IT WAS NOT that long ago that Domaine des Dieux was making headlines with Chardonnay, scoring 96 at the Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK, winning the trophy for best wine overall at the local Veritas Awards and then striking gold at South Africa's Trophy Wine Show. But never again! Unless it's bubbly… The Parnell/Mullis family have opted to specialise in sparkling Cap Classique, bottle-fermented according to the traditional method for which Champagne is famous. The only bubbly producer in the Hemel-en-Aarde outside Hermanus, they bought their farm high on the Ridge along the road to Caledon in 2002 and launched their Claudia Brut (a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) in 2010 with the 2006 vintage. Since then, they've achieved a trophy at the Sparkling Wine World Championships in London (2017) and won the Cap Classique Challenge on no fewer than three occasions (2014, 2018 and 2022), with the 2017 vintage judged Best in Class at the 2023 edition of the Challenge.
“From 2025, we will be putting all our focus into the production of Cap Classique,” says winemaker Megan Mullis. The tasting room at the ‘Place of the Gods' has been renovated and will be “a haven for all things bubbly. We cannot wait to welcome guests to our immersive effervescent experience at ‘maison de fines bulles‘, our house of fine bubbles.”
New to the range, due to be launched during September '24, are Lady Ashleigh (100% Pinot Noir and named after Megan Ashleigh Mullis, second daughter of matriarch Sharon Parnell), Claudia RD (a Chardonnay Pinot Noir blend kept on the lees/spent yeast for longer than the ‘standard' Brut, which undergoes at least four years lees-ageing, and the second wine to be named after the eldest daughter in the family), as well as GiGi (Des Dieux's first Demi Sec, a Rosé Cap Classique with a touch of sweetness). These join the established dry sparklers Rose of Sharon (R272pb), Claudia Brut (R285pb) and Anna Louise (R650pb), the latter a Blanc de Blancs, 100% Chardonnay, which spends seven years on the lees followed by five years on the cork.
Des Dieux joins a select ‘club' of Cap Classique specialists including Ambeloui (Hout Bay), Charles Fox (Elgin), Colmant (Franschhoek), Dainty Bess (Cape Town), Genevieve (Bot River), GM&AHRENS (Franschhoek), Graham Beck (Robertson), Krone (Tulbagh), Le Lude (Franschhoek), Matthew Krone (Constantia), Pieter Ferreira (Franschhoek), Silverthorn (Robertson) and Tanzanite (Worcester).
At the time of writing, the prices of the new Des Dieux wines and the date on which the tasting room was scheduled to be re-opened had not yet been announced.
