An old sémillon tune

“If you could read my mind, love, what a tale my thoughts would tell.”

The year was 1971 and Gordon Lightfoot was climbing the charts with the song If You Could Read My Mind. Its popularity has endured; the catchy tune hit the UK top 40 this year.

The song is a segue to the scene of some grapevines that have just been harvested. Venerable, gnarled, in a patch of sandy dirt in Franschhoek, the vines, which were planted in 1905, still bear fruit year after year.

The link to the lyric was sparked by winemaker Ian Naudé, sitting in the vineyard “capturing this snapshot in time” — words reminiscent of lines in the song.

“I get to tell the story of this old vineyard, but at this particular time. Not last year, not 10 years ago, but now. And these vines, for 120 years they’ve just quietly got on with growing and fruiting.”

Naudé is a veteran vintner who is no slouch when it comes to grapes, sémillon in particular. He is the latest to contribute to the reputation of this venerable block of sémillon. The wine made from it, Rickety Bridge’s Pilgrimage 2021, was rated five stars in the Platter Guide.

John Seccombe, who produced Thorne & Daughters’ maiden 2015 Paper Kite Sémillon, says: “That wine has held up incredibly well. It was also the only time we were able to get our hands on those grapes when Basil Landau was still alive. The 2015 was almost a dream vintage — lovely wet winter and long, dry summer and then we nailed the pick.”

Sémillon is not like chardonnay or chenin blanc that excites, yet the history books show it was once The Grape for South African wine farmers to plant, so ubiquitous it was known as wyndruif or groendruif, making up a large chunk of the national vineyard.

Veteran viticulturist Pietie le Roux has farmed the vineyard for the past 15 years. He started when the vines belonged to former mining executive Landau. “These old bushvines are well established. And the clay fraction in the soils has helped them through the decades. The clay retains moisture, keeping the roots cool and allowing the vines to ride out the difficult times, heatwaves or droughts that they must have seen over their lifetime.”

Naudé was approached by a friend, Pieter Lemmer of Onskuld Wines, who suggested harnessing Naudé’s skill at coaxing something special out of old vines with the knowledge of Rosa Kruger, a champion of old vines. “She has all this knowledge of where the pockets and gems are — and she shares it with so many winemakers — Eben Sadie, Donovan Rall, Chris Alheit, the Mullineux family,” says Naudé.

The plan is for Naudé to vinify the fruit and split the resultant wine with Kruger. Kruger’s portion will be used to promote the old-vine cause, an area in which South Africa leads the world. She’ll be taking the wine with her to auctions, tastings and conferences to promote the old-vine movement as well as her pruning skills programme. Vines need to be 35 years or older to be considered old and it’s acknowledged that they need special handling and treatment — hence the need for improved pruning skills to prolong the life cycle.

“There’s a very fine line for sémillon,” Naudé says. “If you pick too early or too late, you’re screwed. There’s about a four-day window, I believe.”

Unlike other vintners he doesn’t believe in picking on the grape sugar level. It’s taste and acid levels for him. “That’s where the tang, crispness and fresh vitality and vibrance come from, as well as fruit in the Granny Smith apple spectrum rather than in the riper, honeyed, lanolin vibe that everyone usually associates sémillon with.”

Naudé’s wines last long after everyone else’s sell-by dates have expired. His current release 2010 White Blend, an amalgam of chenin blanc, sémillon and sauvignon blanc, is still powering on and garnering ratings such as 93/100 from recognised critic Neal Martin of Vinous, among others.

This patchy, 4.8ha block of sémillon is one of South Africa’s oldest — and still, like the words of Lightfoot’s song, it has a tale to tell. By 2026, it’ll be possible to taste that tale.