WATERKLOOF SAUVIGNON BLANC 2021

THE JOURNEY

We make a wine under the Waterkloof label, only when one of our vineyard blocks on The Schapenberg offers up something extraordinary. From our first vintage up until the seventeenth there was just one such wine – Waterkloof Sauvignon Blanc.

This grape variety can be divisive and we’d be inclined to agree with those who find it to be all too often, one-dimensional and incapable of developing complexity in both the glass and bottle. That being said, a few vineyards dotted around the globe seem to disrupt this theory.

We have always allowed the natural circumstances of the site to steer our decision-making and ever since our first vintage in 2005, the cool, wind-ravaged, south-facing slopes of Waterkloof have always screamed out for Sauvignon Blanc. We have one particular little parcel though, which rises above the rest, providing Nadia Langenegger and her cellar team with truly exceptional grapes. It’s got the lot: Oldest, highest, coldest, steepest, windiest and unsurprisingly, the lowest-yielding.

So whether you love Sauvignon Blanc or think that you don’t, we encourage you to decant a bottle of Waterkloof for an hour or two and serve it with something indulgent like langoustine or crayfish. No sauces – that’s in your glass. Simplicity being the ultimate luxury.

Finally, if you’d really like to test your patience and can get your hands on a case, you will find rich reward in following the journey of this wine over the course of a decade.

A short film from the Waterkloof Sauvignon Blanc block – https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLwipaPqKiH/

THE VINEYARD

– Size: 1.5 hectares (single block)
– Ocean Proximity: 5km
– Altitude: 300m
– Exposure: South
– Windspeed: Ferocious
– Soil: Compacted Sandstone
– Farming: Organic & Regenerative with no irrigation
– Vine Training: Trellised (for support in wind)
– Yield: Grapes – 1.8tons/hectare        Wine – 13hl/hectare

THE CELLAR

– Hand-picked and hand-sorted
– Whole bunch pressed for purest juice
– Wild yeast ferment in old 600l French oak barrels
– 14 months on lees without stirring
– No additions other than sulphur
– 2526 bottles made

THE NUMBERS

Alc: 14%

RS: 5 g/L

pH: 3.13

TA: 7g/L

NADIA LANGENEGGER’S TASTING NOTE

This elegant and vibrant Sauvignon Blanc bursts with notes of lime and gooseberries, with hints of blackcurrant and fennel on the nose. The palate shows a lovely brightness and distinct notes of lemon and lime on the palate- true to the Schapenberg terroir.