Steenberg Vineyards is updating its prestigious Classic range with a new vintage and rebranding its Merlot 2021 to build on the estate’s proud legacy of producing wines bearing the unique Constantia hallmarks of purity, refinement, and elegance.
Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc 2024 is produced from 23 vineyard blocks, each yielding its own unique characteristics, and is now available to the public.
Steenberg Farm recently rebranded to capture the essence of its storied evolution from historic farmland to a premium lifestyle destination. It boasts award-winning wines, a five-star hotel, spa, two restaurants, and an 18-hole championship golf course and was recently ranked among the Top 10 hotels in Africa in Condé Nast Traveller’s 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards.
The focal point of the rebrand is the Farm’s famed swan logo—a callback to its original name of Swaaneweide, or “The Feeding Place of Swans”. Steenberg founder Catharina Ras, a 17th-century German unfamiliar with Africa’s birdlife, mistakenly referred to the geese she saw on the land as swans, hence the name.
Where previously Steenberg’s swan icon stood looking backwards, it now soars towards the heavens with a new purpose.
Steenberg Merlot 2021 is among the first vintages to feature the new branding.
Steenberg Vineyards marketing manager Carryn Wiltshire says the soon-to-be-released Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc 2024 is noted for its classic structure, which ensures that none of its freshness, elegance, and colour is lost, even when opened years later.
The wine’s lifting acidity maintains a lively flavour on the palate with citrus blossom and quince while maintaining a distinctive mineral core derived from the Steenberg terroir. All the elements of this wine will enable it to bottle-age well over the next four- to ten years.
“Steenberg wines are made in the vineyards and cared for in the cellar, and Sauvignon Blanc 2024 is no different. For us, it’s about consistency in the quality of our wines,” she says.
“We have purposefully released this vintage later in the year as we want to embrace the age-ability of our wines. It’s not Sauvignon Blanc like you think– it’s simple, weighted, and beautiful. It’s about caretaking and massaging the grapes. Vineyard manager Vlok Hanekom, through his focused attention to each vineyard block, produces the best possible grapes for our winemaker Elunda Basson to expertly manage in the cellar.”
Constantia is the oldest New World wine region in the world, dating back to 1659. It is home to world-class Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon blends worthy of standing alongside the finest wines of Pessac Leognan (Bordeaux), Sancerre (Loire Valley, north-central France), Awatere or Wairau (New Zealand) and Margaret River (Australia).
Most Sauvignon blocks at Steenberg are east—and south-facing, allowing them to receive sufficient morning sun but very little in the afternoon. The Constantiaberg mountain also shelters the vines from the harsher afternoon heat and shortens the hours of sunlight per day.
Most Sauvignon in the Constantia Valley is grown in two types of soil—decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone, both some 600 million years old. The decomposed granite tends to promote salinity in the Sauvignons, giving them a distinctive salty minerality. Those grown on Table Mountain sandstone tend to be a little fuller-bodied and have more depth in the mid-palate.
The majority of the Steenberg vineyards lie between 60 and 160 metres above sea level, which also moderates daytime temperatures. In addition, Constantia’s climate is more maritime than any other South African region, with some of Steenberg’s vineyards lying less than 5km from the ocean in two different directions.
“All these elements combine to produce refined, elegant wines where there is fullness of flavour on the palate,” Wiltshire says.
“There is a reason that [Cape governor] Simon van der Stel sent soil samples from all over the Cape back to
London [in the 1600s], and he chose to farm at Constantia: it is the best place to be.”
Wiltshire adds that this vintage is already a classic together with the rebranded Steenberg Merlot 2021, both of which celebrate the estate’s incredible transition over the centuries.
Again, Steenberg’s site location has made it ideal for growing Merlot.
Constantia reds do not fit into the bold, warm New World style of other South African regions but reflect the valley’s cooler climate and general winemaking style.
“These are elegant, refined red wines with silky rather than opulent tannins. They are rounded rather than jammy in mouthfeel and are produced to stand the test of time,” Wiltshire says.
“We are so proud of our sense of place at Steenberg, and both the Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc 2024 and Steenberg Merlot 2021 reflect our uniqueness as a wine-growing region.”
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