Donovan Rall: six new releases from this South African star

Donovan Rall burst on to the Cape wine scene just over a decade ago, when the inaugural 2008 vintage of his Rall White blend earned a five-star rating in South Africa’s Platter Guide wine bible.

He followed the feat up with two more five-star ratings in 2009 and 2010, firmly cementing this BFG (blond friendly giant) as one of the country’s new winemaking stars.

Scroll down for tasting notes of the latest releases from Donovan Rall

Today it’s not just his Rall White that wows the critics – though the new 2019 vintage is yet another cracker. His Rall Red blend, single-vineyard Ava Chenin Blanc and Syrah, and a slew of other varietal wines are collector favourites. All are incredible value.

That is, if you can find them. While there are some 8,300 bottles of the 2019 Rall White, there’s only 4,500 of his 2019 Grenache Blanc and 1,300-1,700 of the new 2018 Ava cuvées.

Focus is firmly on quality over quantity, and Rall is passionate about uncovering and reviving abandoned vineyards. With help from the Cape’s renowned viticulturalist Rosa Kruger, he has bought up parcels in a number of regions, as well as forging contracts with farmers of old-vine plots. In the cellar he works with old oak, concrete eggs and amphorae and lets the wines speak for themselves.

At a recent virtual tasting he gave some insights into of his new-release 2019 wines (and 2018 Rall Red), all available from UK importer Justerini & Brooks.

Grenache Blanc

From the Heidedal vineyard in Piekenierskloof, where ungrafted vines averaging 20 years old are planted at 650m on sandstone.

Rall says: ‘Out of all the Grenache Blanc vineyards I take fruit from, this is the only one I could see as a varietal wine – it has such great balance. There’s hot days, cool nights, good radiation and long, slow ripening. We do two picks, to get super-fresh acidity as well as fruit ripeness, leaving them as whole bunch. We ferment in concrete eggs, take it through malo, then bottle after six or seven months.’

White blend

A Chenin Blanc-led blend (68% in 2019) mostly from a Paardeberg vineyard planted in 1970 along, plus 15-year old Verdelho vines on schist (28%) and Viognier (4%).

Rall says: ‘A few years ago I did a vintage with Eben Sadie and tasted the Verdelho that went into Palladius and just loved the freshness and high acid, which makes it a great blending component. The 2019 is the highest acid white I’ve ever made (6.3g/L total acidity; 3.3pH) – the PH was so low it stopped the wine going through malo. Verdelho is the one thing in my portfolio I want to do as a single variety and I reckon I have South Africa’s best vineyard.’

Ava Chenin Blanc

From a single-vineyard in Kasteelberg on schist (next to the Ava Syrah vineyard), the first vintage made in 2016.

Rall says: ‘This 2019 vintage is the best Ava I’ve made. The vineyard has such an identity every vintage. The fruit used to go into the Rall White but it changed the character of that wine so much I decided to bottle it as a single-vineyard. Chenin usually has a broad texture and is yellow in fruit profile. This vineyard has that but it is so mineral too, with the smell of fresh hay. On granite you can get four tonnes of fruit per hectare. Here, on schist, if I get two tonnes I’m jumping through the roof!’

Cinsault

A blend of 40% Darling fruit and 60% from the same 1952-planted vineyard in Swartland that contributes to David & Nadia Sadie’s Elpidios and Duncan Savage’s Follow the Line red blends.

Rall says: ‘Duncan farms the 39-year-old dry-farmed Darling vineyard and I get one section. It is the best Cinsault vineyard I’ve ever worked with. The fruit is structured yet quite elegant with fine, feminine tannins. Cinsault has massive bunches. A crate of Syrah weighs 14kg or 15kg, but a crate of Cinsault weighs 25kg. You can’t imagine how you could make decent wine from it, but you can!’

Red blend

A Syrah-led, 100% Swartland blend that, since 2016, is left in bottle a year before release because of the density and structure.

Rall says: ‘It’s the first Rall Red I’ve got under 14% alcohol! This blend is usually around 90% Syrah, but in drought-stricken 2018 I didn’t want to acidify and needed to balance the concentration, so Grenache (12%), Cinsault (8%) and especially Carignan (10%) play a much bigger role in adding that freshness. The Grenache comes from 25-year-old bushvines. South African Grenache is not comparable to the Rhône – it gives more freshness, sweetness and perfume.’

Ava Syrah

From a 21-year-old schist vineyard next to the Ava Chenin Blanc vineyard.

Rall says: ‘It’s hard to think both were undiscovered before I found them in 2016. The fruit just went to the local co-op. The farmer even sent his sheep in to eat the grapes! For the first vintage (2017) I took the whole 2.4ha and got just 700 bottles. This 2019 is the biggest yield yet, still at only 1,700 bottles. The Ava Syrah vineyard has such character – it’s so concentrated, you need to be careful not to over extract – which is why, like the Ava Chenin, I keep it separate from the Rall wines. It’s a vineyard that’s very close to my heart. I put so much effort into it but I’ll never stop farming it, despite the tiny yields.’

Donovan Rall: six latest releases

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