Diemersdal makes wines so polished and balanced that wine nerds can mistake the estate for conventional. This bottle is evidence against that. Thys Louw’s interest in Austrian white wines led Diemersdal to make what the estate describes as South Africa’s first Grüner Veltliner, and the same cellar has since fermented and matured a Sauvignon Blanc in 220-litre glass globes.

 

Grüner Veltliner is Austria’s most widely planted grape, and DNA work links it to Traminer and to a single old vine found at St. Georgen in Burgenland. It is known for a peppery edge, and that pepper has a well-supported chemical explanation in a compound called rotundone, which also turns up in peppercorns and in Syrah. The green, savoury note people often describe in the grape is much harder to pin on a single molecule.

 

The video will use that puzzle as a doorway into the Diemersdal Grüner Veltliner 2024, and into the question of whether a polished estate has been quietly underestimated.

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My tasting notes for this wine will be added here when the video goes live.

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From Diemersdal Wine Estate in Durbanville. According to the estate, the grapes had six hours of skin contact before pressing, the juice was fermented at 14 to 16°C with a traditional Austrian Grüner Veltliner yeast, and the wine then spent six months on its lees with weekly stirring.