Rocking Horse Cape White Blend, Thorne & Daughters 2024

The 2024 Rocking Horse is a white Rhône blend aged in neutral oak. This has quite a reductive nose, perhaps the Chardonnay imparting a struck-match note that slightly obscures the Rhône varieties. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity and a lovely waxy texture, lightly spiced with an almost brooding finish. I would afford this a few more months in bottle. Drink 2028-2038

Rocking Horse is a wine that never lets you down, a skilfully blended cuvée of Roussanne, 23% each of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, 20% Semillon and 7% Clairette Blanche. Made in a low-intervention style, it has savoury intensity and unusual structure for a white, with layers of quince, gin botanicals and lemongrass and very subtle wood. 2027-32

Source from sites across the Western Cape. 28% Roussanne, 23% Chenin Blanc, 23% Chardonnay, 19% Semillon, 7% Clairette Blanche. The aromatics are complex and compelling, moving from flinty reduction to beeswax, flowers and herbs, then all manner of fruit – citrus, apple, stone fruit, mango and pineapple. The palate is dense and layered, with punchy acidity and impressive length. A wine of presence, combining poise with texture. Alc: 13.62%.