Waverley Hills Makes Wine History By Planting and Harvesting South Africa’s First Marselan Grape Crop
An 11-year project by the cellarmaster Johan Delport of Waverley Hills came to fruition this month with the first Marselan grapes ever being harvested for winemaking in South Africa.
You will be excused if you are not familiar with this fairly young grape cultivar. Marselan is an artificial crossing between two famous red grape varieties – Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon. The cultivar was bred in 1961 by the professor Paul Truel at French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) in the town of Marseillan, after which the grape was named.
Today the highly regarded crossing is found in niche pockets across the globe, with Decanter going as far as calling it the future “signature” grape of China.
Johan Delport showcasing South Africa’s first Marselan vineyard, located in Tulbagh.
Johan Delport started with this project in 2009, by importing the first Marselan plant from France. After a regulation 1 year quarantine period, Vititec, the vine nursery in Paarl, started with the multiplication process of the plant. After years of multiplying and setting up small experimental vineyards, the first commercially viable amount of Marselan vines were planted at Waverley Hills in 2016, under strict certified organic practices.
It took 4 years for the vine to mature and start to bear grapes, the first being harvested on 26 February 2020.
The first Marselan wine from Waverley Hills will be released in 2021.
The Blends of Waverley Hills
The year is almost at its end, but it is still not the end at Waverley Hills for achieving awards. Most recently it was our Rhône style and Bordeaux style blends receiving awards! It seems as if our cellar master, Johan Delport, has mastered the art of blending. At the Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge 2019, our De Huijsbosch 2017 won a gold award. And it is not all for our Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc / Merlot Blend, because it also received a Veritas 2019 Silver award, as well being selected by the Sommeliers Selection 2019 Wine List.
However, it wasn’t just our De Huijsbosch blend that made us proud. Waverley Hills’ well-known Rhone-style Blend also reeled in three more awards – A gold from Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge, a gold from Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Competition and lastly a third gold from Veritas.
This SMV 2014 (Shiraz / Mourvèdre / Viognier) is doing its predecessors proud and now have a total of eight top International awards from 3 different countries since its release eleven months ago.
For more information on our Bordeaux-style & Rhone-style Blends, visit our website www.waverleyhills.co.za or e-mail one of our team members at kelder@waverleyhills.co.za.
One District, Four Categories and Four Awards Won at SA Terroir Wine Award
There is one word that perfectly describes how the Waverley Hills team feel at this moment – Grateful.
Novare SA Terroir Wine Award is a South-African competition founded by Marius Labuschagne and was created to discover the wines made in the various wine-growing areas that best reflect the terroir in which they were produced. All wines must be certified Wine of Origin from a specific single vineyard, estate, ward or small district not divided into wards.
Tulbagh is one of the various districts in SA and we are so proud to say that our wines won all four categories in our district.
This comes after many other awards already achieved by Waverley Hills so far this year.
CW Reserve Shiraz 2015
| Top Chardonnay | Waverley Hills Chardonnay 2018 |
| Top Grenache | Waverley Hills Grenache 2017 |
| Top Shiraz | Waverley Hills CW Reserve Shiraz 2015 |
| Top Red Blend | Waverley Hills SMV 2014 |
- Gold Award from Mundus Vini Biofach, Germany
- Gold Award from The Challenge International du Vin, France
- Platinum from South African Wine Index
- Top Gold from The Grand International Organic Wine Awards
- Platinum from South African Wine Index
- Gold from Frankfurt International Trophy
- Silver Award from The Grand International Organic Wine Award
- Gold from The Grand International Organic Wine Award
- Grand Gold from South African Wine Index
- Gold Award from Grenaches du Monde, France (International Wine Competition for Grenache wines)
- Gold Award from Gilbert & Gaillard, France
Come and try our brand new and true French-style Rosé!
Usually, we would start the article with a smart opening line. But honestly, we are too excited and will thus just come out and say it: Waverley Hills has officially released a brand new and true French-style Rosé!
Made with 100% Grenache, this beautiful dry Rosé shows fresh flavours of prickly pears, fynbos & watermelon. If you enjoy a fruity palate with tropical flavours, this is definitely a Rosé you should try.
As the baby of the wine list, you should think this wine would take a while to make a name for itself. However, it came in with a bang, in the form of a gold award from Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge in France.
François Gilbert and Philippe Gaillard began their own wine guides and magazines in 1991 and have had such success that today their work is an international wine-focused multimedia group. Being one of France’s key wine guides for more than two decades, you can imagine how proud we are of our new release for doing so well so soon. And all this before it was even labelled!
For more info on our beautiful new release, e-mail info@waverleyhills.co.za or call us on 023-231 0002.
