2023 Follow The Line

Duncan Savage and assistant Banele Vakele greeted me at his urban winery in Cape Town, which had significantly expanded in the last couple of years after having bought the adjacent building. This means the facility is less cramped than before, plus the upstairs can be used as a spacious tasting room. Savage told me that he used 50 pickers during harvest. “You need attention to detail,” he explained. “We are super-meticulous in the vineyards. The 2017, 2021 and 2023 vintages are styles that I like, with purity and linearity.” Perhaps unexpectedly, this was one of the most impressive tastings of my entire trip. In many ways, his cryptically-named wines epitomize the heights that South African wines are now achieving. The Touriga Naçional/Shiraz blend “Are We There Yet” and the pure Syrah “Girl Next Door” are both exceptional.