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[title]Welcome to Mother Sippy, where we shine a light on the talented winemakers, brewers, distillers and mixologists that make sure the Mother City never goes thirsty! From new wine releases to taprooms pouring perfect pints, Mother Sippy is your guide to all that’s good and great in Cape Town’s world of drinks.
Turn back the clock a decade or so, and winemaker Jessica Saurwein was “very much a vagabond,” she says with a laugh. Buying in grapes and working in rented cellar space, Saurwein Wines was, although she’s a qualified winemaker, a side hustle to her day job in wine sales and marketing.
It was a juggling act, getting up before dawn to get to her cellar, then rushing back for a day at the desk. Her debut wine, ‘Nom Pinot Noir’, made from grapes grown in the famed Elandskloof valley, was a modest three barrels.
But it was also a turning point. Poured in a blind tasting alongside a 2000 vintage of the iconic Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, Nom emerged with the higher score.
“I think my wine got 92 points, and that was very encouraging,” recalls Saurwein. “I thought, okay, well, I can grow this a little bit. Obviously, I’m onto something here.”
Growth was incremental by design: five barrels the next year, and then whatever she could afford after that. “Every little bit of my money went into my wine project!”
For the first three years, she focused on one wine alone.
“And then once I got that right, and I was a little bit more confident, I added on the Riesling from Elgin and then another Pinot Noir from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge appellation.”
This year marks the 10th vintage of Saurwein Wines, and Jessica is firmly established as one of the country’s leading winemakers. Her wines appear on the lists of leading restaurants across the country and are exported to 16 markets worldwide.
From the beginning, Pinot Noir has been her north star.
“I absolutely love Pinots. From the start, I found them so powerful, but without the weight, without being heavy. And generally, they were slightly lower alcohol than some of the other bigger reds.”
A harvest spent in Burgundy sharpened her focus further.
“I saw how incredibly well they could age,” says Saurwein. “If they were made well, they were incredible with 20 years in the bottle. Today, if I make a wine, it has to be something that can last in the bottle, that can be enjoyed years down the line.”
Today her pair of Pinot Noirs – ‘Om’ was the addition, also reflects the terroir of two markedly different sites. While Nom Pinot Noir leans on the altitude of the Elandskloof for perfume; Om Pinot Noir looks to the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge where unirrigated vineyards bring savouriness and structure.
Choosing Riesling as the second pillar of Saurwein Wines wasn’t an obvious South African move either. Locally, the grape’s reputation is tangled with mislabelled ‘Cape Riesling’ and wines with aromatics of petroleum. Saurwein went the other way, guided by vineyards on Elgin’s cool maritime edge. Today her ‘Chi Riesling’ is made slightly off-dry for early enjoyment at the table.
“My style of Riesling is more fruity and floral,” explains Saurwein. “And Riesling is such a food-friendly wine. It’s so fresh and so fun, and it’s so complex in terms of aromatics…. there aren’t many Riesling grapes planted in South Africa, which is quite sad, because if it’s done well and if it’s grown in the right site, it can be so beautiful.”
Equally beautiful is the artwork gracing the labels on all three releases. Created in collaboration with fine artist Isabella Kuijers, the striking works champion South African flora and fauna in a subtle allegory to the aromatics you’ll find in the bottle.
Putting down roots
And while the freedom to pick and choose specific vineyard sites across the Cape brings fantastic freedom for a winemaker, it’s not without risk.
“When you are buying grapes, there is just no security,” she says, with farmers all too keen to pull out low-yielding older vineyards that often make the best wines.
Which is why the vagabond is at last putting down roots, planting her first vineyard – a hectare of Pinot Noir – on the farm she shares with her husband and children outside of Stanford. With the prospect of cooling sea winds, diffuse light from Stanford’s cloudy skies,and clay soils, Saurwein sees good things on the horizon.
“I think it’s going to be quite spectacular,” she says with a laugh.
On the farm, an old barn has already been converted into a working cellar, and all of her red wines are made on-site. For now, the Riesling is vinified off-site, simply due to scale.
“It’s grown so significantly, from 2000 bottles when I started in 2018 to 12 000 or 13 000 bottles now,” says Jessica.
But her farm is imagined as more than rows of vines. While Pinot leads the plantings, polyculture is all part of the plan: food gardens, bees, meat, trails and eco-cabins in time.
From three barrels in a rented cellar to a Pinot and Riesling specialist with vineyards in the ground, the road has been long but deliberate for the vagabond. The next stage of the journey could not be more exciting.
Jessica will be hosting occasional open days on her Stanford farm. Reservations are essential. Go to www.saurwein.co.za for more information and dates.