Wine of the Week 64: Yardstick Sauvignon Blanc 2025

“One of my earliest memories is of a trip we made from Zimbabwe to the Cape,” recalls winemaker Adam Mason as he presents his latest release. “We drove down in an old Peugeot 404. What a raft of new smells assailed my highveld nostrils as we arrived in Muizenberg, and later in Constantia with a visit to Groot Constantia. These days I’m transported back to the summer of 1979 when I catch a whiff of ocean spray, the smoke from an open snoek braai or burnished copper artefacts such as those populating the chambers of Van Der Stel’s manor house.

“I like to think the universe has a plan for us all, and I believe I saw a glimpse of it on that holiday as we discovered Constantia and its rich vinous history.”

Winelands pedigree

Though his formative years were spent in Zimbabwe and Johannesburg, as well as a stretch in Sydney, Mason believes he only truly came into his own in Stellenbosch. “The French speak about élevage, which means to ‘raise a wine’,” he says. “I feel my own élevage happened in Stellenbosch.

Mason is an indelible part of the South African winemaking industry, having worked at the venerable estates of Klein Constantia, Mulderbosch and DeMorgenzon. In 2009, he launched Yardstick Wines. He also runs VinMason, a solutions-driven consultancy, based at Vriesenhof.

“Yardstick is a conversation about life and living, neatly gathered in a bottle.” It’s a brave name, he admits, because it suggests a benchmark. Though for him it’s more of a reference of a style: think fresh, lightly extracted red wines, and vibrant, savoury whites.

Garden inspiration

“I’m nuts about plants. Always have been. And fermentation, too. It’s pure curiosity. The permutations of flavour and style are endless.” Wine felt like the natural extension of gardening. “Grow the plant, tend the fruit, harvest it, make the wine. Voilà. A season’s work captured in liquid form.

He says his winemaking is more intuitive with each passing vintage. “I have found a groove, and I like it. I definitely subscribe to the school of intervening as much as necessary but as little as possible.

“By far the most rewarding part of it all is the moment when someone tastes one of my wines and the lights go on. You can’t hide joy.”

Painting the ocean

His wife Louise, an established painter, whose work is regularly exhibited at the Everard Read Gallery, is behind several of the Yardstick’s labels. While her subjects vary, water is a recurring theme, unsurprising for an avid open-water swimmer, abstracting her images to repetitive shapes and dynamic colour combinations The artwork for the Yardstick Sauvignon Blanc is a piece titled Seabirds.

“Constantia-grown, the wine made me think of that summer of 1979,” relates Mason. “My nostrils quivering in the cold ocean breeze, but taking it down in gulps anyway. Greedily filling my memory bank in anticipation for another lifetime. Louise’s painting opened that bank of memories and it flows perfectly with the Yardstick Sauvignon Blanc.”

Yardstick Sauvignon Blanc 2025

Aromatics enhanced from few hours skin contact prior to pressing; evocative scents of spicy-blossom, lime and verbena abound. Five months on the lees gives a lick of salinity to a rounded palate of stonefruit, cut clean with lemony acidity and grapefruit finish. Pure and driven, yet with plenty of weight and interest.
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