We are delighted to have received our best reviews yet from the respected wine website JANCISROBINSON.COM amidst a glowing article by Senior Editor Tamlyn Currin on the incredible biodiversity that is being sustained, even regenerated in South Africa’s winelands.
South Africa, a kingdom of diversity | Jancis Robinson
To buy the wines in South Africa click here
To buy the wines in your country email info@waterkloofwines.co.za confirming your approximate location and wine/s of interest.
JANCISROBINSON.COM use the 20 point score system and have a shared “love of balance, eloquence, finesse and, where appropriate, ageability above sheer mass.”
Around 7000 South African wines have been reviewed since this leading wine website’s inception and in this most recent tasting article, Waterkloof came away with the highest average score of any winery from whom at least three wines were tasted, with a whopping 9 wines grabbing a high score of 17.5. What is more, many of these were amongst the lowest priced wines tasted.
All that being said, JANCISROBINSON.COM are not very comfortable with scoring wines “because it is so difficult to encapsulate a wine’s qualities in a single score.” They instead encourage people to read the reviews themselves rather than seeing wine only in numbers. We heartily agree, so here goes:
Waterkloof, Circle of Life White 2024
76% Sauvignon Blanc, 22% Chenin Blanc, 2% Sémillon. Biodynamic and regenerative farming. Two co-ferments: one is Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc in barrel; the other is Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon in barrel. Spontaneous fermentations, no additions. Then everything is blended and put back into barrel on fine lees for nine to 10 months. All in Rhône 600-litre barrels. Spicy, apricots, dried apricot. Very intense. Bright, bright, bright. You could light up a room with this wine. So much energy and so much commanding presence. Gorgeous layers. Long. Complex. Deft and dense. (TC) Alcohol: 14% Drink: 2026 – 2032 17.5/20
Waterkloof Sauvignon Blanc 2019
Fruit from two very windy, biodynamically farmed parcels at the top of the Schapenberg. Not made every year; it depends on vintage. Usually 3,000 bottles. Spontaneous fermentation in old barrels and aged on lees for around nine months. Ye gods, this is complex! A gyroscope of structure and movement, circular energy and angular velocity. Smoke and honey and papaya. Cream curds cut in the crosshairs of crystalline citrus and salt. Yuzu, pickled lemon, lime pickle. Tight; chalk-and-lemon texture. Beach-shell minerality. Ever-so-fine spiciness, like soft breath. Stunning. (TC) Alcohol: 14% Drink: 2024 – 2033 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Cape Coral Rosé Mourvèdre 2024
Clear-glass bottle. Whole-bunch basket pressed, spontaneous fermentation in wooden fermenters. Aged on fine lees for nearly a year. Very, very pale. Apricot and apricot kernel, savoury lines, salinity, energy and length. Very pure. Mouth-filling body, real substance, and yet racy and linear. This is a serious rosé – I would even say ageworthy, but the choice of clear glass makes that less certain. Needless to say, it’s a wine for foodies. (TC) Alcohol: 13% Drink: 2025 – 2027 17/20
Waterkloof, Circle of Life Red 2023
84% Mourvèdre, 9% Syrah and 7% Grenache.
18-year-old vines in a very windy spot, so super-low yielding. Biodynamic farming. Spontaneous fermentation in large, open-top wooden fermenters with soft manual punch downs twice per day. The wine is left on skins for 21–25 days before going through malolactic conversion in mainly old 600-litre barrels, then ageing for 12 months in the same vessels. The components are then blended and the wine ages a further eight months in large wooden foudres. No fining, just a light f iltration. No additions other than sulphites. Juniper and damson. Biltong and peppercorns. Wild raspberry. A gorgeous tug and tussle and tousle of tannins, which seem to gain in confidence along the length of the wine and as it sits in the glass, accentuated by a back note of cigar. Flooded with juice and then the finish fills with perfume of peonies. No sign of Mourvèdre’s gruff, grumpy, gamey side! (TC) Alcohol: 12.5% Drink: 2026 – 2032 17/20
Waterkloof Syrah 2023
