Terroir and craftsmanship in the spotlight in Elgin Vintners’ site-specific wines

The Elgin Vintners Site-Specific range showcases selected vineyard sites within the unique cool climate of the Elgin Valley, bringing terroir to the fore in wines made with hands-on attention to the details of the craft of winemaking.

With elegantly refreshed labels and packaging and renamed to foreground the Elgin Vintners brand and their distinctive terroir, the previous Ridgelands range has become the newly-released Site-Specific range of Sandstone Sauvignon Blanc, Ironstone Syrah, Oudebrug Merlot and Ponthuis Pinot Noir – the first two named for the soils specific to each vineyard, and the latter for historic landmarks on the Elgin Vintners farm.

Elgin Vintners winemaker and business manager Dr Marinda Kruger said the four wines highlighted the diversity of micro-sites within the overall cool-climate terroir of Elgin, while the smaller quantities enabled her to apply a handcrafted winemaking approach to each wine to showcase the quality of each site.

“While all of our Elgin Vintners wines are expressions of the distinctive cool climate of the Elgin Valley, our site-specific range homes in on individual vineyards selected for their unique terroir and the character of the wines they produce.

“What excites me about making these wines is that I can exercise my passion for winemaking as a craft, using different techniques for each wine to bring out the characteristics of each site and cultivar,” she said.

The Site-Specific range are all naturally fermented and barrel-aged and show excellent ageing potential, Dr Kruger said.

The labels of the wax-sealed bottles feature a hand-drawn illustration of the idyllic scenery of the Elgin Vintners farm, with vineyards, the Palmiet River the classic 1920s original farmhouse spread out below the mountains.

The wines have already attracted international accolades, with Sandstone Sauvignon Blanc 2021 earning a gold medal in this year’s Concours Mondial du Sauvignon and 92 points and a silver medal in the International Wine Challenge (IWC) in May. Ironstone Syrah 2020 and Ponthuis Pinot Noir 2021 each earned 88 points and a bronze medal from the IWC, regarded as the world’s most rigorous, impartial and influential annual wine competition.

Ironstone Syrah was awarded 91 points in the respected Gilbert & Gaillard guide, Ponthuis Pinot Noir 2021 90 points and Sandstone Sauvignon Blanc 2021 89 points.

The Elgin Vintners Site-Specific wines are priced at R385 from the tasting room or online shop, and all are vegetarian- and vegan-friendly.

Find Elgin Vintners wines in specialist wine stores and restaurants, or shop on the website at https://elginvintners.co.za/buy-wine/