Names such as Conqueror, Tenacious, Fortitude and Longevity, say it all

The Herald

2 days ago

How often are we told when we are struggling that tough times build character, that one needs to 'dig deep' to find the inner strength to conquer adversity?
If the Perdeberg vineyard and cellar teams were the type to talk to plants, I'd bet that's what they'd be whispering daily to their dry land vineyards at the foot of the Paardeberg mountain in Paarl.
Most of the winery's more than 3,000ha of vineyards in Paarl and over the mountain in the Swartland are dry land, or unirrigated, and the cream of the crop is found in the premium Dry Land Collection, showcasing the distinctive character that develops when vines overcome difficult growing conditions.
Watered only by rainfall, in a fairly dry region, the vines must literally dig deep to establish themselves and find groundwater.
The combination of the testing terroir and having survived decades of nature's cycles — some of the vines for the Dry Land Collection are more than 35 years old, with certified heritage status — delivers rewards in small berries with exceptional concentration of flavour and colour, producing wines of complexity and depth, balanced with freshness.
No wonder then that wines in the Perdeberg Dry Land Collection have names like Conqueror (cabernet sauvignon), Resolve (pinotage), Tenacious (shiraz), and the chenin blanc dessert wines Fortitude and Longevity.
Two of the Dry Land Collection wines recently topped the 2025 Winemag Prescient Chenin Blanc & Cape White Blend Report, with the 2024 Courageous Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc named best chenin blanc and Rossouw's Heritage 2023 the top-scoring Cape white blend.
For its passion for conserving and working with its heritage vines in wines like these, Perdeberg won the Old Vine Producer trophy at the International Wine & Spirits Competition in 2024.
Their highlighting of the potential of older vines and the character produced from dry land vineyards no doubt also contributed to Perdeberg being named 2024 Producer Cellar of the Year in UK Master of Wine Tim Atkin's respected annual SA Special Report.
Perdeberg cellar master Albertus Louw explains that grapes for the Dry Land Collection wines are selected from individual vines in specific vineyards, and made in a new world style with ample fruit and structure.
For those matured in oak, the focus is on seamless integration of fruit and wood so that oak influence is subtle and the wines pleasurably drinkable on their own on release, but also great with food, and ageable.
This comes through clearly in two of the Dry Land Collection white wines tasted recently, both of which kept the free-run juice in contact with the skins for a couple of hours after pressing and were matured on the yeasty lees in barrel to varying extents — the winemaking techniques creating wines with texture and complexity finely balanced with clean fruit purity and fresh acidity.
Courageous Barrel-Fermented Chenin Blanc 2024 (R200), aged in mostly older oak barrels for 11 months, shows how chenin's typical crunchy pineapple shifts when the wine is wooded to a mellower, deeper fruit, with caramelised edges to the sweetness, as if it's been grilled on a cast iron pan or braai with a sprinkling of brown sugar. (I've done this, it's delicious!)
Opening with heady aromas of frangipani, citrus, pear and pineapple, the wine moves into flavours of citrus, lychee and vanilla, honey and nuts, the ripe golden yellow notes lifted by zesty citrus and the crunch of a granny smith apple, with clean acidity and crisp finish.
Try it with a mild but aromatic chicken curry.
Perdeberg Dry Land Collection Rossouw's Heritage 2023 (R200) makes one question why white blends are such a tough sell to SA consumers, because it delivers the qualities that we love in red blends — the balance and complexity, the interplay of flavours, structure and texture that comes from uniting the distinct qualities of different grapes in one happy marriage.
This is a blend of chenin blanc (63%), with grenache blanc, verdelho and viognier in roughly equal shares, with half the blend matured in oak for 10 months followed by six months to mature and integrate in bottle.
Lightly fragrant with citrus, lychee, pears and floral notes that move into the palate, rounded out with passion fruit and vanilla, the flavours unfurl in layers with each sip, with clean freshness and purity of flavour.
The wine is crisp and lively, but with depth, body and texture; doesn't demand food but would be great with grilled fish, braaied chicken or a lightly creamy pasta dish.
If struggle is character-building, long may it continue.
The Herald