The historic farm Compagnes Drift in Bot River was once an outpost for the Dutch East India Coompany in the 1700's and is now a family run farm producing a small range of quality wines.
A mere hour from Cape Town, en route to Hermanus, Beaumont Wines is set on the eastern slopes of the Houw Hoek Mountains. Within the Walker Bay appellation, the vineyards enjoy the influence of a cool maritime microclimate.
Raoul and Jayne Beaumont started revitalising the old wine cellar in 1993 and produced three excellent vintages of top quality Pinotage before winemaker, Niels Verburg, joined them in 1995. When their son, Sebastian Beaumont obtained his oenology degree from Elsenberg, he joined the family farm as viticulturist, managing the new planting program as well as maintaining the quality of the older vineyards. In 2002 he became joint-winemaker with Niels and is now the solo winemaker. Daughter, Ariane is a jewellry designer and namesake for the wine. She is also involved in the marketing.
To accompany the highly rated pinotage and chenin blanc wines, the range now includes small parcels of sauvignon blanc and shiraz as well as a classic Bordeaux-styled blend called Ariane.
Beaumont's focus on chenin blanc (which has historically been a neglected varietal in South Africa) is an exciting and daring move towards proving the versatility and ability of this varietal to make comlex and excellent wine.
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Chenin Blanc 2006
Rich apricot and peach aromas with honey tones that develop in the glass. Broad fruit, excellent balance, fresh acidity and rich long citrus finish.
Combination of two yeasts, Vin 13 and Vin 7, were used for the first time this vintage to add complexity and more fruit flavors. After fermentation, a 15% French barrel portion was blended in for added structure.
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HOPE MARGUERITE 2005
A BARREL FERMENTED CHENIN BLANC
Named in honor of Raoul's mother, Hope Marguerite is a single vineyard chenin blanc fermented and aged in French barrels. With scents of melon and marzipan, the hints of spice have a great balance with the tropical fruit and fresh grapefruit finish.
The wine is made from a single vineyard planted more than 40 years ago and named after Sebastian's grandmother, Hope Marguerite, who was herself named after the Cape of Good Hope in the early 20th century. Hope Marguerite's strength, compassion and gentle elegance remains an inspiration for us all.
Only fruit selected from our oldest chenin vineyard is used for this wine. 100% barrel fermented in 400 liter French oak, this wine remained on its gross lees for 14 months with regular batonage, was unfined and only given a light filtration prior to bottling. A good food wine that promises ageing ability.
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Ariane 2003
Rich in dark berry fruits, chocolate and spices. Soft ripe tannins. Elegant.
Winemaker Sebastian Beaumont
Named after Sebastian's sister, Ariane. A blend of 37% cabernet sauvignon, 53% merlot and 10% cabernet franc. This vintage has been judiciously blended to obtain a well balanced structured wine. Matured in 100% French oak, 20% new and 30% second fill.
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Pinotage 2004
Intense, plummy red berry fruits with an elegant fruit driven palate backed by rich grainy tannins and a warm, firmly structured finish.
South west facing slopes on the mountainside with direct exposure to the ocean and prevailing winds. This wine is considered a "cool climate" pinotage, which imparts delicate and complex flavors.
The grapes from low yielding vineyards, picked at optimum ripeness are fermented in open tanks with regula, manual punch downs to create a well structured wine with ripe tannins. The wine was matured in 75% French oak, 25% American and of the total, 28% was new.
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Shiraz 2003
Supple, harmonious shiraz, exhibiting spicy, gamey characters on both nose and palate with seamlessly integrated oak. A powerful, expressive example of the varietal; big, rich, sweet black fruits, hint of smoked meat, cassis, violets and licorice.
3% Mourvedre has been blended with the shiraz. a complex wine from three different vineyards sites gives character to this Rhone-style Shiraz. The wine was matured in 80% French oak barrels, 20% American and of the total 25% were new barrels.
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Goutte d'Or 2004 "a drop of gold"
An elegant and refined Sauternes-style wine. Goutte d'Or opens with an intense nose of peaches and the subtle fragrance of lime. Matured in new oak, the rich mouth-filling flavors of plump peach & pineapple are balanced by the racy acidity of the lime background and the hint of vanilla. Goutte d'Or is renowned for its finish that doesn't "finish".
Serve super-chilled as an aperitif with foie gras, or my favorite, sauteed prawns dashed with a touch of cayenne pepper. Of course, Goutte d'Or is perfect for after dinner with dark Belgian chocolate truffles or a dessert that is not too sweet. This special wine is delicately sweet with a good dose of acidity. This is not the sticky, gooey dessert on its own.
Raisin bunches are hand selected from a small corner of the farm, where two vineyard blocks meet. The East-facing hill where these vines grow rises from the mountain spring running through the farm. The southerly slope warms with the morning sun and hides the intensity of the afternoon heat. Ideal conditions in the super-cool Bot River location.
This vintage contains 80% Semillon grapes, which add more structure to the wine and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, which gives freshness. Berries are selected in the vineyard by Sebastian. 98% of the grapes were botrytis infected. Long fermentation with Vin 7 yeast after which the wine was transferred to 100% French oak. It remained in barrels for 10 months to add further complexity.
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Cape Vintage Port 2001
Highly allocated. Traditional foot-stomping in an open fermenter, this is the family's fun time after the crush of harvest. Made essentially for themselves, ...that is until we tasted it and begged for a few precious cases. Scrumptious. Characterized by a silky sweetness balanced by a crack of acidity rippling through the palate. Did we mention that there is very little available? We now get a "large" allocation of up to 30 cases!!
Very dark, brick red and purple color. The intense, spicy nose is dominated by cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and dark berry fruits. A big, well-balanced palate of dark plummy fruit, spices with a hint of tasty wood, backed by pleasing acid structure and nice dry tannins.
The world's only blend of 50% Tinta Barocca and 50% Pinotage with grapes from 40 year old vines was used with this Port. The wine was innoculated after two days on skins with WE372 yeast. After two days of regular, manual punch downs, the wine was hard pressed at 11o Brix. The wine was then racked into 6th fill French oak where it remained for two years. It was bottled by hand unfiltered and unfined.
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