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The Society's Generation Series South African Alvarinho 2024

4.000000000 star rating 4 Reviews
The celebration of our 150th birthday goes on with new limited-edition releases of our Generation Series range looking at wines that point the way to the future and the challenges it will bring to winemakers. Grapes that have a track record of dealing with heat, like alvarinho, could be key and this zesty, crisp white is one to watch! For more on the story of this wine, please scroll down.
Price: £9.95 Bottle
Price: £119.00 Case of 12
In Stock
Code: SA21621

Wine characteristics

  • White Wine
  • 1 - Bone dry
  • Albarino
  • 75cl
  • Now to 2026
  • 12% Alcohol
  • no oak influence
  • Screwcap

More on the wine

In the future we expect to see significant changes in grape plantings around the world, with vineyards going higher, new grapes approved – and used – in historic appellations, and grapes planted in non-traditional sites.

In South Africa, where fortified wine styles have been made for centuries, there is a long history of Portuguese grape varieties. Here at Boplass in the Klein Karoo, the Nel family have taken it a step further, specialising in table wines, including the white grape alvarinho, best known as a Vinho Verde grape but now widely planted across Portugal and increasingly popular elsewhere – including Hemel-en-Aarde, Robertson and Stellenbosch in South Africa – as it retains freshness and balance even in warmer climates.

Boplaas Vineyards

When the Protestant Huguenots fled religious persecution in France towards the end of the 17th century, many made their way to South Africa, then a Dutch colony. Many took with them a typically French cargo, namely grape vines to plant in their new home.

Their legacy is still clearly evident today in names like Franschoek (French Valley) and in families like the Nels who own the family run Boplass estate.

Ancestors of the Nels arrived in the small settlement of Calitzdorp, surrounded by the Swartberg, Rooiberg and Kleinberg Mountains in the semi-arid Klein Karoo region, in the middle of the 19th century and set about planting vineyards and orchids in the iron red alluvial soils, the remnants of ancient glacial activity. They established their farm on a plateau overlooking the Gamka valley and named their property ‘Boplaas’, or ‘top farm’.

There the family remain to this day, though they have expanded their landholdings, and have a proud history of making fine brandies and fortified wines that has more recently included red, white and sparkling table wines too.

Over their five farms, the Nels now own 70 hectares but despite the size of the vineyards each parcel is farmed on its own merits to reflect the varying terroirs, and all the grapes from their 15 different cultivars are hand-harvested. They have also cultivated strong relationships with growers in other areas who are as committed as they are to their vineyards to provide them with exceptional...

When the Protestant Huguenots fled religious persecution in France towards the end of the 17th century, many made their way to South Africa, then a Dutch colony. Many took with them a typically French cargo, namely grape vines to plant in their new home.

Their legacy is still clearly evident today in names like Franschoek (French Valley) and in families like the Nels who own the family run Boplass estate.

Ancestors of the Nels arrived in the small settlement of Calitzdorp, surrounded by the Swartberg, Rooiberg and Kleinberg Mountains in the semi-arid Klein Karoo region, in the middle of the 19th century and set about planting vineyards and orchids in the iron red alluvial soils, the remnants of ancient glacial activity. They established their farm on a plateau overlooking the Gamka valley and named their property ‘Boplaas’, or ‘top farm’.

There the family remain to this day, though they have expanded their landholdings, and have a proud history of making fine brandies and fortified wines that has more recently included red, white and sparkling table wines too.

Over their five farms, the Nels now own 70 hectares but despite the size of the vineyards each parcel is farmed on its own merits to reflect the varying terroirs, and all the grapes from their 15 different cultivars are hand-harvested. They have also cultivated strong relationships with growers in other areas who are as committed as they are to their vineyards to provide them with exceptional fruit.

Margaux Nel is the winemaker alongside her husband Leon Coetzee. Viticulture is a sensible mix of the traditional and the new, with a fine modern winery embracing both gleaming stainless-steel tanks and old-fashioned cement fermenters. They also still make the fortified wines and pot-still brandies that made their name, and which were first exported to Britain in 1880.

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Decanter

The small town of Calitzdorp is mostly known for the production of fortified port-like wines, but local producer Boplaas has instead specialised in table wines from Portuguese grapes, leveraging their...
The small town of Calitzdorp is mostly known for the production of fortified port-like wines, but local producer Boplaas has instead specialised in table wines from Portuguese grapes, leveraging their ability to withstand hit and restraint acidity. In this expression of Alvarinho, of Vinho Verde and Galicia fame, a creamy layer of key lime pie, lemon curd and pear sorbet is lifted by crunchy green apple and white grapefruit zest. There's a fine reductive veil that adds subtle smokiness and mineral freshness.
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Ines Salpico

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