We often say that the quality of wine starts in the vineyard. It gets moulded and crafted in the cellar and perfected during maturation -another regular topic in wine conversations. During harvest time, we refer to the potential of the wine and how it reflects vintage influences, but while the wines are resting in tanks or developing in barrels, they are pretty much out of the conversation until they are bottled and introduced at tastings or released to the media. We don’t really talk about the young wines. But perhaps we should!
Who can remember Paarl’s Nouveau wine festival celebrating young wines just after the harvest? But until someone decide to refresh that charming little summertime event and while the French Beaujolais Nouveau festival is a little out of season for South Africa, most of us don’t really think about young wines. But that is just until you win a major award at the annual South African Young Wine Awards!
As the oldest wine show in the Southern Hemisphere and pretty much the world, the South African Young Wine Show dates to 1833. With the first event presented by the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society, it soon became the platform for showcasing the quality of each new vintage. Rebranded to Agri-Expo in 1996, today still, the society is very much involved in the SA Young Wine Show (now presented by the SA National Wine Show Association) recognising the best wines of the current vintage.
As the wines entered into this competition are not yet bottled and brand-specific, marketers and consumers might often be oblivious to the competition results. Generally, only the farm and cellar teams and those involved with wine are aware of the beauties in the vineyards, now spending their early days in the cellar. The same happened at La Motte, where an exceptional Sémillon have been entered into the Young Wine Competition vintage after vintage. Supporting the winemaker’s intuition, the wine has been recognised by the SA Young Wine Show as the Class winner, Paarl Regional Champion for Other Dry White Cultivars, the Franschhoek Champion and SA Champion Semillon in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
Every year, when I taste the young wines with our Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche, this specific Sémillon tank has my winemaker heart enthralled and then also a little emotional when realising that, although it would eventually make out part of a beautiful blend, no one outside our Franschhoek cellar (other than the Young Wine Show judges!) would ever get to enjoy just how special this wine is. Why not just bottle it, if it is such a lovely wine? Would you buy a bottle of Sémillon for dinner? And even if you did, how many other people do you know who will choose this over Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay? Commercial considerations and budget constraints are very much a reality in the cellar and sometimes, unfortunately, the special tank of Sémillon is not the winner.
But then came 2025. A very good South African vintage and another spectacular Sémillon in our cellar. By now the winemaking team is used to the oohs and ahs when the tank’s small tap releases a little of its light gold liquid. Once the majority cultivar in South Africa’s vineyards (early 1800’s), Sémillon today only accounts for about 1% of South African plantings and is hardly considered a commercial variety when it comes to selling a bottled product. Sémillon was also known as Groen Druif or Green Grape in the early days because it was such a common variety, but then came phylloxera and KWV quotas dictating Chenin Blanc or Chardonnay and today new Sémillon plantings are very rare.
In a 2021 article already, Greg Sherwood MW asked if Sémillon’s moment has arrived with reference to the oldest vineyards in South Africa – the Semillon planted in 1905 on Landau du Val in Franschhoek. At La Motte, we think that moment might just have arrived for our Sémillon!
At the 2025 Young Wine Show Awards Ceremony on Friday, 22 August, La Motte’s Sémillon was a favourite as it came first in all the varietal and regional categories it was entered into. It then brought beaming smiles to our faces as it excelled by winning the prestigious General Smuts Trophy as the overall South African Young Wine!
Since the launch of the competition 193 years ago, the General Smuts Trophy was awarded for the 74th time this year and only for the second time in more than 30 years it was awarded to a Sémillon wine. (Flagstone Sémillon won in 2010) The La Motte team is elated to host the magnificent piece of silverware for the next year. So please forgive me for being a bit more partial than usual.
Year after year, the Sémillon was a brilliant blending partner to our cool climate Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc. It added complexity, body and texture and especially maturation potential. No wonder that this Bordeaux-inspired white is such an exceptional partner to food and in my opinion, a prime example of how well South African white wines can mature.
But this year, I think we will have to allow the Sémillon to shine on its own. Will it be a matter of cents over sentiment? I hope not!
Featured image: The La Motte Winemaking team with the General Smuts trophy for the overall SA Champion Young Wine as well as the other trophies awarded for the 2025 SA Champion Semillon.
FLTR, Back: Lehani Langenhoven, Aya Mgweba, Ashwill Malies, Brian Sekhobo, Bista Mzingelwa
Front: Emile Manuel, Kobie Lochner, Edwin Grace, Edmund Terblanche, Hein Koegelenberg, Jenny Fredericks