The Planet’s Oldest Soils: South Africa’s Veritas Awards

Tasting of 2025 Double Gold Winners with KWV’s Senior Winemaker, Izele van Blerk

What does South Africa stand for?

A “New World” country with the planet’s oldest soils, it has been making wine since 1659, but lacks an obvious signature grape in the way that New Zealand has Sauvignon Blanc or Argentina has Malbec.

You might point to Pinotage — a century-old local crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsault — but it rarely makes people’s hearts beat faster, even if it is finally starting to produce some properly interesting results.

The country has also been undergoing something of a revolution since the end of apartheid, a journey similar to that of Iberia after embracing democracy and free trade in the 1980s.

With all of this development, South Africa’s problem is perhaps that it does too many things too well, MCC fizz, cool-climate Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc from Constantia and beefy international reds from warm-climate Stellenbosch.

If the country does have a signature grape, it is perhaps Chenin Blanc, little seen outside of the Loire, but made in a very different style here.

Other predominant features are a sunny, warm-climate fruit ripeness and excellent value for money, partly due to the weakness of the local currency and partly because the wines do not (yet) carry the price premiums of Big Name great regions.

To see just how far the country has progressed, I went to a tasting of Veritas Double Gold winners alongside **Joe Wadsack, presented by Senior Winemaker [Izele van Blerk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/izele-van-blerk-3915a727/) thanks to [Elona Hesseling](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elona-hesseling-6645a827/)** at London’s High Timber.

The Wines

The wines were all, as you might expect, flawlessly complex, adept and elegant. World-class bottles without the price tag.

I found myself preferring the fizzes (Graham Beck and Kleine Zalze) plus still whites, especially the oak-aged Chenins, over the reds. But that’s merely personal preference.

On a first taste, the expressive Recast Rudmatis Chenin was my WoTN, but I suspect over a longer period I might fall more in love with the restrained elegance of Spier ‘s 21 Gables Chenin.

The Meta-Analysis

The tasting also generated an insightful level of commentary on social media:

Wine writer Jamie Goode seemed underwhelmed with the choices:

• There are some good wines there, but it looks like quite a commercial/old fashioned list. Don’t judge South Africa by these wines, even though they are quite good

Johannesburg-based marketing strategist Bernard Jansen spoke up in favour of Pinotage:

• I almost choked on my breakfast biscuit when I saw this lovely post. I just want to let you know that the real signature grape is Pinotage.

Cassidy Dart, MW is not a fan, however:

• I have never been one to ride the Pinotage train!

The Wine Cru ‘s Jonathan Michell noted South Africa’s value:

• For me South Africa is an area of great value for money.

Wine-industry consultant Robert Joseph observed:

• I agree that S Africa doesn’t have a signature grape, but Chenin, as you say, could be its answer. Australia does have a signature grape — Syrah/Shiraz — but it isn’t doing a great job of exploiting it in marketing terms.

Sommelier George Kasiyandima argued for multiple distinguishing features of South Africa. All of them true, but not easily communicated succinctly:

• I think South Africa’s greatest strength is that it defies simple categorisation. Rather than being defined by a single grape, the country stands for diversity, old vines, and an extraordinary ability to express place across a range of varieties and styles.

Years ago, in a different life, I arranged a trade body dinner for the good and the great of advertising with The Wine Society. The Society’s MW buyer Jo Locke, attending with PR Manager Ewan Murray, casually mentioned that South Africa has the planet’s oldest soils.

I watched a ripple of creative inspiration scurry around the room as various advertising CEOs and strategists took delight in the potential of “The Planet’s Oldest Soils” as a potential strapline for this country’s wine industry.

Originally published at https://cambridgewineblogger.substack.com.