What would we do without the internet? For a start, more than half of what’s written about wine would likely never appear anywhere.

Since we’ve become used to the immediate access to information the internet affords, it’s impossible to imagine life without it. Yet just over 20 years ago we did carry on life without it and it’s even less than 20 years since the likes of you and I could use it freely.

Younger still is Facebook, which turns eight this month, while Twitter is but a six year old innocent. Yet both of these social media – and doubtless others that I might belong to but don’t use – are light years more influential than their recent emergence would suggest and have become must-use tools for millions.

But for their influence to be felt, you’ve got to know how to use these tools effectively. A 2009 survey of tweets reported on Wikipedia broke them down into six categories; the largest, accounting for 40% was termed ‘pointless babble’ and only 9% ‘Pass-along value’. My guess would be that little has changed over the ensuing years.

Yet that 9% can produce remarkably effective free marketing, much more so than traditional print advertising or advertorial.

Enter Tim Pearson of Seven Springs Winery, who is busy proving just how effective social media can be via not only Twitter but Facebook, Linked In and other popular social media sites. The name Seven Springs to those who do not frequent such on-line media might not be so familiar; 2010 was Seven Springs maiden vintage, with the two releases reviewed in the current edition of Platter. So it’s very new but even before the wines were available, Pearson was spreading the word of his and his wife, Vaughan’s new winery. Having piqued plenty of interest, once the wines were released, Pearson received positive press from not only the official journalists but also from blogging and tweeting winelovers.

With Platter’s photo gallery theme for 2011 edition ‘innovation’, it was no surprise to see Pearson featured, glass of wine in one hand, smart phone in the other (and a bottle of his wine on the seat beside him). Apparently he has been so effective in getting Seven Springs known globally through these methods, he’s been chosen, as Platter writes, ‘as a case study by Prof Damien Wilson of the Burgundy School of Business in Dijon, France.’

Pearson’s advice to anyone following his marketing methods is to be aware that ‘people can get bored very quickly if you say the same thing time and time again. It’s one thing re-inforcing your brand/product but quite another to play the same record again and again. Sometimes on Twitter I just post a photo or engage in ‘conversation’ with someone. Social media is all about being yourself.’

If this part of the story is indicative of the speed of the digital age, the founding of Seven Springs was a little more traditional and took a little longer. It started with the UK-based Pearsons’ long-time love of wine spurred by family holidays in Europe and South Africa in the 1990s; then came the desire to own a vineyard and the search for the right and affordable one. In 2006 they found and purchased 12 hectares beyond Creation in the Hemel en Aarde valley (pictured) with the first vines being planted the following year. Three years later in 2010, maiden crops of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and syrah were harvested with the release in South Africa of the first Seven Springs Sauvignon Blanc 2010 and Chardonnay 2010 in November that year, followed by a UK release in early 2011.

Needless to say, it wasn’t quite as straightforward as such brevity suggests; even a name initially proved problematic. It was when Vaughan Pearson was reading about Caledon on the internet (of course!), she was informed that ‘Caledon has seven natural springs, six thermal and one cold.’ Both she and Tim immediately agreed with some relief that was the perfect name.

That maiden vintage, made by winemaker Riana van der Merwe at Almenkerk cellar in Elgin, has now been followed by the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc and 2011 Unoaked Chardonnay, both retailing for around R77 and which Tim James, I and guest taster, Ingrid Motteux recently tasted with a group of other new releases.

If I admitted to the Pearsons during their usual escape from the UK winter a few weeks’ ago,  that the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc was a little sweet for my taste, I’m more than happy to report the 2011 is very much my cup of – um - sauvignon.

As pale and bright as one would expect of a young wine, it has great presence without being showy thanks to the purity and restraint of its more tropical style fruit. A year in the bottle has polished the edginess of extreme youth without diminishing the wine’s vitality and freshness, such attributes being enriched by lees ageing. This gives a sense of weight without lessening the gentle, pure fruit and clean, dry finish. Unlike many sauvignons, it’s just as happy enjoyed solo as paired with fresh, unfussy dishes. Ingrid agrees with me, describing it as gentle, charming and graceful.  Tim was somewhat less positive, finding it showier with lots of flavour but less texture. There are many less attractive sauvignons costing more, but I imagine style rather than price will dictate the success of this one.

Unoaked chardonnay is one of the most difficult styles to capture with personality and authenticity. ‘Chablis style’ has been used by local producers to mean anything from truly unoaked chardonnay, to that fermented on chips or staves to genuinely, partially oaked wine.  Not that such options are far off what Chablis itself offers. But for anyone who’s tasted the real deal, a nuttily mature, unoaked Chablis, South African attempts come nowhere near this delicacy.

That’s not to say Seven Springs Unoaked Chardonnay 2011 lacks appeal. It’s fresh and easy-drinking with just a hint of citrus and golden delicious apples; nonetheless we do believe it is somewhat over-priced for a wine that is unlikely to yield much further interest with age.

Maybe once the vines are more mature, so will the wine gain greater individuality.

The one other wine I tasted when I met the Pearsons was a barrel sample of their first syrah, also from 2010. It had the freshness of cooler climes with fragrant, pure dark soft fruit, again subtle rather than showy, and the suppleness that so appeals in the variety. It will be one to watch out for when it is released.

As  write, their first pinot is being harvested. How do I know that? From Twitter (@7SpringsWine) of course, and probably their website and Facebook too. It’s nearly as enjoyable as standing in the vineyard itself.