“The last twenty years, we realised that you only really know once you make wine from a grape what the potential of the wine can be. Life is too short to try and make everything work for everybody, you know. You can’t satisfy everybody’s taste in wine.”
Sebastian was born in Bot River soon after his family bought an old wine farm, then called Compagnes Drift, in 1974. After a few years of travel and study, Sebastian returned to the family fold in 1999. Sebastian’s passion for Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, Syrah and Mourvèdre has driven the focus of the wines, resulting in him creating one of the benchmark Chenins in South Africa, the Beaumont Hope Marguerite.
Producing wines that proudly express their Bot River origin is the key to Sebastian’s philosophy. Using very simple winemaking techniques of natural fermentation in concrete fermenters and mostly older oak, he is able to capture the purity and character of some of the 40-years and older vines. Sebastian, together with his wife Nici, will be taking the family business into the future.
100% Chenin Blanc
Wine of Origin Bot River
GG’s Vineyard, planted in 1974, is the oldest Chenin vineyard on the farm. The name “GG’s” derives from three different sources: the previous owners, Govender and Geffen, who started making wines on the farm in the 1940s, and as a playful nod to the German GG classification. This vineyard is a key component, contributing 50%, to our Hope Marguerite wine.
Tasting Notes: First release as a single vineyard wine! The exceptional purity in this wine is what fascinated me most. Fresh leafy spice on the nose, crunchy green apple fruit and intensely focussed palate!
Ready for drinking in 10 to 15 years.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
100% Chenin Blanc
Wine of Origin Bot River
Tasting Notes: Bright in colour with a delicate hint of golden straw. Pear and apple aromas with a layer of spice. The palate is fresh on the entry, with a lovely acidity that cuts through the richness.
Ready for drinking in 5 to 10 years.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
100% Pinotage
Wine of Origin Bot River
The vineyard was planted in 1974 by Raoul Beaumont on the east-facing slope of the Beaumont farm on cool, clay-rich shale soils.
Tasting Notes: Bright purple in colour. Perfumed with intense fruit and spice from the grape.
Fresh, fine tannins on the palate are beautifully coated by the fruit.
Ready for drinking in 10 to 15 years.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
100% Chenin Blanc
We have two registered single vineyards on the farm that go into producing our flagship Chenin Blanc. One is called GG’s Vineyard and the other, Hope Vineyard. This wine is produced from one barrel of the Hope Single Vineyard block. It is a vineyard that was planted in 1978 and forms the backbone of the Hope Marguerite wine. Naturally fermented in 400 litre second fill French oak and matured on the gross lees until just before bottling.
Tasting Note: Bright in colour. Delicate green apple and tropical fruits on the nose with a hint of oak. Fresh acid and limey citrus flavours give the wine a medium weight and a fresh long finish.
Drink in three years’ time.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
100% Mourvèdre
Very simple and straightforward winemaking techniques were used to capture the essence of the grape. Hand-harvested at optimal ripeness and put into a fruit bin to start a natural fermentation that was 100% whole-bunch fermented. Gentle mixing of the juice to start, followed by regular punch-downs later in the fermentation. Bottled two years after maturation in a third-fill barrel.
Tasting Notes: Classic spicy, plum and dried herbs on the nose follow onto a palate of stewed fruit and spice, with the signature fine-grained tannins you get from Mourvèdre. Extra fine grip from the whole bunches.
Ready for drinking between 2025 and 2030.
This wine is packed in a wooden box
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
This is the second version of a whole bunch fermentation that I have put in bottle. The first one was made in 2011, the year that my son Leo was born. Since then I have experimented with this style of wine every year. The 2017 is the first vintage I thought should go into bottle.
The grapes were in perfect condition. The wine spent 8 days fermenting
on the skins, was then pressed off and taken to barrel for the end of
fermentation. Matured on gross lees for 18 months in a new barrel.
Tasting notes: Light, straw colour from the time on the skins. Aromas of spicy and floral fruit. Hint of oak. Inviting palate of fresh fruit, spice and grainy texture. Leaves your mouth watering for the next sip.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
Mourvèdre is a fantastically misunderstood grape. We have been producing single varietal Mourvèdre since 1999 at Beaumont. This was my first attempt at doing 100% whole cluster natural fermentation with the grape. I produced one 400 litre barrel of this wine. It was fantastic from the start and I thought this would be a great wine to submit as my Guild offering. I think 2016 was the perfect vintage in Bot River for this kind of winemaking. Elegance, fruit, freshness and purity sum this wine up.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
I have only made a demi-sec style of Chenin once before. The Loire has
always made
beautiful demi-sec styles. The grapes came from our oldest
vines planted in 1974. The natural fermentation didn’t fi nish completely
dry in this one barrel so I decided to keep it like this and bottle it as a
potential wine for my CWG offering. I love the way it expresses the grapes’
purity with that slight bit of residual that makes the wine more complex and
layered.
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
Since 2010 I have been bulk filtering the solids of my Chenin juice. This is the 2015 version. I always found fascinating herbal, acidic gritty flavours in these solids. So with the help of a bulk filter I cleaned up this juice and then fermented it in barrel for about seven months. Occasionally winemaking experiments produce something amazing. I love the Afrikaans description for when something is amazing it’s, “Moerse”! This was a “moerse lekker” portion of lees (also known as “moer” in Afrikaans).
Winemaker: Sebastian Beaumont
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