Happy Christmas to you all

2019 draws to a close and a new future for the United kingdom beckons, one that I feel no optimism for at all. We are promised ‘sunny uplands’ and a ‘new golden age’ outside of the EU. I do not believe these promises as they have no basis in logic and ignore the reasons why we joined in the first place, but desperately hope that I am wrong. It all makes me terribly sad for my country and fearful for the future.

In the meantime I will take solace in wine. In some ways 2019 has been a good year, Quentin Sadler’s Wine Page was voted Wine Blog of the Year and I managed to visit some fascinating places, meet many wonderful people and try some really good wines. There is a lot of good wine on the market, but sadly it isn’t always easy to buy the good stuff. You often have to wade through a sea of mediocrity to find it, which I suppose is my job!

Here are a few ideas for wines to enjoy over the holiday period and beyond, I hope that you like them:

Sparkling wines:

Arthur Metz’s vineyards in Alsace – photo courtesy of the winery.

2017 Crémant d’Alsace
Alsace
France

Non Champagne sparkling wine is so underrated in the UK – unless it’s Prosecco – which is very sad as there are some terrific fizzes made using the traditional method, the same process used to make Champagne sparkling. Some of them are really good value too, so they can be enjoyed everyday and not just saved for celebrations. Most wine regions in France produce good quality sparkling and call it Crémant. If you see that word on the label you know that it is made using the traditional method and, more importantly, aged on the lees, for at least 9 months, to develop complexity. We call this ageing ‘yeast autolysis’ and the biscuit, brioche, flaky pastry characters that it produces ‘autolytic’.

Wine Map of France – click for a larger view.

This wine, made by Arthur Metz (part of Grand Chais de France) is a blend of 63% Auxerrois (grown in Alsace and Luxembourg this is a similar grape to Pinot Blanc but has lower acid – they are often blended together and marketed as Pinot Blanc), 25% Pinot Gris, 8% Pinot Blanc and 4% Riesling. It is bright, fresh and fruity with some peach, apricot, apple and citrus notes and flavours as well as some almonds, spice and toasty characters. A softness, ripeness and creamy richness balances the freshness and makes it hugely enjoyable  – 88/100 points.

Available in the UK at £8.29 per bottle from Aldi.

Kleine Zalze Méthode Cap Classique Chardonnay-Pinot Noir Brut
Stellenbosch
South Africa

South Africa, specifically the Western cape, has a long tradition of making high quality sparkling wine. So much so that they have their own term for the traditional method, they call it the Méthode Cap Classique – or MCC for short. It is a blend of 60% Chardonnay grown in cool areas of Robertson and 40% Pinot Noir grown near the False Bay coast in Stellenbosch and aged for ten months on the lees.

Wine map South Africa’s Western Cape – click for a larger view.

There is a real sense of tension and elegance in this wine. There is lovely fruit, stone fruit, baked apple, crisp apple and even a little strawberry and raspberry peaking through. All this is enhanced by some biscuit and pastry notes a dollop of cream and balanced by refreshing, zingy acidity and a brisk mousse  – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK at around £16.00 per bottle from Cheers Wine Merchants, Amps Wine Merchants and Ministry of Drinks.

White wines:

Wine map of Slovenia – click for a larger view.

2018 Tilia Estate Pinot Gris
Vipava Valley
Slovenia

Almost anyone who knows me would say that I really do not like Pinot Gris. I find most Pinot Grigio to be on the bland side and the great majority of Alsace Pinot Gris to be lacking in freshness, so by and large avoid the grape. This version though is made by my good friend Matjaž Lemut in the beautiful Vipava Valley in western Slovenia and I love it.

Matjaž Lemut in his vineyards in the Vipava Valley – photo by Quentin Sadler © Quentin Sadler 2019

 

Matjaž is a great winemaker, a great character and a real force of nature and this wine could be considered his calling card. Lees ageing and stirring for four months gives the wine a creamy richness and complexity that can be surprising. The wine has lovely brightness and freshness too and so the overall effect is to be really well balanced and very, very drinkable indeed  –  91/100 points.

