B Vintners, Haarlem To Hope White, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2021

Producer Profile

In celebration of their Bruwer family heritage cousins, Bruwer Raats and Gavin Bruwer Slabbert created Bruwer Vintners Vine Exploration Company in 2014.

Their guiding mission is to craft exceptional wines showcasing their heritage, the unique terroir and, through this, create a new future for South African wine. “We’re storytellers, always eager to honour our Cape heritage and historically-linked varieties. However, there are learnings to be taken from the past too, and it is important to incorporate these lessons today in order to produce finer wine for tomorrow’s wine drinkers,” explains Gavin. The result is a range that carefully balances two realms of the winemaking spectrum. By honouring the heritage of the Cape and incorporating innovative and minimal intervention winemaking techniques, B Vintners allows the vineyard to tell the tale, expertly crafting the most honest expression of the fruit of the vine. Today, B Vintners is an award-winning, terroir-driven range that blends a bit of the past and present to bring you a taste of the future.

Viticulture

All the vineyards are planted in the Stellenbosch area, with vines of between 10 and 65 years on old and weathered soils of decomposed granite and/or table mountain sandstone, in close proximity to False Bay. The yield is only 6 to 8 ton per ha.

Winemaking

Mimimal intervention - whole bunch pressing, fermented and aged in old oak with resting on lees for 10 months - only the Muscat was fermented and aged in Stainless Steel, then assembled, naturally stabilised and then bottled.

Tasting Note

The wine has bright fruit concentration on the nose, which follows through onto the palate. There is tension and excitement all at once. Nectarine, pear and melon are given depth by touches of spice, lemongrass and ginger, while hints of florals are a further dimension. Time in oak, with close lees contact, has helped to give the wine breadth and depth, still remaining fresh and focused, with a saline and savoury finish.

Food Matching

Peri-peri pork belly, whole grilled yellowtail and ratatouille, crispy artichoke.

Awards

Tim Atkin South Africa Report 2022 92 Points
Haarlem to Hope is a separately fermented cuvée of Chenin Blanc and 30% Semillon which has not featured Muscat since 2020. Aged in older oak, stainless steel and concrete, it has aromas of beeswax and sourdough bread, nuanced oak spices and flavours of aniseed, pear and lemon butter. 2022-27. 92 Points, TA, September 2022.
Vinous 92 Points
The 2021 Haarlem to Hope, which has been honed down to a Chenin/Semillon blend, has quite a complex bouquet, leans more on the pithy side with lemon sherbet, orange rind and light eucalyptus notes. The palate is fresh on the entry with fine acidity, quite understated at first with a texturally satisfying almost grassy finish. Excellent. 92 Points, NM, August 2022.