Readers of a certain vintage might recall the distinctive gable-shaped bottles of Bellingham Grand Cru as the height of 1980’s wine sophistication, or the 1990’s TV advert parodying Japanese tourists in a futile search for Douglas Green – but this is the 21st century and the company now known as DGB (for Douglas Green – Bellingham) has come a long way.
DGB today is a multinational giant, the product of a chain of mergers and acquisitions that give it roots going back more than 300 years to the founding of the Bellingham and Boschendal estates in Franschhoek in the late 1600s.
Bellingham and Boschendal now form the core of a vast portfolio, alongside pocket-friendly quaffers like Douglas Green, the Saints, Beachhouse and Tall Horse through to the affordable quality of Brampton and Franschhoek Cellars, to top-end wines from the likes of Kanonkop, Steenberg, Graham Beck and Vergelegen.“Premium” was the focus of attention at DGB’s annual trade show for Eastern Cape retailers, restaurants and accommodation clients recently – a great opportunity to experience some old favourites and newcomers to the upper end of the wine trade.
The MCCs of Boschendal are no newcomers, but they’ve had a makeover with really pretty and stylish new labels that echo the sparkly, celebratory contents. As for what’s inside, the Jean le Long Blanc de Blancs is a serious treat – a vintage bubbly matured on the lees for five years, with complex flavours and rich creaminess balanced with citrusy zest.Green apples and buttery biscuit come through in the elegant Grande Cuvee Brut Vintage 2013, while the fresh and fruity non-vintage demi-sec, brut and brut rosé would be great on any occasion.
Delving further into the bubbly side of things, Graham Beck – where they’ve recently invested R150m in expanding their cellar – offers the superbly bone-dry Brut Zero 2012, with a touch of rich fruitiness rounding out its sharp, minerally edges, leading a great line-up of vintage and non-vintage, semi-sweet, brut and rosé, showing the many possible expressions of MCC.The prettily packaged Gorgeous chardonnay/pinot noir pink wine has added a sparkling wine to the brand – it’s light, fresh and floral.
Lourensford showed an appealing Brut MCC, 54 months on the lees giving it those freshly baked bread notes balanced with zippy fruitiness and a salty tang, along with a rosé version all berries and roses.The Lourensford Limited Release wine range is also worth exploring – highlights were a soft and intensely savoury shiraz-mourvedre-viognier (SMV) and a spicy, aromatic viognier that cries out to be paired with a Moroccan-style tagine. Actually all of Lourensford needs further exploring, from the Dome range of a big, rich chardonnay and freshly earthy pinot noir, through to their top-end chrysalis red and white blends.More finds included the French Corner Rhone-style red and white blends from Old Road Wine Co, with their colourful jazz/café vibe labels – the white blend a lekker “brunch wine” with lots of fruit complexity, and the red juicy with loads of blackberries, pepper and savoury intensity. Many agreed that the newcomer to take serious note of,came from Franschhoek Cellar.
Better known for easy-drinking, mid-priced wines, they’re recently released a premium-level Bordeaux blend called The Last Elephant, the name inspired by Franschhoek having once been home to herds of elephant, of which the last one was seen leaving the valley in the late 19th century.