Louw is the definition of a winegrower, spending far more time farming than in the cellar. He works organically but, crucially, with a no-till system (‘no turning of the soil at all’), using cover crops in every row, alternating with different plant species to supply the vines with their nitrogen and carbon needs. His focus is on building organic matter on the rock-strewn landscape, bolstering the water-holding capacity of the vineyard and thus addressing the major viticultural challenge of this arid, drought-prone climate.

In the late 1990s, a five-hectare block of Syrah was planted on a site variously described as a brutal and extreme terroir (‘hardcore’, in Louw’s own words). Its potential was quickly clocked, with Eben Sadie buying fruit from Porseleinberg for the 2000 vintage of his now iconic Columella. Louw remembers his disbelief at how small the Syrah bunches and berries were when visiting the farm in the early 2000s, a reflection of just how hardcore the farm’s shallow, blue-schist soils are. ‘There really is no soil here,’ Louw says, explaining that the composition is 80% rock.

A fire in 2006 destroyed much of the vineyard, around one hectare of Syrah left when Louw took the reins; this was the source of the first three vintages of Porseleinberg. Subsequent planting began in 2010 and finished in 2018, with most of the fruit (Syrah, Grenache, and Cinsault) destined for The Chocolate Block, as well as a portion of Syrah for both Boekenhoutskloof and Porseleinberg. 2013 was the first vintage of Porseleinberg made with some of this younger-vine fruit. Each year since, a small amount of young-vine fruit has been incorporated and, over time, ‘more or less the same fixed blocks’ have established themselves as the key ingredients of Porseleinberg, the heart of which is still that original block of about 4,000 vines.

In May this year, I organised a vertical tasting of all vintages of Porseleinberg – held at La Trompette in London and with the support of head sommelier Donald Edwards – from the inaugural 2010 to the current release, the 2021. Four hours with 12 bottles gave us ample (and yet still not enough) time to taste and retaste and experience the dynamism of these wines in the glass. Porseleinberg is a wine that never sits still. It is ever-changing, revealing then withdrawing different aspects of its character.

Each vintage had something distinct to say, whether about the site, the growing year or its current life stage (with a couple clearly giving us ‘the cold shoulder’, to borrow Louw’s words). Despite their individual personalities, the wines all share a mighty tannic structure that takes you to the rugged, rocky substrate on which the vines are grown. Louw calls the presence of the tannin, ‘the DNA of the site’ and ‘the one dead giveaway of this place’. The wines also share an inherent savouriness, an unforced elegance and a raw, vital energy. Finally, there is always a perception of freshness, despite the analysis showing that the acidities are low and the pHs high.

Little has changed in Louw’s winemaking since 2010. It has always been about minimal intervention in the cellar and traditional practices for Syrah fermentation, driven by the belief that this is the ‘best way to show site and vintage’. He has used whole bunches from the beginning, with wild fermentation in concrete tanks, and maturation taking place in a mix of foudre and concrete eggs. Consequently, Louw’s decision to move away from two pumpovers a day to submerging the cap (keeping the grape skins below the surface of the fermenting liquid) has received a lot of attention. Inspired by a trip to Jamet – but, he admits, also because it meant spending even less time in the winery – Louw implemented the submerged cap technique across his total production from the 2018 vintage onwards.

As a result, critics and consumers alike have observed a greater finesse, specifically to Porseleinberg’s tannins, and an earlier approachability; but tasting the wines side-by-side suggests it is less clear-cut than this. For example, I saw structural parallels between the 2016 (pre-submerged cap) and the 2021, with both showing incredibly detailed, fine-grained, precisely-etched tannins, while the 2018 – the formidable wine which Atkin scored 100 points on first release – is reticent and brooding today, with a firm, blocky framework.

Louw maintains that the wine has not undergone a stylistic change (he says that he has no idea what ‘style’ is and wears ‘the same kind of clothes until they’re broken’). The essential core of Porseleinberg remains unchanged, in terms of the underlying strength of its tannic structure, but the relationship between tannin and fruit has shifted. From presenting as very prominent pillars framing the fruit in the early vintages, the tannins are more embedded in the fruit in the submerged cap vintages – just as powerful, but less overt. Louw explains: ‘The dry extract is more. A lot of people are of the opinion that the wine has softened, but how can it soften if there is more dry extract? But there is more fruit concentration… And the fruit has covered the tannin. The submerged cap is retaining another level, or layer, of ageing potential.’ He attributes this additional fruit concentration to the fact that fewer aroma and flavour compounds oxidise and escape than in the oxidative routine of daily pumpovers. For me, ‘concentration’ does not quite capture this extra dimension to the wine; there is also another level of purity and pixelation to the fruit, a shimmering clarity and intensity.

The new 2022 vintage will be released in the UK on 1 October 2024. I tasted it in February in South Africa, first with Louw on the farm, and again in the Cederberg mountains. Observing its shapeshifting over the course of a few hours led me to scribble in my notebook that this is a wine that is ‘constantly changing, moving, living,’ that ‘defies being pinned down or reduced to a note and score’ (yet I have tried…) – a feeling that returned to me when reflecting on May’s vertical tasting. The early vintages are only just starting to hit their stride while the later vintages, with that additional precision and fruit definition, potentially have even greater longevity. Porseleinberg is a wine you will want to return to, again and again.