Syrah from a single block, just below the winery, south-facing, just 5 km from the Atlantic ocean and into the teeth of the south-eastern wind so very cool and exceptionally low yielding. Regenerative and biodynamic farming. Spontaneous fermentation, whole bunch, in two one-ton, open-top French oak fermenters, punched daily with winemaker Nadia Barnard’s own feet. Aged for 30 months in old, 600-litre French oak barrels. No fining, light filtration. Amazing pepperiness and delicate intensity. Jasmine, wild strawberries, tendrils of tannins. Nutmeg. Delicate smokiness. Really long. This is gorgeous. Such a floral spine – it seems to float! And yet it has hidden power. Wow, this is incredibly beautiful and elegant. Syrah with a Pinot soul. This must be a very special vineyard. (TC)Alcohol: 14% Drink: 2026 – 2038 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Mourvèdre 2023
Cranberry and black cherry and peonies, pomegranate. Soaring fruit, full bodied tannins. A gorgeous burly burl of life and fruit. Deep vibrant glow. It’s young and raring to go. I just love the energy packed into every molecule of this wine. (TC) Alcohol: 13.5% Drink: 2026 – 2036 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Cabernet Franc 2022 – not yet released
Vines on granite and sandstone, on a block that winemaker Nadia Barnard says she spends the most time in trying to pick. Destemmed, spontaneous fermentation, over two years in barrels, little bit of new oak. Biodynamic farming. Molle and blackberry on the nose, curing-tobacco leaf adding a rustle of savoury herbaceousness, and then redcurrant notes following with flute-like grace. Everything about this wine is fluent, even the minerality is cursive. It is so essentially Cabernet Franc in character, but also so distinctive that you know, instantly, that the story of the vineyard is encoded in the DNA of every liquid molecule. (TC) Alcohol: 14% Drink: 2025 – 2034 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Mourvèdre 2022 – not yet released
As per the 2020: Two parcels of fruit. Regenerative and biodynamic farming. Whole-bunch, spontaneous fermentation. Aged in 600-litre French oak barrels. Back to the meaty note of 2020. Especially on the back palate and tremendous length. A real story on the palate. Unfolds bit by bit. Tight pucker of pepper in the mid palate. There is SO much length on this. The tannins pull and pull and pull and then turn to silk. (TC) Alcohol: 13.5% Drink: 2025 – 2034 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Mourvèdre 2021 – not yet released
A low-yielding vintage, so Nadia Barnard made only one or two barrels. As per the 2020: regenerative and biodynamic farming. Whole-bunch, spontaneous fermentation. Aged in 600-litre French oak barrels. Smells very different from the 2020! Flint and red roses. Pepper and clove and sumac. Grippy tannins, snappy and sinewy and more attitude. The finish is like licking terracotta tiles. I love it. (TC) Alcohol: 13.5% Drink: 2025 – 2031 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Merlot 2021
On a south-facing slope, cool, on granite and sandstone. Biodynamically farmed. Nadia Barnard said she did a bit of whole-bunch in the 2021. Spontaneous fermentation. Very, very pretty nose! Raspberries and rosemary. Lovely concentration of fruit and then a deft weave of tannins, tight but supple and not even remotely drying. Great punctuation. Spicy, wide-open finish. A wine that has me hankering for roast lamb. (TC) Alcohol: 14% Drink: 2025 – 2031 17.5/20
Waterkloof, Circumstance Mourvèdre 2020
The fruit comes from two main blocks. One is just above the dam, south facing, on original root stocks, rocky terrain, dry-farmed, left to fend for itself. It’s a bit wind and drought resistant. The other block is closer to the winery, all bush vines. Regenerative and biodynamic farming. Whole-bunch, spontaneous fermentation. Aged in 600-litre French oak barrels. Sweetness and muscle and roast-beef savoury sweetness. Fruit playing hopscotch between fresh and fragrant and delicately dried plums and red berries. Juniper and infused with aromatic oils on the end. (TC) Alcohol: 13.5% Drink: 2024 – 2030 17/20
Waterkloof, Boreas 2020
The best parcels of biodynamically and regeneratively farmed Cabernet Franc (51%), Merlot (25%), Petit Verdot (14%), Cabernet Sauvignon (10%). Winemaker Nadia Barnard did a co-ferment of the Cabernet Sauvignon, destemmed, with the Petit Verdot. The other varieties were whole-bunch fermented in open-top 9,000-litre French oak foudres. All spontaneous fermentation. Aged separately for 16–18 months in French oak barriques (10% new) and oak foudre. Then blended before spending another year in barrels and foudre. No additions bar sulphites. Light filtration, no fining. Ink and violets, redcurrant and plum. A fine, intricate line of tarragon and rosemary and chocolate mint. Incredible tannic mesh – it feels as if the tannins have been crocheted to the wine. It’s in a beautiful place for drinking right now (although it feels as if it will hold itself right there for a while to come). (TC) Alcohol: 14% Drink: 2025 – 2038 17.5/20