Boekenhoutskloof Semillon
£48.00
£64.00 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 6 bottles available
One of South Africa's benchmark old-vine Semillons, drawn from heritage Franschhoek vineyards planted as far back as 1902. Quietly powerful, textural and built to age, think poached pear, fresh lemon and a saline, gently spicy finish. A serious white for anyone who thinks they've already met Semillon.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We list a lot of South African whites, and the Boekenhoutskloof Semillon is the one we reach for when we want to convince a sceptic that Semillon deserves a seat at the top table. There's a stillness to it, a sense of old vines doing their quiet thing, that you simply don't find in younger plantings. It's a thinking-drinker's wine: ideal for someone who's worked their way through the Cape's Chenins and Chardonnays and is ready for something more textural. We never have much of it, so if it's in the basket, take it.
Tasting Notes
Pale straw in the glass, with a nose that holds back at first before unfurling into melon, kumquat and acacia blossom, threaded with jasmine and a whisper of ginger. The palate is where this wine shows its old-vine pedigree, poached pear, quince and starfruit framed by fresh lemon, with the oak playing a supporting role rather than the lead. Medium-bodied and textured, it finishes long and saline, with chamomile and a gentle spice that keeps you reaching back.
Orchard fruit core
Poached pear and quince sit at the heart of this wine, ripe but never sweet, giving weight and a soft, gently waxy texture across the palate.
Citrus lift
Fresh lemon and kumquat cut through the richer fruit, keeping everything bright and focused, the reason this drinks so well at the table.
Floral aromatics
Acacia, jasmine and apple blossom drift up from the glass, a delicate top note that hints at the historic Muscat parcel woven into the blend.
About This Wine
Here's a wine that quietly rewrites what you thought Semillon could do. Boekenhoutskloof's flagship white comes from three Certified Heritage Vineyards tucked into the Franschhoek Valley, bush vines planted in 1902, 1936 and 1942, with roots that have spent close to a century learning their patch of alluvial soil and decomposed granite. You can taste that age in the glass.
It opens shy and then unfolds: melon and acacia flower, a whisper of ginger spice, apple blossom and kumquat. The palate is where it really earns its reputation, poached pear, quince, starfruit and fresh lemon, framed by the gentlest oak. There's a saline, slightly spicy finish that keeps pulling you back, with chamomile and angelica drifting in the background. Medium-bodied, textured, beautifully precise.
The winemaking is patient: whole-bunch pressed, spontaneously fermented, then matured for 14 months, 70% in new French oak barriques and 30% in concrete eggs, with no sulphur additions during ageing. A tiny portion of 1902 Muscat d'Alexandrie, skin-fermented in clay amphora, lifts the aromatics. It's a Cape white made with the seriousness usually reserved for top white Burgundy.
Pour it with a whole roasted chicken, seared scallops with brown butter, or a wedge of mature Comté. Better still, lay a bottle down for five or ten years and see where it goes. Delivered across the UK, and a beautiful gift for anyone who already knows the South African wine scene, or anyone you'd like to introduce to it properly.
Food Pairing
This is a thinking person's white, give it food with texture and a bit of richness. Roast chicken with lemon and thyme is the obvious win, but it really sings alongside something briny: grilled prawns, a dressed crab, or a plate of oysters with a squeeze of lemon. Aged hard cheeses work beautifully too, particularly a mature Comté or a wedge of Ogleshield.
- —Roast chicken with lemon, thyme and crisp skin
- —Grilled tiger prawns with garlic butter
- —Dressed Dorset crab on sourdough toast
- —Pan-fried turbot with brown butter and capers
- —Mature Comté or aged Gouda with quince paste
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool but not fridge-cold. Half an hour out of the fridge before pouring, too cold and the aromatics close right up.
Decanting
Worth decanting, especially when young. Thirty minutes in a wide-bottomed decanter lets the shy nose open up and brings the orchard fruit and floral notes forward. Older bottles need less time.
Glass
A large white-wine glass or a small Burgundy bowl, this wine has aromatic complexity that needs room to breathe.
Cellaring
Lay bottles on their side in a cool, dark spot at 10–14°C with steady humidity. The natural cork and old-vine structure reward patient cellaring.
Behind the Wine
Franschhoek sits in a bowl of mountains that traps warm days and releases cool, settled nights, and that diurnal swing is exactly what old-vine Semillon needs. Boekenhoutskloof draws fruit from three Certified Heritage Vineyards, two of them unirrigated bush vines on alluvial loam in the old riverbed, the third clinging to a steep, south-facing slope of decomposed granite. Slow, even ripening across these sites gives a wine that feels gentle and approachable, with a thread of minerality running underneath the fruit.
Ageing Potential
Built to age. The old-vine fruit, oxidative low-temperature handling and oak structure give this serious cellaring credentials, drink now for its floral freshness, or tuck bottles away for 8 to 12 years and watch the wine deepen into honeyed, beeswax-and-lanolin territory.
The Land
Two of the heritage vineyards are unirrigated bush vines on the flat alluvial loam of the ancient Franschhoek Riverbed, deep, water-retaining soils that let old roots dig in. The third clings to a 45-degree south-facing slope of decomposed granite and quartz further up the valley, where a portion of vines have naturally mutated into red-skinned Semillon Gris.
The Winemaking
Whole bunches go straight to press, then ferment spontaneously, wild yeast only, in 225-litre barriques and concrete eggs. Maturation runs for fourteen months at low temperatures with no sulphur additions, split roughly 70/30 between new French oak and concrete. It's a deliberately oxidative, hands-off approach designed to coax texture rather than impose flavour. A small parcel of historic Muscat d'Alexandrie is skin-fermented and aged in clay amphora, then folded in to lift the aromatics.
The Franschhoek Valley Region
Franschhoek, 'French Corner' in Afrikaans, was settled by Huguenot refugees in 1688 and sits about eighty kilometres east of Cape Town, hemmed in by mountains on three sides. The enclosed valley traps Mediterranean warmth by day and pulls cool air down the slopes after dark. It's also South Africa's heartland for old-vine Semillon, the variety that once dominated the Cape before Chenin and Sauvignon eclipsed it. The oldest white-grape vineyards in the country still stand here.
About the Producer
Boekenhoutskloof
Boekenhoutskloof sits at the head of the Franschhoek Valley on a farm first granted in 1776, named for the indigenous Cape beech trees in the ravine behind it. The modern estate was reborn in 1993, when seven partners bought the property and set about rebuilding it, those are the seven Cape Dutch chairs you see on the label. Marc Kent took over the cellar in 1994 and turned Boekenhoutskloof into one of South Africa's most influential producers, picking up Diners Club Winemaker of the Year along the way. Gottfried Mocke now leads the winemaking. The Chocolate Block, first made in 2002, has become the estate's calling card, and a wine that introduced thousands of UK drinkers to what the Cape can really do.