Professional reviews
Robert Parker (94)
The 2022 Aristargos is immensely complex, fresh and exciting. It comes from different soil types that express a refined mineral essence with pomaceous and yellow citrus notes in this wine. Medium-bodied, the palate displays surprising weight and a kiss of phenolic bitterness, delivering a balanced structure before ending with a food-friendly finish that has me coming back for more. An incredibly cerebral wine, the Aristargos has me thinking and going back for second and third sips. You'll want to buy as much of this as possible.
James Suckling (93)
This is a complex white showing aromas of white lavender, apricots, honeysuckle and beeswax. Some salted almonds. Firmly textured and medium- to full-bodied. Blend of nine varieties, based on chenin blanc with semillon, clairette blanche, grenache blanc, viognier, marsanne, roussanne, verdelho and colombar. Drink or hold.
Jancis Robinson (16.50)
Full bottle 1,342 g. 47% Chenin Blanc, 11% Sémillon, 9% Verdelho, 7% Clairette Blanche, 7% Roussanne, 6% Grenache Blanc, 6% Marsanne, 5% Colombard and 2% Viognier. Predominantly driven by old vines (the Chenin Blanc, Sémillon, Clairette Blanche and Colombard), and the focus remains on the granitic soils of the Paardeberg. Chenin Blanc from shallow shale soils in the Paardeberg and iron-rich clay soils to the west of Malmesbury are also added. Dry-farmed bush vines. Planting dates vary from 1960 to 2013. The grapes were whole-bunch pressed and naturally fermented and then matured for 11 months in old neutral French oak barrels. The grapes from the two Sémilllon vineyards were fermented on their skins for a week before being pressed and matured in a very old 2,500-litre foudres for a year. The Colombard was also fermented on the skins (for five days) and matured in old oak barrels. Two Chenin Blanc components were fermented and matured in concrete vessels – one an egg, the other a square tank. In total the grapes came from 21 different vineyards, picked in 28 different lots. Almost 14,000 bottles produced plus magnums.
Intense nose with great freshness. Real breadth and interest and strong green-fruit flavours. Really exciting structure and grip to this wine. Long. Very long. SO much more exciting than the regular Chenin Blanc. Already a good drink but it should become even more compelling. Lightly powdery, long finish. (JR)
Vinous (92)
The 2022 Aristargos is mostly Chenin Blanc from granite soils in the Paardeberg. Whole bunch pressed and matured for 11 months in used oak. It has an attractive nose with lime flowers, grapefruit, beeswax and touches of yellow fruit. The palate is well-balanced with a lovely waxy texture and plenty of yellow fruit tinged with ginger and lanolin, poised towards the elegant finish. Lovely.
