Our Wine Choice: Damascene Semillon Franschhoek Old Bush Vines 2021

Damascene is an exciting discovery for us. Hailing from South Africa, it’s a relatively new project between winemaker Jean Smit and David Curl of Moya Meaker winery in Elgin, currently working with 17 vineyards in the Western Cape.

Their wines stood out in my tastings this week for their liveliness: the savory intensity of the reds (syrah, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc) and the complex minerality of the whites (chenin blanc and semillon).

While their chenin blancs from Swartland and Stellenbosch are fantastic and stellar examples of the unofficial national grape, I was unexpectedly captivated by their semillon.

A bit of context: it was once the most planted varietal in the country in the 19th century, but became unfashionable post-phylloxera. It’s still not planted anywhere near the scale of chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc or chardonnay, but its revival in smaller batches is being driven by quality-focused winemakers like Damascene, particularly from old parcels found in Franschhoek.

The Damascene Semillon Franschhoek Old Bush Vines 2021 is vibrant and wildly energetic, showing typical citrus, beeswax and white peach notes, overlaid with flinty complexity. Fruit comes from the alluvial soils of La Chataigne Vineyard on the banks of the Franschhoek River, which has some of the oldest semillon vines in South Africa, all planted between 1942 and 1962.

It’s fermented with native yeasts with malolactic conversion prevented, and no lees-stirring, then is aged for about a year in large oval casks, resulting in clarity of fruit alongside plenty of texture.

– Claire Nesbitt, Associate Editor