This week at Campbells Store Manager Richard was extremely privileged to meet and taste through a selection of wonderful South African wines from two top winemakers. Ken Forrester, The 'King of Chenin' and one of the most influential winemakers in South Africa, and Peter Allan-Finlayson, South African Winemaker of the Year 2021. It is no coincidence that South Africa happen to be touring the UK this month playing rugby, and we did wonder if Peter was playing himself, given the size of him!  Ken Forrester, aka "Mr. Chenin", is the owner-winemaker of Ken Forrester Wines. He also co-founded the Chenin Blanc Association. In 1993 with a young family, he and his wife Teresa set their hearts on an historic vineyard in Stellenbosch. Originally granted in 1689 as Zandberg, this beautiful farm, complete with historic Cape Dutch homestead built in 1694 had stood vacant and derelict when they bought it on a public auction in 1993. A massive renovation was undertaken, both in the vineyards (Ken) and the house (Teresa!). With most of the vineyard planted to Chenin Blanc it was decided to enlist the help of good friend and Top Winemaker, Martin Meinert, with the quest to produce Chenin Blanc that could rival any white wine in the world. That was 19 years ago, since then the wines have been poured at numerous grand events including the opening of The Scottish Parliament (Ken has been known to wear a tartan skirt – the Forresters have their origins in the Western Isles of Scotland!) as well as the 85th birthday of our own icon, ex President Mandela. The wines have received massive international acclaim with literally hundreds of awards and accolades and the growth of the brand has been nothing short of meteoric, in a 19 short years. The picture perfect vineyards beneath the Helderberg Mountains are testimony to the quest for perfectly ripe fruit and show the commitment and attention to detail, that is required for benchmark wines in this day and age of immense competition and much improved quality. |
.jpg) Peters winery is Crystallum Hemel-en-Aarde winery, established in 2007 by him and his brother Andrew Finlayson. Their father Peter, was a pioneer in the production of cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at Bouchard Finlayson, so after university, it seemed only natural for the brothers to return home and source fruit from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley to create their own label. Crystallum is one of South Africa’s most highly regarded wineries and is at the forefront of the ‘New Wave’ movement. In 2021 Peter-Allan was named Tim Atkin MW’s ‘South African Winemaker of the Year’. He is always on the lookout for new vineyards and with each vintage he strives to make even better wines. The winemaking at Crystallum has evolved over the years, with all the wines now fermented with indigenous yeasts and the use of new oak reduced to preserve the purity of fruit. Peter is also associated with another wine estate through his father in law. Gabriëlskloof is a wine estate located near Bot River in the Overberg region, east of Cape Town. It was purchased in 2001 by Bernhard Heyns, who had been looking for the ideal place to plant vines. Bernhard’s son-in-law, the talented Peter-Allan Finlayson of Crystallum, took over as winemaker from the 2015 vintage. Peter-Allan is now Cellar Master and oversees general property management, while the young and no less talented Anmar Van Niekerk has been promoted to winemaker. The farm has 178 hectares, with 68 hectares planted under vine benefitting from a cool climate with maritime influences from Walker Bay. The vineyards are farmed sustainably with the support of full-time vineyard consultant Rosa Kruger (hailed as “the queen of the Cape’s old vines” by Tim Atkin MW). They aim to move to organic farming in the future. Look out for some of these new wines on our shelves very soon! |
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