Johan Herman Mayer is one of the winemakers who is revolutionizing South African wines in one of the most interesting regions right now: the Swartland which means ""black earth"" in Afrikaans. Located two hundred kilometers north of the coastal city of Cape Town, this region with a Mediterranean climate is the preferred terroir of ""Stompie"", the nickname of Johan.
Here, Rhone grape varieties such as Grenache, Syrah or Mourvèdre are mixed, as well as less common grape varieties such as Harslevelu or Clairette. The most important varietal however, is Chenin, long used for distillation in a brandy-consuming country, as such, Stompie works with old Chenin vines planted in the 80's.
Under the name ''Mother Rock'', a reference to the different soils of decomposed granites in the region where he sells his wines, the ''Holocene'' cuvée is the perfect example of an expressive blend of Carignan, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre.
As a great lover of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, he acquired plots in 2011, in the Elgin area, a cooler, higher-lying location near the coast that gives the wines the ''Johan Herman Meyer Signature''. With these wines, it is possible to believe we are in the beautiful terroirs of Burgundy.
''Force Majeure'' completes the range of Meyer wines, and are considered more accessible with great drinkability.
Johan’s vision of wine is simple; grapes grown biologically, small yields and a little sulfur if necessary but everything starts with flawless work in the vineyard. No extracted wines or ostentatious wood, essentially no excesses that have been the country's signature for far too long. The emergence of this region, antithesis of the neighbor Stellenbosch, was also achieved by Johan when he dared to make an orange wine with skin maceration called ''Liquid Skin''.
Johan Herman Meyer is undeniably the producer who will charm you into reconciling with wines of this country in full effervescence.