Waverley Hills Scores Top Gold At The Grand International Organic Wine Awards
Waverley Hills took part again in The Grand International Organic Wine Awards that was held in Germany.
This award has become one of the most important tastings in the wine sector and 2019 marked its 10th year.
According to statistics, more than 1000 entries from 28 countries were received.
Our SMV 2014 did it yet again, walking away with the Top Gold and a scoring of 98 points out of 100.
This makes our team very proud as there were only two red wines that scored this high, one of which is our beautiful Rhone-style blend.
The SMV was also the only wine from the South Hemisphere with a scoring of more than 95 points for white and red wines.
However, this beautiful blend isn’t the only wine that made us proud.
Our estate range Shiraz 2017 walked away with a Gold and our beautiful Chardonnay 2018 will be looking good with the silver it received.
Three Times Gold For Waverley Hills
In the previous newsletter, the Waverley Hills team were proud to inform you that our CW Reserve Shiraz 2015 received its first Gold from Mundus Vini Biofach 2019.
This beautiful 100% Shiraz, which was also the 2015 SA Young Wine Champion Shiraz, made us proud once again by receiving another Gold, this time from “one of the biggest and most famous French international wine competitions in the world” – The Challenge International du Vin.
However, the Reserve Shiraz wasn’t the only wine to receive a Gold from a France-based competition. The Grenache du Monde set a new record this year for participation with 869 wines presented from six countries. From these six countries, 177 Gold Medals were given, one being for the Waverley Hills Grenache 2017. It was also the only wine from SA and outside the “Old Wine World” to receive a gold medal. We are thus proud of our winemaker, Johan Delport, as he proved once again that he deserves the title of Godfather of Grenache in South Africa.
And now last, but not least, our SMV 2014. With its predecessor receiving 10 awards, you could say there is a bit of pressure on the younger vintage. We are however very proud as it received its third and highest award thus far – Gold from the Frankfurt International Trophy in Germany. This is the “biggest international competition in Germany to invite experienced amateurs to participate as jurors”. This is because they wish to take the consumers taste into better account.
April 2019 is almost over and with 4 Gold Medals received in 4 months, we are truly looking forward to the rest of this year.
Should you wish to have more info on these three wines, visit www.waverleyhills.co.za or get in touch with one of the Waverley Hills Team-members by e-mailing kelder@waverleyhills.co.za.
A proud moment for the team
Dear Reader.
It was an average winter day when during a team-bonding cappuccino break I asked our winemaker, Johan Delport, what his hobbies are. After thinking for a moment, he replied short and sweet: “My hobby is winemaking.”
This might sound like an automatic reply for a winemaker, but in fact, that reply only proved why the Waverley Hills range is such a beautiful collection of wines.
Wine-making is not just a “job” for him, but a hobby and I dare say a passion. It is because this passion is rewarded that we are so proud to inform you, our customer, of the following awards that some of our wines were awarded with recently.
Our SMV 2013, a rhone-style blend consisting of Shiraz, Mourvèdre and Viognier made us proud in more ways than one.
- Platter’s Wine Guide 2018 – 4 Stars
- Gilbert & Gaillard Intern. Challenge 2018 – Gold
- International Organic Wine Award 2018 – Gold
- Drinks Business Organic Masters 2018 – Gold
- SA Wine Index 2018 – Platinum
- Novare SA Terroir 2018 – Top Red Blend
- IWSC 2018 – Gold
- 2018 Veritas Awards – Gold
The above awards were the fruits that were reaped after sowing long hours of hard work. However, it was the following two awards that really brought a warm feeling to our hearts and a realization that hard work does indeed pay off.
- IWSC 2018 – International Trophy Best Organic Wine in the World
The IWSC is UK based and is the oldest and biggest international wine competition in the world receiving entries from over 90 countries. So receiving this trophy award was a huge honour for the Waverley Hills team.
- Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards – Gran D’or (Double Gold)
The Michelangelo is judged in South Africa with judges from leading wine countries in the world.
This brings the total for the SMV 2013 to 9 major awards from all over the world with countries including Germany, Great Britain, France and of course South Africa. Most wine farms would be proud to achieve only one of this awards for a wine, let alone all of that for a single organic wine.
Taking this into consideration, the Waverley Hills SMV 2013 must surely be one of the most ever awarded certified organic wines in the world!
And now for the second wine that made us very proud – Grenache 2017.
You could say we had the upper hand on this wine as Johan is known as theGodfather of Grenache in South Africa, being the first to do a single cultivar wine with this grape. This doesn’t make one smile any less though when receiving the following:
- Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards – Trophy Top Scoring Organic Wine
And now, last but not least.
Customers will be able to taste and buy a wine they have waited for a long time – TheWaverley Hills CW Reserve Shiraz 2015.In 2015 this beautiful wine was theChampion Shiraz of the SA Young Wine Show. Now released, it had time to age in 225L New French Oak Barrels for 3 years.
