With fine wines rising in value, certain vintages and producers are in urgent demand. Fine wine investors enjoyed a massive 24% average return on their investment in 2018, 18% higher than vintage cars and 23% higher than diamonds. Product is scarce for the heavy hitters (the frost of 2016 all but wiped out Burgundy’s offerings), thus certain so-called “new world wines” are enjoying their time to shine. As the oldest of the new, it is only natural that our thoughts turn to South Africa.

One of the rising stars of South Africa is Restless River. Proudly proclaiming it to be one of the “oldest” (planted in, ahem, 1999) vineyards in South Africa, Restless River started out life as a hobby venture for animator Craig Wessels with his wife Anne. He bought the winery in 2004, made his first non-commercial Cabernet in 2005 and that was more or less that for the next seven or so years. But in 2015 Restless River Main Road and Dignity Cabernet Sauvignon was launched onto the unsuspecting market, followed by the brilliant, Burgundian-style Ave Maria Chardonnay. Low yields (just 15,000 bottles overall from their 7-hectare vineyards), good soil and sustainable farming have earned Restless a cult following among savvy onenologes, critics and investors alike. Restless currently has two vintages of Pinot Noir in barrel that they are testing (vines planted in 2015, test cuvees are 2016 and 2017), which Wessel hopes to add to his core range, all being well.

South African wines, in general, have still to realistically offer real competition in the Europe dominated market. However, who knows whether this will still be the case in ten or 15 years time? For those looking for an alternative investable fine wine that has low pricing and good ageing potential, Restless River is most definitely a wine to watch.