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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)

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 consitently 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:
See
also:
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