I often start a tasting with a simple question:

Why are we drinking our white wines in the same year they were made?

I see it all the time with South African wine. We’re quite happy to put our red wines away for five, seven or even ten years, but when it comes to white wine, there seems to be an idea that it should be opened as soon as possible.

I’ve never really agreed with that.

Give your white wine some time.

I was reminded of this recently when I submitted our Bizoe Robertsvleipad Semillon 2019 for the Tim Atkin tasting. Seven years after the wine was made, it came back with a fantastic 93 points.

For me, that is exactly what Semillon is about. It’s a cultivar that rewards patience. Give it some time in the bottle and it starts to change in ways that you simply won’t see when it is young.

Young Semillon can be quite reserved. I often use our Bizoe Henrietta as an example when I’m doing tastings. When it’s young, the Sauvignon Blanc component jumps out of the glass and people often assume they are tasting a Sauvignon Blanc-driven wine.

But Sauvignon Blanc is only 30% of the blend. The other 70% is Semillon.

Taste the same Henrietta three or four years later and it’s a different story. The Semillon has had time to develop and starts to show much more of itself. The wine becomes more balanced, more interesting and a completely difference experience.

For me as a winemaker, those are the moments you really enjoy. You taste the wine and think: we made a really good wine here.

Seven years after harvest, the Robertsvleipad 2019 has moved into another stage of its life. The fresh, youthful fruit has given way to more complex flavours of preserved lemon, dried herbs, beeswax, nuts and a touch of honey. The acidity has softened into the wine, while the palate has gained texture, weight and complexity.

There’s something special about opening an older bottle too. It’s a little like opening a time capsule.

I remember the vintage. I remember the grapes arriving at the cellar. I remember the decisions we made along the way. Seven years later, the wine tells you whether those decisions worked.

Over the next few months, I’ll be travelling around the country again, showing our wines and opening a few older bottles along the way.

Next week I’m heading to the Garden Route for an evening at Nguni Café in Plettenberg Bay. I’m sure there will be a pairing somewhere along the way with our Bizoe Idioglossia Malbec 2020 as well.

So my request is a simple one.

Please stop drinking all your white wines so young.

Put a few bottles away. Forget about them for a while. Then, in three, five or even seven years, open one and see what happened.

You might be surprised.

But most importantly — keep drinking white wine!