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Mason Road

A silver lining of having my return flight delayed by one day was that I could arrange a last-minute meet-up with winemaker Kiara Scott, a pocket full of sunshine that lit up the hotel lobby as soon as she entered. She represents the growing band of Black female winemakers, and I hope more will follow, especially if they can create wines as good as Scott. “I grew up in Rocklands [a Cape Town neighborhood]. There was alcohol, but no fine wine, more spirits and bag-in-box. My family was quite traditional and dissuaded me from wine, but I was curious why people continued to drink it. I thought wine just came from a shop. Then I found out about Elsenberg College, and I graduated in 2014. I was a cellar rat initially, then I joined the CWG Protégé program, working with people like Carl van der Merwe at DeMorgenzon. I did a harvest in South France and short studies in Sancerre and the Russian River. Then, I was taken on as assistant winemaker to Duncan Savage, and he remains a consultant at Brookdale.”

“Brookdale is a 67-hectare estate with 24 hectares under vine. We uprooted all the vines except two hectares of Chenin Blanc. We have replanted 36 varieties in two blocks as field blends with the idea that the sum is greater than its parts. We are inspired by field blends in Portugal. There are no common varieties like Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. We planted varieties that you don’t have to acidify. Mason Road is what we call a ‘lifestyle’ range, and under Brookdale, we have three labels. Here, there is minimal intervention and batch picking. I’m in the vineyard at 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning. I don’t use enzymes, but I do add SO2. I only interfere if need to. The wines were made in Duncan Savage’s cellar until 2018, then Avondale, and in 2023, we made wine in our own cellar for the first time.”

Paarl has a bit of an image problem when it comes to fine wine, deemed a bit old-fashioned and more commercially driven by wine cognoscenti, especially when compared with Swartland or Stellenbosch. But Brookdale and Scott certainly prove that there is untapped potential in Paarl. I must confess that I find field blends hit and miss, and too often, the potpourri of grape varieties seems to cancel each other out, therefore I didn’t have great expectations when I tasted their 2022 Sixteen Field Blend, named after the number of varieties in the vineyard. But I was really surprised by how well it showed and a lot must come down to Kiara Scott, a winemaker that I intuitively feel has the “knack”, just like her mentor Duncan Scott. The 2022 Bradbourne also performs extremely well, a delicious wine that is irresistible.

From The A to Z of South Africa (Nov 2023) by Neal Martin

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2022 Chenin Blanc

Color: White

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2022 Rosé Serendipity

Color: Rosé

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2022 GSM

Color: Red

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2022 Syrah

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Mason Road

2022 Chenin Blanc

2022 Rosé Serendipity

2022 GSM

2022 Syrah

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