A delicious, mid weight, versatile wine that is lovely on its own and very good with a wide array of food, even creamy dishes.

Available in the UK at £10.50 per bottle from Solaris Wines.

Matjaž is really a Pinot Noir specialist, one of the very best in Slovenia, and Solaris Wines carry the whole range. They are quite a muscular style with rich fruit, but really good wines.

2018 La Penombre Blanc
IGP/Vin de Pays d’Oc
France

I love the whites from the Languedoc-Roussillon-Roussillon region, but they often get overlooked in favour of the reds. Good as the reds from here are, I think the whites deserve far more attention and respect – after all they are often made from some very exciting grape varieties. This blend is no exception and consists of 40% Grenache Blanc with some Terret, Bourett, Vermintino, Rousanne and Marsanne. It is picked in the early evening, hence the name La Penombre, which means twilight, and is unoaked.

Map of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, click for a larger view.

The wine is very fresh, with a sense of purity about it – it is actually made in Pinet, just not from Picpoul – there are pine, herb and lemon scents with a dry, savoury, herbal (rosemary) salty and gently apricot flavours on the palate together with a silky texture and a touch of salinity and minerality as well as a slight bitter nutty quality on the finish  – 90/100 points.

A perfect aperitif and equally good with seafood and lighter fish dishes – I enjoyed it with smoked salmon and potted .

Available in the UK at £11.99 per bottle from Virgin Wines.

Vineyards in Valais showing the amazing dry stone walls, some of the highest in the world.

2012 Petite Arvine
Domaine Jean Rene Germanier
Valais, Switzerland

A family estate since 1896 and now managed by the third and fourth generation – Jean-René Germanier and his nephew, Gilles Besse. Gilles was originally a jazz saxophonist, but is also a trained wine maker. Germanier farm sustainably and produce a range of beautifully made, elegant wines. Petite Arvine is one of my favourite white grapes and it is only grown in south west Switzerland and a little bit over the border in Italy’s Valle d’Aosta region.

Wine map of Switzerland – click for a larger view. Do not use without permission.

I love the way the brightness and richness mingle on the palate. The way the stone fruit and the citrus fruit balance each other, how the salty minerality keeps the richness in check and the way the silky texture flows across the palate. This wine is superb and totally beguiling in its beauty – 94/100 points.

This is wonderful with poultry, salmon and of course cheese, whether raw or served in a fondue.

Available in the UK at £35.00 per bottle from Alpine Wines.

Red wines:

The wonderful walled city of Carcassonne – rescued form oblivion and restored on orders of Napoleon III – photo by Quentin Sadler © Quentin Sadler 2019.

2018 Carcassonne
IGP/Vin de Pays Cité de Carcassonne
France

I know almost nothing about this wine except that it comes from France’s Languedoc-Roussillon region from vineyards just to the south of the glorious medieval walled city of Carcassonne. The wines from this inland part of the Languedoc-Roussillon often get overlooked, Cabardés is near by and is a source of seriously good reds but we hardly ever see the wines in the UK – there is one here, but on this showing they really shouldn’t be. Apparently it is made from Carignan grapes and seems unoaked to me.

Map of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, click for a larger view.

This wine triumphs in two way, firstly it is astonishingly smooth, suave even and the palate is so fruity that it delivers a huge amount of pleasure making it incredibly easy to drink. It’s fresh and fleshy and medium-bodies with lots of red fruit and supple texture with very little tannin.  There’s a touch of spice too and it is far, far finer than its modest price tag would lead you to expect. All in all it makes a splendid every day wine  – 87/100 points.

Available in the UK at £4.49 per bottle from Aldi.

Here’s one that I have written about before, but is is such a beautiful wine that would go so well with all sorts of food at Christmas that it deserves another airing!

Map of Chile – click for a larger view – non watermarked PDF versions are available by agreement.

