with 14% Viognier, 2% Roussanne) takes you to its rocky vineyard home. Abundant aromas of fynbos, acacia blossom, sun-baked stones, yellow apples, peaches and salted lemon. The layered palate shows caramel richness, skin-contact grip and a pithy freshness that sculpts around honeyed pears, nougat and baked pineapple. An intense, salty mineral finish.
Drink 2021-2025 Alc 13.5% Strandveld Vineyards, Adamastor Sauvignon-Semillon, Elim 2018 94 £17.90 Quality Wines
Named for the sea god of wind and storms. Elemental and fresh, equal parts Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Whiffs of iodine, smoke and gunpowder part to reveal white peach and citrus. The palate is tailored, the acidity strident: grapefruit, clementine and tart apple glide a waxy, creamy line. Potent and poetic with gravelly minerality and flint on the finish. Drink 2021-2028 Alc 13% 3 Ghost Corner, The Bowline, Elim 2018 93 £19.99-£20.50 Exel, Waitrose Cellar
Sailors call the bowline the ‘king of knots’, and winemaker David Nieuwoudt ties together Sauvignon Blanc (60%) and Semillon (40%). Fermentation in part tank, part barrel. A maritime white, all cool fruit and saline sapidity, with bright aromas leading to a palate of white peaches with an undercurrent of blackcurrant and lime acidity. The finish is long and fine with a smoky brine echo. Drink 2021-2023 Alc 13% Strandveld Vineyards, Pofadderbos Sauvignon Blanc, Elim 2020 93 £15.99 North & South Wines
Hands-off winemaking here, to showcase the wind-battered origins of this Sauvignon. Cold fermentation in tank and four months' lees contact adds creaminess. Ethereal and naked, the aromas open to a hint of elderflower, granadilla and punchy blackcurrant fruit. The palate is refreshing and lithe, showing white pear and green apples. There’s the iodine of oyster shell on the dry finish. Drink 2021-2025 Alc 12.8% Black Oystercatcher, Sauvignon Blanc, Elim 2019 91 £16-£19 Port2Port, Rakq, Vinopronto
More polished than pungent, the bright aromas are as cool as steel – the electric scent of rain to come. Harvested in three separate pickings, in a bid for complexity. Notes of green mango, fresh apple, passion fruit cordial and a jalapeño lift. Extended lees contact adds texture and a lemon curd creaminess, while the finish is saline and refreshing. Drink 2021-2023 Alc 13% Land’s End, Sauvignon Blanc, Cape South Coast 2017 90 £16.27 Zonin UK
Though labelled as Cape South Coast, the grapes are 100% from Elim. Exuberant and full of life, aromas and flavours of baked pineapple, quince, orange blossom and struck stone. Tropical and mouthfilling with a fine texture from four months on the lees. Nicely tangy on the finish with refreshing, lifted acidity. Drink 2021-2022 Alc 13.5% Lomond, Pincushion Sauvignon Blanc 2020 90 £15 Inverarity Morton
Expressive and fresh nose of passion fruit, elderflower, nettle, green apple and lemon. Grassy green pepper fades before the lean palate of cut citrus. Mouthwatering acidity speaks to its place of origin, the grapes coming from one of the highest vineyards on the farm – a single vineyard on the southeastern slopes, open to the prevailing sea winds. Drink 2021-2023 Alc 13%
Trizanne Signature Wines, Reserve Syrah, Elim 2017 96 £25 Alliance Wine, Carruthers & Kent
Shows lifted notes of white pepper, flint and violets before wild strawberries and cherries. There’s real tension, elegance and crystalline purity, where sappy wood spice runs along a wave of fresh acidity and transparent tannins. Grapes were harvested from three vineyards, each from a different clone, grown on shale, gravel and ferricrete (known as Koffieklip, or 'coffee stone' locally). Drink 2021-2029 Alc 13.2% 4 The Drift, Gift Horse Barbera, Overberg 2017 93 £42.33-£49.99 Museum Wines, The Drink Shop, The Fine Wine Co,
From Bruce Jack and made only in exceptional years, using grapes from a 0.4ha vineyard cropped very low, this is wild and generous, capturing the untamed spirit of this Napier farm. Concentrated, inky black cherries, blackberries and mulberries merge with cocoa, toasted spice and a streak of herbaceousness. It’s energetic and unapologetic with robust tannins, from 18 months in mostly old French oak, and a silky finish. Drink 2021-2025 Alc 14.5% D