- Craig and Anne Wessels have been making Restless River wines on the farm Klein Hemel (Small Heaven) in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde since 2005.
- Their Main Road & Dignity Cabernet Sauvignon has set them apart from other Hemel-en-Aarde producers who all deal almost exclusively in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, believing the terroir imminently suited to the Burgundian pair. The critical acclaim of their Cabernet the seeming exception to the unwritten rule.
- Over five years, they have planted an additional 11ha of their three preferred varieties on neighbouring farm Cloud's End, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, to augment their existing production.
- Their three single vineyard wines have become benchmarks of Upper Hemel-en-Aarde wine and collectibles to a man.
"It's been 20 years, and we're just getting started." - Craig Wessels.
Klein Hemel is a 20-ha farm in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, home to the iconic single vineyards of Restless River wines and the Wessels family. I spent a glorious few hours on the farm a few days after the Cape storm that saw the Onrus River wash away all the bridges in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, the bright summer's day in direct contrast to the mayhem that ensued the previous Sunday night, and typical Cape as if to say: "Ha, just joking."
The brand is named for that river, having lived up to it, with no less than three floods this year, though the extremities of the place imbue it with a sense of purpose and weathered determination. The quality of the wine is proof that struggle breeds success.
There are many things to know about Restless River, though chief among them is that the 10ha planted to vine on the Klein Hemel farm is the cornerstone of everything. The Ava Marie, 24-year-old, 2ha Chardonnay block, named for their daughter. The 1.3ha Le Luc Pinot Noir block was planted 10 years ago and named for and by their son, who had long been waiting for a vineyard to call his own, given his sister's Chardonnay. And the 25-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon, a block they inherited from the previous owner and the oldest surviving vines in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, which has come to define them in an area that deals almost exclusively in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Craig says he always thought Cabernet suited the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, sharing Bordeaux's maritime influence and high rainfall.
* They are 5km from the Atlantic Ocean, though impeded by a mountain.
As a late ripening variety, it needs TIME to develop its tannins and phenolic ripeness to ensure the resulting juice is in balance - you know, not JAMMY, or over-ripe due to late picking, or astringent, green and thin, due to early picking. As such, the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, as a cool and wet wine region, offers the required TIME for the grapes to mature at their own pace, producing refined tannins, lower alcohol, and, in general, a more classic style juice.
Coupled with their unique soil profiles (there are about eight different soils on the farm), predominantly decomposed granite on a bed of very deep clay, the age of the vines, and its deep root systems find safety and stability in the compact, wet earth. Craig says the variety chose him and, having farmed it now for 20 years here, has offered a wealth of learnings that merely strengthens the trajectory of this wayward grape in the Valley.
It makes sense that Craig would keep the Cabernet in the ground when most of his neighbours advised against it. By his own admission, he tends to stick to his guns when told no, a trait I encounter a lot in my field of work. Craig also never studied viticulture or winemaking. In fact, he didn't even finish his B-Com degree at Natal University: "I got gatvol of university."
Preferring to work and earn money rather than play at it, a verifiable self-made man. In a former life, Craig worked in the film industry, directing commercials and owning an animation company in Cape Town.
Like many people in wine, this income facilitated the move to the country, the two careers living in tandem for many years until winemaking could sustain itself. Craig is a bit of a petrolhead, though that might be an understatement. Back in the city, their offices were fronted by a bike and coffee shop, the "Skop & Donner" biker facade in direct contrast to this well-spoken, thoughtful man, though I think representative of the underlying passion and almighty drive required of a self-starter, who first taught himself to direct and animate (not a self-explanatory discipline), and then taught himself to make world-class wines, that still confound his neighbours and critics, in this very testy Valley. Craig Wessels, then, not your average guy.
In the past five years, Craig has worked hard to cultivate an additional 11ha on neighbouring farm, Cloud's End. Planting his preferred three varieties on mountain slopes, with the goal of potentially making three more generic single-variety wines to augment his single vineyard range: the Ava Marie Chardonnay, the Le Luc Pinot Noir, and the Main Road & Dignity Cabernet Sauvignon.
He contends that these vineyards, in themselves, could represent sites akin to the First Growths of Bordeaux, what with the ancient soils of the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, unique aspects, proximity to the ocean, and altitude, all making for what can be some of the genuinely great SA wine sites of our time.
What you have to understand about Craig is that it's all about the vineyards, the wines merely a side-concern. As such, Craig takes viticulture very seriously, constantly experimenting and augmenting his practices to ensure the healthiest vines possible. The Upper Hemel-en-Aarde itself presents a whole different set of variables to other wine-growing regions. Where most South African viticulturists are worried about drought and retaining moisture in the soil, here, they worry about rot and damp.
Never having suffered the three-year drought the rest of the country endured, they're not necessarily looking to regenerate their soils but rather figure out how to drain it properly and manage their canopies to ensure airflow and drying. Craig lives in these vines, their house built right next to them. Each block is catered to separately. In one, he's changing up his pruning methods; in the other, he's experimenting with organic practices to see if the results justify the effort. Though, in general, I think his activities are very much informed by planting to grow old, though not dogmatic. And also not limited to particularly old, just healthy and mature, with sound root systems, to get them through whatever natural disaster may befall us next. His efforts are handsomely rewarded in the cellar.
Though Craig doesn't skimp there either. Sourcing barrels from three coopers in Burgundy and three coopers in Bordeaux, depending on the variety. He takes his time to release the wine. The Cabernet spends one year in the vineyard being born, two years in barrel, and two years in bottle before release - thus ensuring you get the benefit of age right from the start.
Craig makes his Chardonnay oxidatively, using a mechanical, horizontal basket press that makes the juice look like dark coffee or Coca-Cola at first and works to remove the phenolics that would usually oxidise later and influence the resulting juice before fermentation, thus making for a cleaner wine in the end, though you wouldn't say so from the initial colour.
A practice that in recent years has become standard, though Craig started doing it in 2013 already, as he's done most things, alone and ahead of its time. Of the wines, the critics rave. Jancis Robinson MW wrote of the Le Luc Pinot Noir 2021: "The most Burgundian of these Hemel Pinots! A young C te de Beaune?" And Greg Sherwood MW proclaims the Ava Marie Chardonnay a benchmark South African Chardonnay.
For me, it is the obvious cool climate, mature vineyards, healthy soils, and longer ripening periods that I think allow the wine that hallowed weightless intensity the Elsenburgers talk about. Fresh and light, with lower alcohols, and yet with weight, fruit, and gravitas to it - beautifully in balance. Though Craig has now spoiled me for everyday Chardonnay... How does one go back?
Craig's wife Anne is warm, thoughtful, and bubbly, a model in a past life (very much still apparent). They met at school in Durban, and she subsequently traveled the world modeling. Today, she's the consummate farm manager and business partner, though I could also tell that she's the heart of this operation. I ask them who their significant mentors and inspiration in the industry are.
SA wine being very much a team sport, but interestingly, Craig says no one. While they have excellent relationships with their Hemel-en-Aarde neighbours and respect them, they do not necessarily ask for opinions or input - a very Burgundian approach. Unbothered by whether you like the wine or not, just focussed on the vines and working to express them to the best of their ability. I'd contend that it is precisely this freedom that informs the success of SA wine, that you can be exactly who and what you'd like to be without reserve, though you can be assured you're going to have to work for it. Something the Wessels aren't afraid of.
Restless River is represented by Ex Animo, and you can shop their wines here.