2017 Casa Silva Romano Viñedo Original 
DO  Valle de Colchagua
Viña Casa Silva
Chile

Casa Silva is one of the great wine estates of the Colchagua Valley. They were originally a French family of grape growers who came to Chile in 1892 and have been growing grapes there ever since. However the family vineyards became divided up with multiple owners and it was not until the 1970s that Mario Silva pieced the estate together again and they have been bottling and labelling their own wines since 1997. They are based in Angostura where their beautiful original homestead is now a hotel and well worth a visit. The land around the house is their initial plantings with vineyards going back to 1912. This is where they have some fabulous speciality grapes including old vine Carmenère, Sauvignon Gris and this Romano. All of these are ungrafted, so grow on their own roots. This helps the vines to live longer and old vines produce smaller crops and smaller berries that have more concentrated flavours. Old vines also ripen with less sugar, so produce wines with lower alcohol, which makes for better balance and more elegance.

This is made from an obscure grape called Romano, more usually called César. There isn’t much César left in the world and most of that grows northwest of Dijon in Burgundy, where it is principally used to make up to 10% of the blend, together with Pinot Noir, in the wines of Irancy.

Vines at Casa Silva.

The harvest was done by hand with a further manual selection of grapes at the sorting table before the grapes were de-stemmed – stalks can give harsh tannins. There is a pre-fermentation cold soak, a cold fermentation in stainless steel followed by a further maceration on the skins. Half the wine was aged in stainless steel and half in second use French oak barrels. This older oak means that the wine is not overly oaky in taste, but has the softening that ageing in barrels gives as the oxygen gets to the wine through the wood, making it rounder and richer.

The wine looks very appealing with a deep and bright ruby colour. The nose is full of rich red fruits like strawberry, cherry, a hint of raspberry, black pepper and a delicate mushroomy/earthy savoury note. The palate is smooth, round and mouth filling with rich ripe red fruit, smooth, supple tannins and some lovely freshness too. There is plenty of beautiful, concentrated fruit, but good structure and that attractive earthy, savoury quality. This will appeal to Pinot Noir drinkers – and Syrah and Grenache drinkers too – in my opinion, as well as anyone who wants a really flavourful, suave and supple red wine that is full-flavoured and medium bodied. It really is a gorgeous wine – 93/100 points

This is a very versatile wine too. It is mellow enough to be enjoyable without food, has enough freshness to go with pizzas and pastas, has enough elegance and structure to partner haute cuisine and enough richness to go with cheese and enough pizzazz to go with burgers, chilli con carne or shepherd’s pie and to keep everyone happy. Great with turkey, either hot or cold, and lovely with a pork or game pie too.

Available in the UK at around £15.00 per bottle from Duncan Murray Fine Wines – Market Harborough, Staintons – Lake District, Guildford Wine Co, Bottle Shops – Cardiff, Penarth, Field & Fawcett – York, Naked Grape – Alresford, Hants, Palmers Wine Store – Dorset, The Vineking – Reigate, East Molesey, Weybridge and the Oxford Wine Company.

2016 Caliterra Edición Limitada ‘B’
DO Valle de Colchagua
Caliterra
Chile

Under the leadership of chief winemaker Rodrigo Zamorano, Caliterra has developed into one of the most exciting wineries in Colchagua – if not Chile. They produce excellent, actually downright delicious, and great value examples of all the famous varietals, but Rodrigo loves to play around with the grapes that he grows and is producing an ever evolving range of premium wines that have something new and exciting to say. At the heart of this range is the three Edición Limitada wines – ‘A’ is for Andean and is a blend of Malbec and Carmenère, ‘M’ is for Mediterranean and the wine is a blend of Syrah, Carignan, Grenache and Marsanne, while ‘B’ is for Bordeaux, so this wine is a blend of 41% Petit Verdot, 38% Cabernet Franc and 21% Cabernet Sauvignon. 62% was fermented in stainless steel tanks and 38% in third use barrels. The wine was aged for 18 months in French and American oak barrels – 48% new.

Rodrigo Zamorano in the vineyards at Caliterra – photo courtesy of the winery.

This is a beautiful and very different wine from the Casa Silva Romano. This is powerful and weighty with great concentration of vibrant, lifted fruit. It’s very aromatic and very restrained and elegant, despite the richness. There are herbal and tobacco aromas as well as some black pepper and cassis, blueberry and cherry fruit. Headily delicious now this will age very well over the next decade. This will appeal to Claret lovers, but also has more fruit than most wines from Bordeaux – 92/100 points.

