Iona, Elgin Highlands Sauvignon Blanc, 2023

This beautifully pure, fresh and vibrant wine is one of our favourite Sauvignon Blancs from the last twenty years, and one of our all-time favourite South African wineries. Saline in texture with tropical flavours of lime, gooseberry, blossom and grapefruit with a sensational palate that is mineral, elegant and balanced, with a long, complex finish.

It's also excellent value for money.

The wine is made from grapes grown in nine different plots in the same vineyard, whose soils are made of a fabulous mixture of sandstone, clay, quartz, silica and gravel, each allowing for a broad and complex expression of Sauvignon to be developed in the winery. Fermentation is partially temperature-controlled and the final wine sees the additional blending of a tiny portion of Sémillon, which is aged in old 500-litre barrels, which adds further complexity to the wine and fleshes-out some of the mid-palate. It remains a Sauvignon Blanc (legally, interestingly) in character and execution, but a serious contender for food-pairing and savouring as easily one of the best Sauvignons you'll have the pleasure of drinking.

When Andrew Gunn bought the Iona estate, the land, situated at 420 metres above sea-level, was an apple orchard. He was roundly laughed-at when he started planning for vineyards, as the climate in Elgin, and especially in the sub-zone of the Elgin Highlands, is very cool indeed. Suitable for apples, but surely not serious viticulture? That's where the story started and though it's not fair or accurate to say that the rest is history, the rest certainly did follow-on with exceptionally fine harvests of crisp, saline, focussed and complex grapes, vintage after vintage. In a country where cool vineyard areas are extremely rare and in a global context of increasing temperatures, it seems that Andrew's purchase and plan could not have been better executed.

The vineyards are all organically and biodynamically farmed with a roving flock of geese to operate the pest-control function. Altitude, plenty of sun and the Atlantic Ocean finish the package of perfect conditions in which to practice viticulture - the results are really impressive.

As ever with wines from South Africa, we've found that it is the whites that typically lead the way to success: if you make elegant, balanced, crisp and complex whites, then you have a far better chance of making decent reds. Our opinion. And here, you will find some seriously wonderful whites.