The wines of Thelema Mountain Vineyards, Stellenbosch, South Africa

The Stellenbosch Wine Route
The wines of Thelema

PO Box 2234, 7599 Stellenbosch, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 885 1924 Fax: +27 21 885 1800
Website: www.thelema.co.za E-mail: thelema@adept.co.za
UK agent: Enotria (tel 020 8961 4411)

I've been following the wines of Thelema for a while - it's one of South Africa's top properties. On this, the most recent occasion, I tasted these wines with Thomas Webb, sales and marketing director, and also one of the Webb family who own Thelema (he’s the son of founder, Gyles). Below this account are reports from 2006 and 2003 (a visit).

Gyles Webb and his wife bought the original property in 1983: it was a run-down fruit farm on the slopes of the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch. It’s a 157 hectare property (50 hectares under vine) with an elevation of 370–640 metres, with most of the slopes south facing. This makes it a cooler climate farm, which in combination with decomposed granite soils, helps to make fresh, expressive wines.

In 2000 they purchased an apple orchard called Sutherland in the cool climate region of Elgin. The property is 100 hectares with 48 hectares under vine. ‘We’re quite excited about the Elgin site,’ says Thomas. The fruit from this property is vinified at the Stellenbosch winery.

Thelema Stellenbosch Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Bright and forward with fresh, pure, grassy fruit. Focused and linear, this is precise, bright and well balanced. 90/100

Thelema Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2007
Focused, nutty and intense with a taut palate that shows sophisticated oak, some power and a gentle nuttiness. Savoury and focused. 91/100

Thelema Sutherland Riesling 2008 Elgin
Very fresh, dry style with precise lemony fruit and a touch of greenness. Appley and crisp. 88/100

Thelema Sutherland Chardonnay Unoaked 2007 Elgin
Fresh, precise and lemony style with good acidity and lovely purity. Real focus here: a crisp Chablis-like style. 90/100

Thelema Sutherland Viognier 2008 Elgin
First crop. Very precise, taut and gently herbal with good acidity. Pure with a savoury edge, hints of toast and some pear fruit. Very focused. 89/100

Thelema Mountain Red 2006 Stellenbosch
This has a bit of everything in it. Fresh, slightly minty, berryish nose leads to a palate showing earth, spice and taut, spicy, brambly fruit, with a bit of that South African character evident. 87/100

Thelema Stellenbosch Shiraz 2005
Rich, spicy and quite dense with some earthy hints and nice pure sweet fruit. Focused, with attractive berry and cherry freshness but also some tarry richness. 91/100

Thelema Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Assertive minty nose is spicy and bright with berryish fruit. The palate has lovely blackcurrant fruit with some gravelly depth. Really attractive, with a spicy, savoury, earthy finish. 93/100

Thelema ‘The Mint’ Cabernet 2007
This is a single vineyard with Eucalyptus trees nearby. Since 2004 it has been bottled separately. Very distinctive minty nose is savoury and peppery, and not unpleasant. The palate is beautifully focused with a fresh, minty, green edge. Very attractive: quite elegant, and really delicious. 94/100

Wines tasted 02/10

Report from 2006: Thelema is one of South Africa's great wine estates, and I've been a fan since I visited in February 2003. The wines are of a consistently high quality. I recently had another chance to taste the range, and my notes are below. Immediately below this is a report of my visit in February 2003.

Thelema Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc 2005 Elgin
Thelema now make two Sauvignons, one from their Stellenbosch vineyards and this one, from cool-climate Elgin. Very bright, fresh, grassy fruit – quite rounded and perfumed. The palate is concentrated and bold with lots of grassiness. Intense stuff. Very good/excellent 91/100

Thelema Sauvignon Blanc 2005 Stellenbosch
Crisp and fresh (served quite cold) with rich grassy fruit. Fresh high-acid palate is quite lean and minerally. A lovely focused wine. Very good/excellent 92/100

Thelema Chardonnay 2004 Stellenbosch
Toasty and rich but with nice freshness. Refined, bready and complex. The palate is rich and full with a nice marriage of toasty oak and intense fruit. Good concentration. Very good/excellent 92/100

Thelema Merlot 2003 Stellenbosch
Rich nicely perfumed blackcurrant fruit on the nose. Creamy and quite sophisticated. The palate has a refined savoury structure under the sweet berry and blackcurrant fruit. Very good/excellent 91/100

Thelema Shiraz 2003 Stellenbosch
Fresh, bright, perfumed red berry fruit nose. Clean and nicely poised with a hint of mintiness. The palate is fresh with cool-climate red berry fruit and well integrated oak. Stylish and refined. Very good/excellent 91/100

Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 Stellenbosch
Classy tight, minty, minerally blackcurrant fruit nose. The palate shows bright black fruits with high acid and nice freshness. Minerally and tight. Very good/excellent 92/100

Thelema Merlot Reserve 2003 Stellenbosch
Menthol, spice and cedar complexity to the refined red berry and blackcurrant fruit nose. Quite sophsticated and perfumed. Concentrated smooth lush fruit dominates the palate, but almost immediately this is closed down by spicy oak, tannins and acidity. A delicious wine. Very good/excellent 93/100

Wines tasted 02/06
UK agent: Enotria (www.enotria.co.uk)

Report from a visit in February 2003

Gyles Webb’s Thelema is simply one of the best, if not the best, South African wine estate. It is perfectly situated – both aesthetically and from a winegrowing perspective – at altitude on the slopes of the Simonsberg mountains above the town of Stellenbosch.

While the red wines here take a lot of the attention, I was most impressed by the whites, which were simply superb. A measure of the popularity of Thelema’s wines is shown by the fact that when I visited in February, just one wine remained for sale, the vastly underrated and ludicrously cheap Riesling. Credit to the estate, though, because they were still pouring a full range for visitors to taste. I enjoyed my visit here perhaps more than any other, for a combination of the beauty of the scenery and the warmth of the reception at cellar door.

The estate consists of 155 ha altogether, with 55 under vine. They normally get enough rain, but have drip irrigation installed in case they don’t. In 1984 when the property was purchased the vineyard was split 75% white/25% red; now it’s the other way. It was originally a fruit farm, and to plant more vineyards they had to pull out trees.

Prices are given in Rands (approx 12 R = £1)

Thelema 2001 Sauvignon Blanc
Very appealing grassy nose which is quite fresh and full. Nice crisp, grassy palate with good concentration and character. Very good/excellent (R48)

Thelema Rhine Riesling 2001
Lovely, limey crisp nose with lots of persistence. Concentrated limey palate is bone dry with distinctive minerality. Brilliant stuff. Very good/excellent (R24)

Thelema Rhine Riesling 1992
A rare chance to try a bottle aged example. Slightly deeper colour with a lovely complex toasty, petrolly nose. Complex rich palate is bone dry and full with lots of character, Interesting stuff that has aged amazingly well. Very good/excellent

Thelema Chardonnay 2002
This is released in July 2003. Fermented and aged in one-third new, second fill and third fill barrels. Very elegant nose showing complex bready, toasty fruit with good acid structure on the palate. Quite delicate and minerally. Very good/excellent (R60)

Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon 2000
Quite an elegant nose with some minerality. Savoury and intense with firm tannins. Rich and full, but this well structured wine is quite cool-climate in style. Very good/excellent

Other reports from visiting Stellenbosch in 2003: