Thorne & Daughters Rocking Horse 2023

A Cape white blend, rather than using Chenin as the central variety, John Seccombe has lead with Roussanne, incorporating Chardonnay and Semillon. Grapes were sourced from vineyards in theOverberg, Franschhoek, Voor-Paardeberg and Stellenbosch.The South African allocation sold out in two weeks of being launched, wasn’t long before the jokes about the wine being as ‘rare as rocking horse shit’ came into existence. Lot going on aromatically in this wine, initial blossom, peach and burnt sugar give way to more exotic wax, rosemary, caraway and seashore notes. Layered and complex, evolves beautifully in glass. The palate is fine, structured and rich with flavours of quince and tea-leaf that settle into a long finish.