Available in the UK at around £16.00 per bottle from Drink Finder, Edencroft Fine Wines and The Dorset Wine Company.

So there you are, a few recommendations to seek out and try, I think you will enjoy them.

Whatever you are drinking this Christmas, try and keep it interesting and celebrate the great diversity of wine.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Wine of the Week – a delicious and great value Chenin Blanc

As some of my regular readers might know, I am not especially fond of Chenin Blanc. Indeed much of the time I choose not to drink it. However recently I re-tried a Chenin Blanc from one of my favourite South African producers – Kleine Zalze.

Kleine Zalze is an old established, family owned winery in Stellenbosch, just a couple of kilometres southwest of the town in fact. This is an incredibly beautiful wine region and the traditional hub of the South African wine industry. The first Europeans to settle the Cape were the Dutch – the British took the colony over during the Napoleonic Wars – and a lot of Protestant French Huguenots washed up in South Africa where they helped develop the wine industry that had been started by Simon van der Stel. Deer Steel was the first Dutch governor and Stellenbosch,  as well as nearby Simonstown, are named after him.

Kleine Salze was founded in 1695, so dates from these early days of South African wine. However it really received a new impetus to produce high quality wines when businessman Kobus Basson and his family bought the estate in 1996.

I have known the wines ever since then and have visited a couple of times and they are a very impressive outfit that turns out some brilliant wines from a wide range of grape varieties and blends. In my opinion their top range Family Reserve Pinotage is one of the very best examples of the grape, but I think that everything they make is really good – have a look at this wine.

Wine map South Africa’s Western Cape – click for a larger view.

Anyway recently I had a bottle of their Zalze Old Vine Chenin Blanc and it was so delicious that I have made it my Wine of the Week.

Kleine Zalze in winter.

2016 Zalze Bush Vine Chenin Blanc
Kleine Salze
WO Coastal Region
South Africa

The Zalze range from Kleine Zalze are akin to entry level wines, but they are very high quality and this wine really proves that point. It is made from old bush vines that are dry farmed, so not irrigated. Old vines produce smaller crops of more concentrated fruit, which is why old vine wines are usually considered to be that bit finer. Most of the fruit comes from the Kleine Zalze estate in Stellenbosch, but some is sourced from other places like Swartland, which is why the wine is described as coming from Wine of Origin / WO Coastal Region and not Stellenbosch.

The fruit was hand harvested in the early hours to keep the fresh acidity. The grapes got a bit of skin contact to add texture and complexity and after the fermentation the wine was aged on the lees for four months, which also added complexity.

Kleine Salze in winter.

The wine is fresh and lively, but with a lovely soft, round and ever so slightly creamy quality. The natural high acid of the grape shows through, while the Mediterranean climate of the Cape adds the richness and softness that makes it so succulent and moreish – be warned the bottles empty very fast.

Bright, crisp lemon and lime citrus give a lovely refreshing quality. That freshness wraps around rich tropical guava and pineapple fruit and there is a touch of stony minerality that gives the wine focus and poise.

This is not complex wine, but it is very, very drinkable, delivers great value for money and is really versatile too. It goes well with almost anything, from the simplest fish and chips to salads, Mediterranean style food and spicy oriental dishes. I think it’s really delicious and will make a perfect house wine for the summer – 88/100 points.

I would also mention that Stellenbosch is a wonderful place to visit. In fact from a wine point of view South Africa’s Western Cape is one of the best places to see, as everything is so compact and the wineries are really well set up for tourism. As well as being a great winery to visit to taste the wines, Kleine Zalze is home to the wonderful Terroir restaurant.

Available in the UK for around £8 per bottle from:
Waitrose Cellar, Morrisons, Asda Wine Shop, Tesco, Booths.

 

 

Wine of the Week 49 – South African succulence

Recently I tasted the new vintage of a wine that I have enjoyed for many years and it was so drinkable that I have made it my new Wine of the Week.

Vines at Kleine Zalze.

