2017 Du Plevaux Sauvignon Blanc 750 ml

The White From the Cape You’ve Been Waiting For

Last week, I was in Aspen, Colorado at the world-famous The Little Nell. It was well after hours, but a friendly acquaintance, Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy, the wine director there, wanted to unwind from a long day of tasting events. For starters, we had a 2006 Dom Perignon. Wow. By midnight, we were deep into...South Africa. Why? McCoy had recently spent a week visiting producers all along the Western Cape. State of the art wineries, world-class dining, and a burgeoning caché of dynamite winemakers is the new norm. It all made sense. Just before Aspen, this 2017 Du Plevaux Sauvignon Blanc from Wellington, South Africa debuted at our judging panel—sweeping us off our feet! Although McCoy didn’t know the wine, he wasn’t surprised. “The best producers are making classic Bordeaux varieties that would be two or three times the price had they been made in California or France,” he said. The Du Plevaux is right in that pocket. Crisp, with Old World flinty minerality and beams of ripe New World citrus fruit, honeysuckle, and fig. At $17 per bottle, let this white discovery be your new summer cool-climate alternative to your staple Sauvignon Blanc.

We get plenty of cold calls from importers, but few lead anywhere good. Still, we try to keep an open mind, especially when we’re being offered under-the-radar wines from regions on the rise. We know that’s where the value is, and we like to be ahead of the curve. Most of the time, the samples we receive are underwhelming, but every once in a while we hit the jackpot. Enter the 2017 Du Plevaux Sauvignon Blanc from Wellington, South Africa. This elegant white swept us off our feet, showing the focus and purity of a wine twice the price.

In South Africa, a new wave of quality is being ushered in by producers like Du Plevaux, who approach winemaking with the same level of rigor and integrity found at the world’s best estates. The result is a relatively high number of wines of serious quality, but low cost. “South Africa is on its game for white wines!” wrote James Suckling us a recently published piece, “The country’s whites are now deserving of every wine consumer’s attention, not least for the excellent value they have to offer.”

High on our list of these up-and-coming gems is the 2017 Du Plevaux Sauvignon Blanc. Sourced from Wellington in South Africa’s Western Cape—one of the country’s most exciting and high-quality wine regions—the 2017 is the product of winemaker Theunis van Zyl’s deft touch. Harnessing the cool breeze off of the Atlantic and the region’s ample sunshine, van Zyl coaxed both ripeness and vibrancy from the grapes, yielding an aromatic gem exuding honeysuckle, citrus, and fig.

During our judging panel, we first tried it as soon as it arrived, and it had us smiling even at room temperature. After we cooled it down, we were all in awe.