Looking at it in a wineglass, you will note it has an intense purple colour. Concentrated white spices, fresh pomegranate and fynbos aromas are rounded off by herbal notes and the smoky flavours of French
oak. On the palate the wine has a soft and smooth entry and a long, fresh finish with integrated oak flavours.
Don’t forget that our Sauvignon blanc/Semillon 2018 also won a Gold medal at Michelangelo.
The year is almost at its end, but already we are looking back at what was achieved these past 10 months.
Proof-reading the above newsletter, I can only smile at what the team accomplished and what customers thought of the product they tasted when visiting the cellar.
And now with 2 more months of 2018 remaining, I invite you, reading this newsletter, to visit us and see why we are so passionate about our wines and why it is held in such high regard among those in the wine industry.
Waverley Hills Organic Wine And Eco-Approach Enjoys New Gleam With Sterling Label Re-Design
The wines of Waverley Hills Organic Wine & Olive Estate have new labels. More than a mere upgrade, the transformed pack cuts to the very essence of the boutique Tulbagh farm’s superlative, crafted wines made in a natural, sustainable way.
A pioneer of environmentally-friendly agriculture, the Du Toit family of Brenn-O-Kem that owns Waverley Hills has been involved in green initiatives long before it became fashionable. With the establishment of Waverley Hills and planting of vines in 2000, the enterprise became a standard-bearer in the wine industry too and was quickly singled out for both exemplary farm practices and exceptional wine.
Fynbos is the heart of the new designs, which were conceived by Fanakalo in Stellenbosch. In addition to independently audited and stringent farm practices that allow for Waverley Hills to be certified organic, a significant portion of the land is home to amongst others critically endangered Proteas and veld types, and nearly 20% of the farm has entirely been set aside for conservation.
Waverley Hills divides its portfolio into two distinct ranges that will feature the new label as wines of this year’s vintage become available. Each range has its own design.
The Premium Range comprises the Waverley Hills MCC; Chardonnay; Grenache; Shiraz/ Mourvedre/ Viognier (SMV) blend; De Huijsbosch Bordeaux blend; and, CW Reserve Shiraz. Their new labels reflect their bespoke nature and employs rose gold foiling to emphasise class and elegance, and the style of wine.
The Estate Range consists of the Waverley Hills Pinot Grigio; Sauvignon Blanc/ Semillon blend; Cabernet Sauvignon with no added sulphites; Cabernet Sauvignon/ Shiraz blend; and, Shiraz. They will now bear a modern and stylised illustration with each wine highlighted by a different key colour.
Waverley Hills is a proud example of a farm working in harmony with nature. It welcomes wine-lovers to its fynbos-landscaped visitor centre, wedding chapel, and restaurant. Waverley Hills is situated 90 minutes from Cape Town, off the R46 near Wolseley, between Tulbagh and Ceres. Its wines are available at leading restaurants and retailers. The estate wines are priced from R70 to R90 and the premium range wines, from R130 to R230.
One SA winery brings home Grand Gold at the 2018 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles
The 25th Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB) was held from May 10 to 14, 2018 in Beijing, China. Over 9,180 wines from 48 producer countries competed for a distinction. Some 330 judges from 50+ countries blind-tasted and scored the wines. CMB is the only touring competition in the world and is the only wine contest to perform quality control tests on awarded wines.
A total of fourteen countries received Grand Gold medals with South Africa being awarded one of these prestigious medals.
Waverley Hills, renowned for its eco-friendly practices and producing premium organic wines, has been awarded Grand Gold at this year’s CMB. Their maiden release Chardonnay 2016, which was launched in October 2017, has brought home this well-deserved accolade.
The wine spent 15 months in new 300-litre oak barrels of which 60% was French and the remainder, Hungarian. As part of the vinification, the wine spent eight months on its lees in the barrels before being racked and returned to the barrels for a further seven months.
“There’s white tropical fruit and lemon peel on the nose, along with dried banana and nutty oak,” says Johan Delport, Waverley Hills Winemaker. “An aromatic flinty character gives the wine extra complexity. It’s full and well-balanced on the palate, with lingering fruit in the finish; just beautiful!”
At the foot of the soaring Witzenberg Mountains, Waverley Hills is located on a natural watershed with variations in the landscape and diverse pockets of terroir. The Waverley Hills Chardonnay 2016 stays true to its terroir and boasts not only being a premium South African wine but also certified organic. 30.4% of organic and biodynamic CMB entries won a Silver, Gold or a Grand Gold Medal, compared to 24.6% in 2017.
A total of 57 silver, gold and grand gold medals were awarded to South African wines at the 2018 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
