Boekenhoutskloof, Swartland
London, 2000: A Name Without Wine
In the beginning, there was no wine, only a name. In 2000, Marc Kent, winemaker at Boekenhoutskloof in Franschhoek, attended a major Wines of South Africa tasting in London. Tony Allen of the British wine merchant Oddbins suggested he create a private label for Oddbins, and that it should be called The Chocolate Block.
So crazy an idea it wasn't; the merchant simply wanted his own brand. But the project didn't suit Boekenhoutskloof, and nothing came of it. All that remained was the name. Kent couldn't get it out of his head.
Roussillon, 2001: The Wine to Match the Name
A year later, the name found its wine. Kent travelled through the Roussillon in southern France with his assistant at the time, Rudiger Gretschel, and one thing stuck with him: the winemakers there were blending Cabernet Sauvignon with Syrah and Grenache.
The first vintage was produced in Franschhoek in 2002. Syrah, Grenache and Cabernet were joined by Cinsault and a touch of Viognier, the five components of the wine to this day. Kent bought the grapes where he found the quality: Syrah, Viognier and Cinsault in Wellington, Cabernet in Malmesbury, and Grenache from an old plot in Citrusdal. In the end, 15 barrels remained in the cellar.
Oddbins left the name to Boekenhoutskloof and received exclusive rights to this first vintage in Great Britain in return. The minimalist label was designed by Anthony Lane, who has always designed the house's labels. And why chocolate? Jancis Robinson interpreted the name for the 2003 vintage as suggesting that the wine should seem rich and slightly sweet.
A Recipe Rewritten Every Year
There is no fixed recipe. The five varieties remain, but their proportions change with every vintage. Syrah is the backbone, Grenache brings fruit purity, and Cinsault adds floral notes and ripe strawberry.
The 2017 drought vintage shows how much it can vary. Yields were significantly lower than the previous year, and the team opted for more Grenache and Cinsault: 64 percent Syrah, 14 percent Grenache, 11 percent Cinsault, 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 1 percent Viognier. The 2023 vintage, by contrast, consists of 74 percent Syrah, 11 percent Grenache, 8 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 6 percent Cinsault and 1 percent Viognier.
Head winemaker Gottfried Mocke explains that Boekenhoutskloof Syrah alone comes from an average of 50 plots, and that Chocolate Block consists of many plots. To this day, Marc Kent has the final say: no wine from the house is bottled without his approval.
From the Swartland to the Helderberg Cellar
For a long time, the grapes came from various corners of the Western Cape. Then Boekenhoutskloof acquired the Porseleinberg farm in the Swartland and began planting vines on a large scale from 2009, under the guidance of Callie Louw, viticulturist and winemaker in one. In 2015, the decision was made to label Chocolate Block as a Wine of Origin Swartland, so that the winery could cultivate the majority of the grapes itself. Tim Atkin cites Goldmine and Porseleinberg as the most important vineyards. A large proportion of the grapes already come from organic farming.
Also in 2009, Boekenhoutskloof bought the old Helderberg Winery in Stellenbosch, a former cooperative. Today, the grapes are fermented here as whole berries in concrete and steel, spontaneously and without additives, and then aged for 12 to 14 months in used barriques. Even with the 2020 vintage, parts were still kept in large 2,500-litre foudres, and only the Cabernet saw new oak.
There Is No Chocolate In It
The 2021 vintage saw the number of barrels increase from 15 to 3,349, with over a million bottles for 65 markets, while the 2023 label indicates around 4,000 barrels. For Kent, that is exactly the art: making a few barrels of good wine is easy; the challenge lies in making hundreds.
Among South African connoisseurs, the quantity sometimes earns the wine a "commercial" label. Wine journalist Tim James tasted all 20 vintages released up to 2023 and found not a single outlier, but rather a significant improvement in quality, especially over the last half-decade.
And the chocolate? There is none in it, yet it still appears in the glass. The winery describes cocoa nibs and milk chocolate on the finish of the 2020 vintage; Tim James found a hint of dark chocolate in the 2021 vintage.
Anyone who wants to taste for themselves how different the vintages are should place a young Chocolate Block next to the 2017 vintage. A more compelling proof that there is no fixed recipe hardly fits into two glasses.
