B Vintners, Haarlem To Hope White, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2023

Producer Profile

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

Their mission was to craft exceptional wines showcasing their heritage and unique terroir, thereby signalling a new future for South African wine. As Gavin explains: “We’re storytellers – always eager to honour our Cape heritage and and its 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.” The result is a range that carefully balances both ends of the winemaking spectrum. By honouring the heritage of the Cape while incorporating innovative, minimal-intervention winemaking techniques, B Vintners lets the vineyard tell the tale, blending 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.