Rianie Strydom & Jonathan Maltus, IKOYI White, 2023

Focussing on a favourite variety of ours, Cabernet Franc, we were keen to work with Jonathan Maltus OBE, one of the original Saint Emilion garagistes, whose pioneering Le Dôme remains the largest expression of the variety (80% of the blend) in Bordeaux. Jonathan has teamed up with Cape Winemakers Guild member Rianie Strydom of Strydom Family Wines, who sourced the best quality, sustainably-farmed grapes from vines planted in 2010 on the northern slopes of the vaunted Helderberg region in Stellenbosch.

We also requested they craft a top-notch Chenin Blanc, preferably from older vines, as the best examples of this signature white from South Africa has rare appeal to both lovers of white Burgundy and Sauvignon Blanc. Ours comes from a site 300m above sea-level, also from the northern slopes of the Helderberg, largely based on decomposed granite soil. Planted in 1988 the 35-year old vines are very low-yielding (around 30 hl/ha) and the vineyard lies in the “Golden Triangle” of Stellenbosch, close to Haskell Vineyards, Alto and Rust en Vrede.

"Tried En Primeur (still cloudy), this shows tremendous promise. The combination on the nose of exoticism (beeswax, macadamia nuts, yuzu, yellow plums) and vigour (grapefruit peel, fresh ginger, wet stones, sea breeze, apple blossom, pine) is very appealing. The palate is still knitting together but also has a good balance of zestiness and slightly richer nuances. Juicy citrus and white stone fruit convert to waxed pears, toasted pine nuts and salted caramel, but always pulled along by tongue-tingling acids. The passage in oak has given the wine broader shoulders but done nothing to stunt the tension and purity."
Tom Harrow, Head Wine Guru

We are also absolutely delighted to have partnered with the fantastic mothers2mothers charity. Mothers2mothers train and employ local women living with HIV as community health workers to meet the growing and urgent health needs of women, children and families in ten African countries.

Their work is incredibly important and we will be donating 10% of the profits of all sales of IKOYI to support the charity.