From 2010 we started producing wines from Sauvignon Blanc,
Chardonnay and Syrah with Pinot Noir being added in 2011.
Our intention is to let each varietal express individual characteristics by minimal vineyard intervention and careful nurturing in the winery. We have an exceptional vineyard site that will allow each cultivar to develop unique flavour profiles.
2010 Sauvignon Blanc
Aromas of apples and peaches with fresh lime on the palate ending with a crisp fruit acidity. This is what UK wine writer Jamie Goode had to say about the wine - ”Pure aromatics with some rich pear and peach notes as well as citrus freshness” - “a sophisticated wine of real quality” - http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/sauvignon-blanc/seven-springs-an-interesting-new-south-african-sauvignon
2011 Sauvignon Blanc
Our second Sauvignon Blanc vintage continues in the Seven Springs style. The wine has a delicate perfume, tantalizing ripe fruit on the palate with good lingering minerality. Enjoy ripe apples and peaches with hints of the natural vegetation of the area, fynbos , and fresh herbs. It is a light, refreshing wine.
Leading South African wine writer Angela Lloyd wrote: “As pale and bright as one would expect of a young wine, it has great presence without being showy thanks to the purity and restraint of its more tropical style fruit. A year in the bottle has polished the edginess of extreme youth without diminishing the wine’s vitality and freshness, such attributes being enriched by lees ageing. This gives a sense of weight without lessening the gentle, pure fruit and clean, dry finish. Unlike many sauvignons, it’s just as happy enjoyed solo as paired with fresh, unfussy dishes. Ingrid agrees with me, describing it as gentle, charming and graceful.” http://www.grape.co.za/users/angela_lloyd/blog/2012-02-21-making_it_digital_age.html
2010 Syrah
This Syrah, produced in our vineyard’s cool ocean influenced climate, is refined, delightfully complex and truly fragrant. Produced from very young vines, the wine was aged for 12 months in second and third year French oak barrels. This ensures the oak influences are understated and allow the opulent dark cherry and red berry flavours to dominate, along with hints of pepper and spice. On the palate it is rich and textured.
The Wine Gang in the UK wrote this about our Syrah on the 17th July 2012.
Seven Springs, Syrah 2010
Overberg (South Africa) Red (Screwcap) 14% ABV
Seven Springs burst onto the scene with an excellent Sauvignon Blanc last year, but this Syrah from young vines planted in the Overberg region is new. The nose is opulently rich and crammed with plum and red berry fruit. Ageing in older French barrels adding some spice and delicate smokiness, with a hint of crisply-grilled bacon fat. On the palate it is fresh and vibrant, with real depth but bounding youthfullness and ocean-influenced clarity. 90/100
http://www.thewinegang.com/
2010 Chardonnay (oaked)
This wine is fresh and fragrant, a true expression of young Chardonnay grapes. Having been fermented in aged (2nd and 3rd year) French oak barrels, we have achieved a delicate balance between lightly honeyed fruit, crisp citrus and subtle toasted oak. Typical of our ocean influenced cooler climate, there is minerality throughout and a lasting buttery finish.
Cathy Marston from Cape Town said about the wine: “This is the first release of this wine from this tremendously social-media-savvy new winery in Hermanus. Their maiden Sauvignon last year was an instant success and I can easily see this wine following in the same footsteps. Only 30% went through malolactic fermentation which has helped preserve the fresh lemony flavours. Creamy and rounded and showing a beautiful balance between fruit, acidity and gentle oak, this is a winner with a smoked snoek pate.” http://www.food24.com/Wine/Features/Top-Ten-Wines-for-Seafood-20111005
2011 Unoaked Chardonnay
Produced with no exposure to oak barrels, allowing full expression of the fruit from very young vines. It has a truly tropical perfume and personifies summer in a wine glass with aromas of pineapple and passion fruit. On the palate it is rich and textured with a lingering minerality balanced with beautiful fruit flavours.
This is what Tom Cannavan from the UK wrote about the wine.
“As it says on the label, a Chardonnay fermented in steel tanks with no exposure to oak, and a new product in Seven Springs’ range, showing a restless need to explore the potential of their young vines and this terroir. There’s an elegant perfume to this wine, with a little blossom or peach-skin fragrance, some dry apple fruit notes and a hint of something stony and mineral. On the palate it is juicy and led by citrus and underripe apple – a quite steely, in some ways quite austere, but there is a burgeoning sense of creaminess and those peachy tones beneath the citrus tang. A nice wine that would be joyous with some pan-fried mullet or seabass”
2011 Chardonnay (Oaked)
Very pale in the glass this wine is bright, light and fresh. With no exposure to oak we have retained the true characteristics of the chardonnay grape. It is delicate and well balanced with citrus fruit and melon flavours. There are also hints of the natural South African flora, such as proteas and ericas which grow on the mountain above our vineyard. Serve lightly chilled at 8-10 degrees C. It will open up well in the glass and can be matched with seafood and chicken dishes.
This is what leading South African sommelier Miguel Chan had to say about the wine.
“Clean, moderate plus intensity, citrussy lemony note, pineapples, spanspek, leesy complexity, clay mineral, brush of oak, subtle and fragrant, very well defined leaning towards Beaune in profile. Dry, with a dash residual sugar, creamy texture, very fresh with high acidity lending fine precision and linearity, crunchy, spicy, alcohol is high at 14% abv and slightly noticeable, but ample fruit to support, concentrated, nutty, long and persistent, drinking beautifully now, yet will gain further complexity with time in bottle. now until 2018+” http://miguelchanwinejournal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/seven-springs-vine
2011 Pinot Noir “Young Vines I”
Produced from young vines our Pinot Noir is sophisticated and full of character. It is bright and vibrant in colour with a beautiful balanced red berry flavour, a hint of spice, and an excellent finish. It is a very versatile food wine and will match perfectly with mushroom, duck, beef, lamb or pork dishes.
UK wine blogger, Pieter Rosenthal, had this to say:
“What really caught my eye was a wine that proudly proclaimed on the label it was produced from ‘Young Vines’. Wow! I’m not sure I would have the courage to admit to that. My slight apprehension was immediately quashed as soon as I tasted the wine. Made by 29 year old Riana van der Merwe it is simply gorgeous. With the fruit doing all the talking rather than the oak, this was a sheer joy of juiciness. Ripe cherries and strawberries, vibrant in its innocent youth. Not so much an unruly teenager as a well-balanced, vivacious character that already shows complexity well beyond its age and knows its way around a wine glass. Hats off, not just for the wine, but for having the gumption to label it as young vines and making a feature of it.”
http://www.corkandbottle.co.uk/innocence-of-youth/#comment-6
