Sémillon Gris enters the OIV list with South Africa as origin
A pink-skinned Cape mutation of Sémillon Blanc — the old rooi groendruif — is now on the OIV International List with South Africa named as country of origin. Andrea and Chris Mullineux’s Roundstone mother block (~1 ha, certified 2022) unlocks grower plantings and legal Sémillon Gris labels.
The Cape finally got papers for a grape it has grown for centuries.
Decanter reports that Sémillon Gris — a naturally pink-skinned mutation of Sémillon Blanc, historically called rooi groendruif — has been entered on the OIV International List with South Africa as origin. That is rare company beside Pinotage: one intentional Cape cross, one spontaneous Cape mutation.
Andrea and Chris Mullineux, with Analjit Singh’s Leeu partnership behind the wider house, spent more than a decade selecting material from a 1960 Paardeberg block. Cuttings moved through thermotherapy, propagation and certification with Vititec, SAWIS and the Department of Agriculture. In 2022 the Roundstone estate in Swartland planted the certified mother block — about one hectare of clean wood now available to growers.
Mini-concept: origin on an international list is not nostalgia. It is the legal key that lets nurseries sell certified vines and lets labels print the true variety name. Until that key turns, fruit can still fill a bottle under another story.
Named Sémillon Gris bottles from Roundstone are forthcoming. The Gris for the Cape Winemakers Guild already used the fruit before the name was legal. Growers can now plant certified material and call it what it is.
A flavoured can does not wait ten years for a mother block. This grape did — and the list finally caught up.
Remember: OIV list + SA origin; Roundstone ~1 ha mother block (2022); certified plantings and Sémillon Gris labels now legal.
Source: Decanter