“2015 is a remarkable vintage, for both reds and whites.” Tim Atkin MW.
Widely considered as one of the finest vintages in recent memory. The drought caused dry harvest conditions. Warm summer temperatures, lead to powerful, concentrated wines.
Whilst vintage generalisations don’t always paint an accurate picture of all production sites and terroirs. However most commentators agree that the 2015 vintage was one of the finest. The balanced growing conditions yielded concentrated quality wines.
The Magic of Vintage 2015
There are many factors that made 2015 such a majestic vintage. It saw generally mild daytime temperatures and cooler evenings, which is key for slow and even ripening of the grapes. It also benefited from consistent winds during the growing season. This was without any blistering or overly forceful influences to damage the vines.
“Wind is a misunderstood factor in many winegrowing areas,” says Bruce Jack, winemaker and owner of The Drift Farm, Bonfire Hill. “In South Africa, it is the main co-conspirator with the mountains to screw with one’s generalizations about a vintage. South Africa is easily the windiest winegrowing country in the world, both in terms of average wind speed and volume of wind.
“Vines spend 50% of their energy growing skyward. Even with trellis frames to support this ambition, a vine which is continually pounded by the wind turns from vegetative focus into fruit ripening as soon and as decisively as possible. This is one of the reasons South African vineyards produce such nicely concentrated, chemically balanced grapes at lowish sugars.”
Another factor for the vintage’s success was ample water reserves, or the soil’s readily available water (RAW) levels. These stores from previous years kept the vines healthy, despite 2015 being one of the driest vintages in recent years. (Ultimately, that dryness would be trumped by the 2016 and 2017 vintages.)
“The 2015 vintage was one of, if not the best, vintages from a viticultural point of view I have ever seen,” says Rosa Kruger, vineyard manager who works across a range of appelations such as Reyneke Wines and Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons. “Many winemakers started picking earlier in 2015, as compared to 2009. That helped a lot with freshness and expression of terroir in the wines.”
The 2015 Vintage was a Unique Vintage
While it’s difficult to generalize vintage assessments for a country with wine-growing regions across a variety of climates and soil types, 2015 was unique in that it was one of the most consistent and high-performing vintages for South Africa. This was across nearly all registered appellations (called WOs, or Wine of Origin) and varieties.
“[It] was an unusual year, not just because it was a seminal quality vintage in Stellenbosch, but because it was good in many subregions, from the Swartland to the Overberg Highlands,” says Jack. “On our estate, we achieved tannin ripeness at low sugar levels, which equated to naturally high acids, and low malic-acid levels. This allowed us to pick when fruit was really vibrant.”
“Even in great vintages…we’ll do some fruit sorting, if necessary,” says Chris Alheit, winemaker and co-owner of Alheit Vineyards, along with his wife, Suzaan, also a winemaker. “In 2015, we did virtually none. The grapes were really pristine. I would say that all the districts that we work with, namely Citrusdal Mountain, Swartland, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and the Overberg, all had very good vintages in 2015.”
Many 2015s show masterful balance and elegance. There is ideal interplay between ripe fruit characteristics, good natural acidity, pleasant textures and ample structure across both white and red wines. This harmony results in wines that are easy to appreciate in their youth. At the same time they have the elements required for positive medium- to long-term aging. They are capable of evolving further into more complex, layered wines of finesse and character.
