New wine label shines
2005-11-17
THE first vintages at the R2 billion Val de Vie Lifestyle Estate in the Cape Winelands are off to an award-winning start.
Val de Vie’s Founders Selection 2004 was awarded third place out of approximately 280 South African wine estates in the 702 Best-Red-Wine-On-Show Awards at the RMB WinEX in Johannesburg
Consisting primarily of Rhone grape varieties, including Mourvedre and Viognier, Val de Vie Founders Selection is a Shiraz-dominated blend.
The Val de Vie Founders Selection 2004 was a new entry and went up against the very popular De Toren Fusion V 2003 (in first place) and the winner of WineX 2004, Meerlust Rubicon 2001 (in second place this year).
The Founders Selection out-ranked Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2002, Rupert & Rothschild Baron Edmund 2002, Rust en Vrede Estate Wine 2000, Diemersfontein Pinotage 2004, Groenendal Andreas Shiraz 2004 and Lindhorst Statement in the Top Ten winners.
The award winning team of Martin and older brother Bertus Fourie (of Diemersfontein vineyards) were recently chosen as Val de Vie’s winemaker and consultant winemaker respectively.
The Fourie brothers envision producing more unusual varieties to the area as well as producing a white blend, Viognier (a Rhone varietal). Their Mourvedre 2004 and Shiraz 2004 are currently being bottled and will be released in 2006.
Bertus Fourie recently won the SA trophy for ‘Best Red Wine’ at the International Wine Challenge (IWC). Other awards for the team include the ‘Best SA wine producer’ at the Fairbairn Capital Trophy Show.
Commenting on the choice of Shiraz, Martin Fourie says: “Shiraz has proven to be a successful grape variety in this area producing excellent world class wines.
It was a natural choice for us and we are looking forward to establishing the Val de Vie wine brand as a sought-after label for any connoisseur.
“Val de Vie, situated between Paarl and Franschhoek, is perfectly suited for the Rhone varietal spectrum,” says winemaker Martin Fourie, “We also have the perfect complex interaction between soil, microbes and climate which merely enhances the potential of the wine.”
Developer of Val de Vie, Gatekeeper Group MD Martin Venter, says, “One of the many attractions of Val de Vie is an old historical wine cellar and manor house dating back to 1825. With existing vineyards just waiting to be utilised, we decided to make use of the great opportunity to produce and launch our own wine.”
Future estate owners will have the opportunity to create their own boutique wines under the guidance of Martin Fourie.
The estate has a fully functional and operational historic cellar and an entirely new one is being built which will be open in 2007. The Founders Selection will be sold to the public in 2006 at selected stores and restaurants.
* The top white wines were Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2004, Meerlust Chardonnay 2003 and Glen Carlou Chardonnay 2004.
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