2020 Semillon Franschhoek

“Boekenhoutskloof has always made impressive, age-worthy Semillons, but Gottfried Mocke has taken the 2020 to another level of complexity. It's one of the greatest ever Cape whites. Stony, flinty and layered, with wax, lemongrass and nutmeg flavours and subtle struck match reduction. Wow! 2022-30”
99 points - Tim Atkin MW

"Very pale. Completely different from the 2010 and the 2009. Much more obvious flintiness and a touch of struck match (more deliberate sulphides). Herbal, grapefruit, with the fine waxy texture of Sémillon even with all this freshness. It's the winemaking that marks the aroma at the moment. Super-smoky on the palate. Full and textured in the mouth, great length. Mouth-watering, powerful, elegant. Long and still embryonic."
18 points - Jancis Robinson

“The 2020 Sémillon has a wonderful, vivacious bouquet with honeysuckle, jasmine, lemon rind and lanolin. It’s one of the finest Sémillon aromatics that I have encountered. The palate has a vibrant, slightly flinty opening and a tiny reduction. Lovely tention here with lemon curd and peach skin notes towards the persistent finish.
Superb.”
95 points - Platters South African Wine Guide

Two of the vineyards used for the Semillon, planted in 1902 and 1942, are unirrigated bush vines, growing on little to no slope in the ancient Franschhoek Riverbed. These vineyards are well established on alluvial soils with a high loam content. The third vineyard, planted in 1936, is located further up the valley, on a 45-degree south-facing slope, on decomposed granite and quartz. Some of the vines within these vineyards have naturally mutated from Semillon to Semillon Gris, which has a slight red hue and higher skin-to-pulp ratio. The Semillon Gris vines naturally require more ripening time and are only harvested during a second picking. We opted to use a small portion of historic Muscat d'Alexandrie, planted in 1902, to enhance the wine's aromatic character.

Grapes were whole bunch pressed and spontaneously fermented in 225L classic barriques and concrete eggs. Maturation occurs at low temperatures, without sulphur additions, for 14 months: 70% in new French Oak barriques and 30% in concrete eggs. This oxidative approach at low temperatures enables us to enhance our old vine Semillon's textural elements, creating exceptional structure in a wine that can certainly stand the test of time. The Muscat d'Alexandrie was skin-fermented and matured in clay amphora.