The wine comes from Kleine Zalze, which is a beautiful estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Indeed it’s one of my favourite South African producers, and – like the country as a whole – their wines just seem to get better and better. What’s more, this is true whether the wines are at the lower end of their range like this delicious Sangiovese, or more upmarket examples like their stunning Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Family Reserve Shiraz,  Family Reserve Pinotage – one of the very best examples of this difficult grape that I have ever tasted – and the wonderful Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc.

Wine map of South Africa – click for a larger view – non watermarked PDF versions are available by agreement.

 

The wine is an intriguing blend of Shiraz (Syah) with Mourvèdre and a little Viognier to add aromatics and complexity.

Vines at Kleine Zalze.

2013 Zalze Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier
Wine of Origin / W.O. Western Cape
Kleine Zalze Vineyards
Stellenbosch, South Africa

80% is Shiraz from Kleine Zalze’s own vineyards in Stellenbosch together with 15% Mourvèdre from the cooler Durbanville area and then 5% Viognier from Tulbagh in the mountains. They were fermented separately, Kleine Zalze mainly use wild yeasts for this, the 2 reds in stainless steel and the Vignier on 4th fill barrels, this old wood ensures the oak influence is very subtle. All 3 components are aged in 3rd and 4th fill barrels for 14 months before being blended together.

The aroma gives lifted notes of ripe blackberry, raspberry and peach with a little touch of freshly turned earth and truffle (very Mourvèdre), spice and even some chocolate, espresso and cigar.
The palate is richly fruity and succulent with deliciously juicy ripe blackberry, black cherry, redcurrant and even some plum and some lovely savoury herbs like the French garrigue. The tannins are sweet, ripe and smooth, the oak lends some nice spice and a touch of mocha, whole a touch of refreshing acidity balances it all nicely. I really enjoyed this, it is very drinkable, beautifully made and not dull. There is enough complexity to make it interesting and the blend brings a freshness that Shiraz on its own seldom delivers.
Really attractive wine that goes with all sorts of things including barbecue, pizza and pasta, be warned though, it is moreish – 87/100 points.

Available in the UK for £8.29 a bottle from Waitrose and Ocado – £5.99 a bottle from Waitrose if you get in quick and £6.21 from Ocado if you grab it by 12/-05/15!

If you have let South African wines pass you by, then this might be a very good starting point, enjoyable to drink and great value to boot.

 

Wine of the week 4 – Zalze Sangiovese

Beautiful vineyards at the Kleine Zalze Estate, South Africa.

Finding the unexpected in wine is always such a delight for me that I can get really quite excited, especially when the wine involved is a total bargain as well.

I love Kleine Zalze. It’s a beautiful estate in South Africa’s Stellenbosch region and not only is it wonderful to visit – they have a superb restaurant – but they make some fabulous wines too, including some of the very best Pinotages that I have ever tasted.

Everything they do smacks of quality from their inexpensive Cellar Selection range to their stunning Family Reserve wines – do try the Sauvignon Blanc from this range, it is very different and very fine. The presiding genius is winemaker Johan Joubert who is a lovely, engaging chap whose passion is infectious and even makes the technical stuff and science of wine seem very interesting indeed.

Johan Joubert, chief winemaker at Kleine Zalze and Zalze.

It always seems to me that they never sit on their laurels at Kleine Zalze and this was borne out at a wonderful tasting and dinner that Johan hosted in London recently. All the wines were very good, but however good the other wines were, and they really were, for fun, generosity of fruit, drinkability and sheer value for money, my standout wine was:

2013 Zalze Sangiovese
W.O. Stellenbosch, South Africa
South African Sangiovese was a new one for me, but if they can all be as good as this then it really should catch on and be more widely grown. The Sangiovese grape has only been in the county for ten years apparently, but these results are impressive.

The nose is rich with red fruit, floral aromas and spice, while the palate is attractively soft and juicy with fresh herbs, bright plum fruit, morello cherries, rich raspberry and smooth tannins. All in all this wine is a lovely, easy drinking fruit-packed wine, but it does not fall into the normal fruit-bomb trap of being simple and cloying, there is freshness, balance and a smack of complexity here, a lovely wine – 89/100 points, it earns high marks for being such great value for money.

