The 2020 vintage wines from John Seccombe are here! After much anticipation we are finally able to release the new Thorne & Daughters vintage. John has been making the Thorne & Daughters wines since 2013, so 2020 is his eighth vintage – wow, how time has flown.

The day we try the new vintage Rocking Horse for the first time is always a thrilling one for us. It is one of the highlights of our year.

Having worked with John and his wife Tasha for the entire journey of Thorne & Daughters thus far, it is super pleasing for us to see the style evolve, and gain both abundant critical acclaim, and (even more gratifying) to see the drinking public of South Africa embrace the wines – especially over the last 3 years.

The Rocking Horse has become one of the benchmark white wines of South Africa. In 2020 it is, for the first time, Semillon-led. This ties in with John’s focus on the variety with the Old Vine Paper Kite, and Semillon Gris Tin Soldier. The ‘Skurfberg’ Sauvignon Blanc Snakes & Ladders returns for its second vintage, and we have a few bottles of the Old Vine Chenin Blanc Cat’s Cradle.

John on Vintage 2020:

“2020 was the first year we said goodbye to the drought that had plagued us since 2015. That being said, we were still below long term average rainfall, so I’m hoping we can look forward to a few wetter winters in the next few years.

“Late winter rainfall in 2019 really helped to carry the 2020 harvest, though some vineyards were impacted by cool and windy conditions at flowering leading to smaller berries and smaller bunches. The wines we picked were generally a touch riper all round in terms of sugar with great acidity and flavour ripeness. There is a wonderful immediacy and ethereal, weightless energy to the wines.”

Rocking Horse is our cornerstone wine and takes its name from a wooden rocking horse that we made for our daughters out of old oak barrel staves. This is where all our work comes together to make our most complete wine.

The wine is composed from a number of carefully selected vineyard sites in the Western Cape. Notes of hay, wild honey and nut brittle aromas on the nose lead into a rounded, intense palate of honeybush, yellow plums and a subtle gun flint smokiness with a long full bodied finish.

Semillon blanc – 35% Franschhoek – 38 years old – alluvial soils
Roussanne – 28% Stellenbosch / Paardeberg – 13 years old – decomposed granite / clay
Chardonnay – 16% Ceres Plateau 7 years old – clay
Chenin blanc – 15% Paardeberg 41 years old – decomposed granite
Clairette blanche – 6% Swartland 36 years old – decomposed granite

Snakes and Ladders’ name takes its inspiration from the wild nature of these elevated bushvine vineyards high up in the mountains, along with the highs and lows of farming these incredible parcels in such a challenging climate. It is this heat and water scarcity that keeps the roots of these vines searching for every ounce of nutrients they can extract from their deep red soils.

The wine that comes from these pristine grapes is deeply complex and we vinify it as simply as we can from whole bunch pressing the grapes to months of cool maturation in old oak barrels. Blackcurrant leaf, ruby grapefruit and Chinese guavas form an intensely complex nose. The palate is rich and structured with lemongrass, gooseberry and sumac cut by saline acidity.

Sauvignon blanc – Citrusdal Mountain – 27 year old vineyard on red sand over clay

Tin Soldier is a skin-fermented wine made from Semillon gris, which is almost unique to South Africa, and a vestige of a time when Semillon was the grape on which the South African wine industry was built. The vineyard has been established from a sélection massale of Semillon gris cuttings taken from an adjacent vineyard of Semillon that was planted in 1964.

The colour of the wine is unusual, having taken some bright copper tones from about a week’s fermentation on skins. The nose is expressive with spice, sweet papaya, ginger, citrus peel and marzipan notes. Over the past couple of years, we have dialled the ripeness up a notch, making for a more complete and “grown-up” wine, which we feel is in a very good space with the 2020 edition.

The interplay between savoury and sweet is a key point of interest in Tin Soldier, and makes for a subtle and engaging wine. The wine shows aromas of orange blossom, tomato leaf and ginger biscuits. The palate is rich, textured and long with notes of lime peel and toffee apple.

Semillon gris – Swartland (8 years old) – granite sands

Paper Kite is our expression of old vine South African Semillon, and it is sourced from a 57 year-old vineyard in Swartland. These old clones of Semillon (including a tiny amount of Semillon gris dotted about the vineyards) deliver an expression of Semillon that is very much at odds with the modern, aromatic clones. The wines they produce are hauntingly beautiful and difficult to define.

The wine shows savoury aromas of chestnuts, nougat and nutmeg with the subtle, fresh pepperiness of wild rocket. The palate is full and rounded with marzipan and yellow melon notes balanced by a citrus spine that adds structure.

Semillon blanc and gris – Swartland – 57 year old vineyard on alluvial granite soil

Swartland Chenin blanc needs no introduction, having long assumed its place among the world’s key expressions of the grape variety. Langkloof, where we source our grapes for this wine is an old bush vine Chenin blanc vineyard planted on the granite slopes of the Paardeberg that belongs to the Roussouw family.

An enormous amount of work goes into the vineyard during the growing season to ensure that the vineyard can carry a healthy and balanced crop. Picking is done with a clear eye on the acidity of the crop which can fall away dramatically during the harvest due to the paucity of these granite based soils.

This is a very clear and bright expression of Chenin blanc, with aromas of poached pear, quince and lemon thyme. In the mouth the texture is fine bright acidity and wet stone notes. This is a wine that will reward some time in the cellar to allow its full aromatic expression to develop.

Chenin blanc – Swartland – 41 year old vineyard on decomposed granite

In the middle of 2016 we commissioned a writer friend to write a series of short children’s stories, and we used these stories as the inspiration for the names for our red wines.

The 2020 Wanderer’s Heart is our Cape Red – a wine that is built around the incredible vineyards found all over the Western Cape. The wine is focused, with red cherries, violets and cinnamon on the nose. The tannins are supple and integrated into a palate of red currants and black cardamom.

Grenache noir – 41% Voor Paardeberg (7 years, clay soil)
Syrah – 30% Swartland (14 years old) and Stellenbosch (8 years old) – granite
Mourvèdre – 29% Bot River (13 years old) – gravel/clay duplex soil

We love Pinot noir for its supple, delicate power and its ability to elegantly and honestly express its origins. We take to heart the challenge of producing a great wine from this exacting varietal and like so many other Pinot lovers you will often find a bottle on our table.

We vinify the wine as sympathetically as possible with wild yeasts, a percentage of whole cluster ferments and maturation in old oak barrels.

Copper Pot shows aromas of bright pomegranate, hibiscus and raspberry coulis, with underlying notes of pine needle and wild herbs. In the mouth it is finely balanced showing an integrated acidity and fine tannins, these being balanced out by generous red fruit and fennel freshness. The finish is satisfyingly dry with a touch of nutmeg and earthiness.