***NB*** We are in the middle of a government enforced lockdown here in South Africa where the sale and movement of wine is, at least for now, forbidden. So to keep ourselves busy we have decided to release a new podcast episode every day during lockdown.
Today on the podcast we have Lukas van Loggerenberg, winemaker and owner of Van Loggerenberg Wines – a wine brand based in Stellenbosch which, with a few others like Reenen Borman and Mick and Jeanine Craven, has been leading a renaissance in that region over the last 4-5 years. Previous to the emergence this group (and others) a lot of the international attention South African wine was getting was focussed on the Swartland (think Sadie Family, David and Nadia, Mullineux, Badenhorst et al.) and the Overberg (think Alheit, Crystallum). I am painting with very broad brushstrokes, but the traditional centre of premium grape growing and winemaking, Stellenbosch, was more or less left in the shade of the other two regions.
In 2020 Van Loggerenberg moved the winemaking duties off the Fransmanskraal farm in the Devon Valley to a much more well-equipped and bigger facility just down the mountain from the Taal Monument in Paarl.
Lukas has immense passion for the Loire Valley varietal duo of Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Yet both his Cinsaut and Syrah wines are universally agreed to be among the best currently being produced in South Africa. He is a truly exciting producer.
We chat about his journey in creating Van Loggerenberg wines and he talks us through each of his 2019 wines.
Also a quick note on the quality of the audio – as we are in lockdown at the moment in South Africa and we are relying on the internet to record these podcasts, and it doesn’t always behave. We have done what we can to make it listenable as possible.
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