The equally good 2012 vintage is available in the UK from the Co-op at £7.99 per bottle.

South Africa – a beautiful land of wonderful wine

Table Mountain from Stellenbosch

My relationship with South Africa has taken off quite dramatically in recent years. For a long time I had reservations about the quality of many of the wines coming out of the country. To me there seemed to be flashes of brilliance amidst a sea of unreliability and perhaps I unfairly focussed on the latter.

My first visit to the Cape, in 2005, reinforced that view – luckily I mainly visited the brilliant producers and was able to see for myself how ambitious and capable many of the winemakers were – something that might not have been apparent from the general supermarket offerings of South African wines in the UK at the time. What I had not expected though was to be quite so bowled over by the place. The Western Cape of South Africa is one of the most beautiful places on the planet and a wonderful part of the world to visit and I fell in love with it.

The dramatic landscape of Stellenbosch at Kleine Zalze Vineyards

So much so that when I was invited to become a judge at the excellent Michelangelo International Wine Awards I leapt at the chance. This is one of the leading South African wine competitions and is run by the wonderful Lorraine Immelman and Sue van Wyk. I am so glad that they invited me as my trips down there to taste and judge hundreds of wines – overwhelmingly, but not exclusively from South Africa – has allowed me to experience the wines of the region in a way that I would otherwise not have been able to do. It means that I have been able to really see what is going on in South Africa and to notice the amazing development over a very short period of time. It has also allowed me to make friends with many of my fellow judges from around the world and to get to know Stellenbosch very well indeed. In fact nowadays the place really does feel a little like home when I arrive at Cape Town.

Another benefit is the wonderful visits we judges get to make to a an array of wineries who sometimes mark the occasion by giving us some of their prized bottles to taste:

1937 KWV fortified Muscadelle – ‘Likeurwyn’ in Afrikaans, it was outstanding & a real privilege to taste it – especially as there were only 168 bottles ever made!

Charles Back spoilt us with one of Fairview’s earliest vintages of Pinotage. It was the 1976, look carefully at the bottom left of the label, & it had a savoury fragility that showed up the Pinot Noir side of its parentage.

In my visits there I have come to know and greatly admire a range of stunning wine estates that are producing wines that are at least the equal of anywhere else – Springfield and Diemersdal for instance never fail to impress me. For quite a few years now I have been a judge in the Michelangelo – with perhaps a year or 2 gap between each visit – and the progress South African wines have made in such a short time is remarkable. On my first visit the style of South African red wines was overwhelmingly not mine. It seemed to me, for quite a long time that there was over extraction, over oaking, over working – just too much of everything really, which resulted in many bitter and tarry wines – which I do not enjoy.

I have seen this fading for a while now, but my visit in 2012 saw pretty much all the wines that I tasted had emerged from this old style and were now triumphantly almost all tasting bright, fresh, fruity and balanced. The entire experience pleased me immensely and I gained an even keener love for South Africa and her wines. The trip was one of my many highlights of 2012 – but for some reason I failed to mention it in my round up of the year.

Sunset in the vineyards at Kaapzicht

Sauvignon Blanc
The first thing I noticed last summer was just how good the white wines have become. Drop in anywhere around Cape Town and the winelands – the bars and restaurants are spectacular – and you can order a Sauvignon Blanc with confidence – even at the lower price points. Because it has such wide distribution over there I drank a good few bottles of Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc and not only was it pretty cheap, but it was also pretty good – just the thing with the stunning seafood in Cape Town. Lourensford, Klein Constantia, Kaapzicht and Allée Bleue Sauvignon Blancs also all hit the spot with some of the wonderful calamari they serve down there too – as does Springfield‘s Life From Stone and Special Cuvée, Dornier‘s Cocoa Hill and the lovely Sauvignon from Southern Right and those from the Diemersdal Estate – including the rosé version.

It is crude to generalise, but broadly speaking I reckon that South African Sauvignons lean towards a French style – dry, mineral and crisp, but with more ripe fruit, without ever becoming quite as aromatic or upfront as classic New Zealand examples. As a style I like it very much – of course that is an oversimplification as there is huge variety, but there is enough of a truth in it to make it a reliable guide for the average drinker.

