Malu Lambert: My top South African wines of 2023

Looking back over 2023, a theme starts to emerge. It’s one of milestones, both personal and professional, in which wine – as always – played a central part

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Malu Lambert’s 10 top wines of 2023

And there were a few firsts too. My first book was launched in March Klein Constantia – The Home of Vin de Constance, co-authored with Joanne Gibson. It received an award from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) which was rather nice!

We celebrated with magnums of the estate’s Cap Classique, and of course, Vin de Constance (the 2019 in particular is singing). But it was the radiant Clara Sauvignon Blanc that caught my attention.

Another first was tasting a fine wine from the Northern Cape – and a Tannat at that. This normally burly, tannic grape expresses itself elegantly grown at 1,000m altitude at Lowerland farm in Prieska, made by Lukas Van Loggerenberg.

With their traditional snoek braai, Kanonkop marked its 50th anniversary. They uncorked a number of wines, and it was tough to choose here, but the one that gave me the most pleasure was the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon.

So much so, I nominated it as my Classic choice for Decanter‘s 2023 Wines of the Year tasting. The results are published in the magazine and on Decanter Premium at the start of January, so stay tuned to see how it does. I have high hopes!

Vilafonté, too, had an auspicious number to celebrate, presenting a 21-year vertical of its Series C cuvée. The stand out was the 2021 – a vintage widely being hailed as one of the greats of recent times. Another Bordeaux-style ‘21 that blew me away was the MR de Compostella, the project of friends Mzokhona Mvemve and Bruwer Raats.

Friends new and old

Speaking of friends, I made a new one this year. I met Banele Vakele, Duncan Savage’s assistant winemaker, at my local wine bar. Hours slipped away while we tasted his latest-release Tembela Wines – a Syrah and Verdelho. It was the Verdelho that got me; with its pure green fruit and crystalline structure.

In September I winged my way to Bordeaux. As part of the Vin de Constance blending panel, this was a long-awaited study tour. We visited the fabled Château d’Yquem and enjoyed vintages spanning 2021, 2020, 2009, 1985 and 1958. Not being South African wines, I didn’t include them in this top 10, but it was a tasting that will linger long in the memory.

Passionate Springbok fan that I am, I also snuck in some World Cup Rugby games while in France – the last one in Paris. It was perhaps ill-advised considering Ireland trounced us (not to mention the early train to Amsterdam the next morning…).

Why was I on my way to Holland? Over a Chenin-infused lunch I had suggested to longtime friend, chef Margot Janse, that I present the 2023 Chenin Blanc Top Ten Challenge winners (I was one of the competition judges) at her restaurant SAAM in Amstelveen. Remarkably, Stellenrust clinched four of the top 10 spots, so cellarmaster Tertuis Boshoff also made the trip. His great-value barrel-fermented 2021 showed particularly well.

Once back home, I continued working on a Cinsault article for Decanter. From the wide number of latest-release samplesI tasted and producers I spoke with, I can confirm this variety is in an exciting, increasingly premium place. Alex Milner of Natte Valleij makes a number of exceptional examples – his Stellenbosch expression a standout for its exotic perfume.

Raising a toast

It was a milestone year for me personally, too. In November, my husband and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary at FYN Restaurant in Cape Town. Sommelier Jennifer Huge surprised us with a bottle of Sakkie Mouton’s Dawn of the Salty Tongues Assyrtiko – an appropriately saline example with a spine of electric acidity.

We also got to taste his inaugural Syrah that falls under the same range. I first tasted a barrel sample of this wine more than a year ago while writing a regional profile on the Cape West Coast for Decanter and I am happy to report that, now in bottle, it has more than delivered on its promise

To crown off the year, I was fortunate to ascend Table Mountain with a large contingent of visiting Masters of Wine as part of an initiative by PIWOSA (a collective of premium independent Cape wineries). I thought it was a clever – and literal – way of demonstrating how the quality of South African wine is on an exponential upswing.

As the city of Cape Town glittered below us, I reflected on how South African wine manages to bridge the gap between quality and price so adeptly – particularly pertinent when so many regions have become even more unaffordable. The Chablis-esque Chardonnay I’ve chosen for my top 10 exemplifies this – Restless River’s Ava Marie.

I’ll raise a glass of it, and the other nine wines below, in a toast to South Africa’s wine producers and more milestones to come.

Malu Lambert: My top wines of 2023

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