Dear Wine Lover,
Owner of acclaimed Walker Bay property Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Anthony Hamilton Russell, contends that as the South African wine industry went international at the beginning of the 1990s, local producers “went from being over-confident on shaky foundations to lacking confidence on far firmer foundations”.
Until recently, Hamilton Russell may well have had a point but all of a sudden the South African wine industry seems to be finding its feet. Tim Atkin MW and 2004 Fairbairn Capital Trophy Wine Show judge is just one who is singing the praises of local wine. Writing in The Observer Magazine of 8 November, he suggests that of all the world’s wine producing nations who might be able to “replicate the impact Australia has had in the past 20 years [in the UK market], providing a combination of diversity, flavour and value for money”, his candidate would be South Africa.
This fillip coincides with Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa, the not-for-profit company that represents all local wine exporters, taking the 2005 Champagne Lanson Woman in Wine Award announced during this year’s International Wine & Spirit Competition prize-giving.
Birch picked up the title in acknowledgement of WOSA’s efforts in building South Africa’s market share of the UK market from less than 1% in 1994 to 10% right now. This leaves local wine producers jostling with Italy for fourth biggest exporter after Australia, France and the US.
How to explain South Africa’s rise in ascendancy? In his article, Atkin posits only that “ordinary [UK] punters are getting a little bored of certain styles of Australian wine”. It might well be however that South African producers have finally discovered both self-assuredness and panache.
Ken Forrester of the eponymous winery in Stellenbosch made the observation that for a long time the South African wine industry involved winemakers trained at Geisenheim in Germany, working with varieties best suited to Central Europe despite conditions being most reminiscent of the Mediterranean. This, he suggested, was akin “to playing rugby on horse-back with a cricket bat”.
Needless to say, Forrester is a great proponent of working with Mediterranean varieties. At the top of his range is The Gypsy, a blend of Grenache and Syrah. Up to the 2004 vintage, the Grenache came from a Devon Valley vineyard planted in 1955 but was finally grubbed up when yields became excessively small. From 2005 onwards, Forrester will be sourcing fruit from similarly old vineyards in Citrusdal.
The 2003 vintage will be released in January 2006. Some may baulk at the R220-a-bottle price tag but bear in mind that production does not exceed 3000 bottles and those who want to keep tabs on what the Cape’s avant-garde is up to should not hesitate to sample it. The thirstier among us will be pleased to know that Forrester also does a less pricey version of the same blend, labelled simply as Syrah Grenache. The 2003 is currently available, selling for R75 a bottle from the winery.
Further evidence of the air of experimentation that currently prevails in the local industry is the launch of Idiom Collection from Da Capo Vineyards in the Helderberg owned by former Johannesburg financier Alberto Bottega. There are six wines in the range with most attention to date being directed towards the Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier blend (another variation on the Mediterranean theme) from the 2004 vintage that won double gold at this year’s Veritas. There is also a fairly conventional Bordeaux-style red blend, a Viognier that panders to the fashonistas and rather unremarkable Shiraz, but the wines that are of real interest to the enthusiast are the Sangiovese and Zinfandel, both from 2004.
Bottega is of Italian extraction and is indulging himself in propagating these native Italian varieties, with Nebbiolo and Barbera also set to come on line in due course. Italian varieties have largely failed to make wines of any great significance outside of their native land but with the Cape’s viticultural potential still so indeterminate it is intriguing to see what Bottega might achieve over time.
There are numerous reasons for the growing international success of the South African wine industry, but one reason is that producers at all levels are starting to conduct themselves with a lot more confidence. As Tim Hutchinson, managing director of producer-wholesaler DGB, is on record as saying, “Making a mistake [in wine production and marketing] is not a crime but a lack of innovation is”. Significantly, WINE magazine readers recently voted DGB the “most dynamic” local wine corporate in an online poll.
Written by:
Christian Eedes
Gulp Newsletter