The seafood in Cape Town is amazing – strangely the calamari is always what excites me most – it’s superb there

Chenin Blanc
Good though South Africa’s Sauvignons are – and they are. The traditional white grape here is that other Loire Valley white grape – Chenin Blanc. For me these really come into their own when some richness is involved and I love drinking the tropical (ripe guava flavours), delicately honeyed and concentrated examples from Kleine Zalze, Oldenburg and Stellenrust – and Stellenrust’s Sauvignon Blanc is pretty good too by the way. These are wonderful with fish pie and rich pork or chicken dishes – even asian flavours.

Red Wines
All of these were lovely and a delight to taste in the competition or enjoy during our time off, but what really amazed me last year were the red wines. I tasted hundreds of red wines from the Cape and flight after flight showed balance, fruit and careful tannin management.

Some of the Merlots that we judged at the Michelangelo Awards were especially impressive – Lourensford‘s 2011 Winemaker’s Selection Merlot and uniWines Fairtrade Palesa Merlot 2011 were both superb, with lovely fruit and supple tannins.

I have also been very impressed by Cabernet Sauvignons from Springfield – their Whole Berry Cabernet 2008 is a seductive marvel – while the magnificent Kleine Zalze Cabernet Sauvignon Family Reserve 2008 is layered, complex and fine, as was the Oldenburg Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 that I tasted recently.

Lourensford Estate – looking south to False Bay & Somerset West

Pinotage
All these were very good, but I personally became very excited by Pinotage – of all things. Pinotage gets a very bad press, or at best seems to divide people, much like Marmite. Well I love Marmite, but until last year I would not even remotely have considered myself to be a fan of Pinotage. I had enjoyed a few in my time – Flagstone‘s wittily named The Writer’s Block Pinotage always impresses me and the 2011 rightly won a Gold Medal at the 2012 Michelangelo – but something has usually held me back from enjoying most of the Pinotages that had come my way until recently. Well it seems that something about the wines – or me – has changed, because during my time in South Africa in 2012 I started to really enjoy Pinotage – so much so that I ordered Pinotage twice while I was last in South Africa and even requested a refill during a dinner at KWV / Laborie.

This unusual grape is South Africa’s speciality and it originated here as a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut / Cinsault (historically known as Hermitage in South Africa). Like most things that appear traditional though it isn’t actually as old as you might think. The cross does go back to the 1920s, but commercially it has only really been around since the 1960s. In the past people have said that Pinotage smelled and tasted of rusty nails and bananas, which may be true, but it no longer seems to be the case in the ones that I have tasted of late. Rich fruit and supple tannins seem to be the hallmark, together with a spicy quality.

I have tasted a few different vintages now of the Diemersdal Pinotage Reserve and their 2011 vintage walked with the Pinotage Trophy (Sue van Wyk Pinotage Trophy) at the 2012 Michelangelo and it was well deserved – grab a bottle if you can find one. It was this wine more than any other that started my change of mind about the grape, but Deetlefs Estate Pinotage 2011 was very nearly as impressive and for sheer drinkability I also greatly enjoyed the spicy and juicily fruity KWV Mentors Pinotage 2010 – indeed it was this one that I requested more of during a rather fine dinner!

I have also tried and enjoyed the following Pinotages over the last few months – Wine of Origin / W.O. is the South African appellation system and guarantees the source of the grapes:

2010 Durbanville Hills Pinotage
W.O. Durbanville, South Africa
Medium-bodied, supple and juicy with very soft tannins and a gentle touch of spice. This is easy drinking, but very enjoyable and well made and would go with almost anything meaty – 86/100 points.

Durbanville Hills is a big brand, but they seem to be very reliable – their Sauvignon Blanc is very good for the price – and as they are well distributed in South Africa they are quite hard to miss, most of the umbrellas outside restaurants in Cape Town seem to be theirs.

£8.50 a bottle in the UK from SA Wines On Line.
Distributed in the US by Aveniu Brands.

2010 Southern Right Pinotage 
W.O. Hemel-en-Aarde, Hermanus, South Africa
This concentrated example is made by Anthony Hamilton-Russell, who is normally thought of as a Pinot Noir specialist, but here he shows that he can coax wonderful flavours and mouthfeel out of Pinotage, albeit with tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Syrah blended in.
The palate is rich, smooth and silky with ripe damson and blackberry fruit and soft spice notes as well as cocoa from the oak ageing. This is beautifully made and very elegant – 89/100 points.

£13.50 a bottle in the UK from Waitrosedirect.com.
Distributed in the US by Vineyard Brands.

2009 Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Pinotage  
W.O. Coastal Region, South Africa
Wow this is an amazingly concentrated wine, deep, opaque blue-black. The nose delivers damson, espresso coffee, liquorice, dark chocolate and aromatic spices. The palate is towards full-bodied and is very supple with velvety tannins and some nice refreshing acidity too and rich dark fruit, leather, coffee and beautifully integrated vanilla and mocha oak. This is a glorious wine with an epically long finish – 92/100 points.

This is Kleine Zalze‘s top Pinotage, but their more humble examples under the Zalze label are rather good too. They also have a rather lovely restaurant at the winery by the way.

£26.99 a bottle in the UK from SA Wines On Line.

2009 Wildekrans Estate Osiris Pinotage  
W.O. Bot River, South Africa
Lifted aromas of smoky spices and chocolate together with dried red fruit and ripe black fruit. The palate offers coffee as well as damsons, blackberry and cooked strawberry fruit. Again the tannins are a very silky and the finish is long, but slightly marred by some heat from the alcohol – 91/100 points.

Wildekrans wines are in the UK from SA Wines On Line.

From my recent tastings of Pinotage I would say that the at its best the grape has a decidedly Mediterranean character showing spice and warmth – as you might expect from the Cinsault side of its ancestry. However the fruit is richer and glossier, when handled correctly – as you might imagine from the fact that it is used in a sunny place so the grapes can ripen fully. In addition the tannins seem to be very light – as indeed they are in both the parent grapes – so the good examples seem very soft and supple. And that is the key, for that delicious fruity, velvety smoothness to shine, the grapes must be really ripe and any touch of greeness will throw that balance out of kilter and spoil the pleasure I now take in a good example of Pinotage.

Much more besides
Of course it isn’t only those grapes and blends that can do well in South Africa, Altydgedacht Estate produces a stunning Gewürztraminer and possibly the best Gamay that I have ever tasted, while KWV delighted me with their fabulously drinkable, ripe and juicy Mentors Cabernet Franc, which rightly won a trophy at the 2012 Michelangelo Awards. I have also become very impressed by some of the Syrahs, especially the wonderfully supple, delicately spicy and seductive Oldenburg Estate Syrah 2009.

Michelangelo International Wine Awards
Remember that if you want to explore the wines of South Africa, but are unsure where to start, the Michelangelo International Wine Awards website lists all the winners they ever had since the competition started in 1997, take a look, it might well help you to choose some interesting wines to try. I know the effort that we put into judging them and the high standards that we adhere to, so if it won a medal or trophy at the Michelangelo it is going to be a good wine and an excellent example of its type.

Another thing to bear in mind is that South Africa is one of the best wine countries to visit as the countryside and main wine towns of Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch are all beautiful, and unlike Europe the wineries are superbly geared up for visitors with lovely restaurants and elegant tasting rooms.  What’s more everything is very compact and within an hour or 2 of Cape Town airport, which makes it an easy place to tour around.

If you do visit – and I highly recommend it – make sure you see a bit of Cape Town too, it is a delightful city and the V&A Waterfront complex is an absolute gem, stuffed with bars, shops and restaurants of very fine quality. While you are there be sure to drop in at Vaughan Johnson’s Wine Shop. Vaughan is one of the wine trade’s great characters and a delight to chat to while browsing the bottles in his lovely shop.

The man himself – Vaughan Johnson

Vaughan’s words of wisdom

So, if you have not really got into exploring South African wines yet, now is a great time to start as the quality of the wines coming out of the Cape now is very high indeed.