WINE OF DUTY
The pandemic has hit South African winemakers hard. Give them a helping hand with these fine picks, says Terry Kirby
It has been a difficult year for everyone in the global wine business for all kinds of different reasons but for South African winemakers the pandemic has hit them in a particularly brutal way. All domestic alcohol sales were banned three times during different lockdowns since March last year and were only lifted in a limited fashion at the beginning of this month. But that only came after horror stories of wine being poured away for lack of storage space and there being no market for wine being made during what was said to be a particularly good vintage. Fortunately, exports, apart from a brief ban last spring, have not been seriously affected and indeed increased to the UK, by 7 per cent in volume and 23 per cent in value, reflecting the increase in more premium wines; and that is important because the UK is South Africa’s most important
export destination, with around 24 per cent of its sales. However, the continuing restrictions on hospitality here will also have had an effect on sales.
But with more and more South African wines available in the high street and online, in a diverse array of styles and prices, it is a great time to support their industry and explore what’s on offer from one of the oldest of the ‘new world’ wine makers, where wine was first made in the Cape in 1659.
Firstly, a quartet of truly excellent budget wines, the first three of which are new arrivals from the Cape region to our supermarket shelves and all showcasing that excellent 2020 vintage. The Fairtrade Scarlet Pimpernel 2020 (£7 Co-op) is robust and ripe blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and malbec – but please note that the Co-op website is still showing an older vintage – while the Sheep Hill 2020 (£7 sainsburys.co.uk) is a similarly potent combination of shiraz and malbec. And the Beekeeper Pinot Grigio 2020 (£6 sainsbury’s.co.uk) is a full-flavoured, smoke-tinged white, a good deal more characterful than almost anything similar from Italy around the same price point and great with lighter meats or a fish pie. Also from the 2020 vintage, but of a wine which is already a firm favourite with Wine Society members is the Percheron Shiraz-Mourvedre 2020 (£6.95 thewinesociety.com) a wonderfully punchy and spicy blend from the Swartland region, but beware the 14.5 abv. All three reds are terrific value for money, with a real depth of flavour that belies their youth, but probably better with food than on their own and ideal for any midweek pasta or pizza type dishes as well as winter casseroles.
Moving up the price point a good bit, also from the Swartland is the Momento Tinta Barocco 2017 (£21.99 simplywinesdirect.uk; £28.48 laywheeler.com) a rare single varietal outing for a grape otherwise only found among the many used in port blends in the Duoro and which rather begs the question of why it has not been treated like this before: vibrant, concentrated red and black fruits, some earth and spice, but soft tannins and deliciously mouthfilling: perfect for roasted red meats or vegetable tagines. Although Tinta Barocca is not normally found in Southern Rhone blends, it comprises 44 per cent cent of the Mullineux Kloof Street Swartland Rouge 2018 (£15.50 hic-winemerchants.com;£16.50 specialistcellars.co.uk) alongside a similar amount of syrah and some small elements of grenache, cinsault and carignan, all of which is very much Southern Rhone style and does what such wines always do – beguile you with perfumed aromas and then win over the palate with complex red and black fruits. But when it comes to red wines, you cannot ignore pinotage, which is South Africa’s very own grape, created in 1925 from a blend of pinot noir and cinsault and produced pretty much nowhere else in the world. The wine itself is very much like it or leave it and certainly has its fans: at its best it’s a fruit-driven, often powerful, spicy wine with vegetal and often coffee notes. For a good introduction, try the Wine Society’s own label, the juicy and boisterous Exhibition Pinotage 2018 (£11.95 thewinesociety.com). If you like it, then do explore pinotage elsewhere and you will likely be rewarded.
When it comes to whites, there is both a similar diversity of grapes, one of which South Africa has also made
its own and that is chenin blanc. Although its origins lie in the Loire Valley, where the wines are largely light and unoaked, wines from the grape in South Africa tend towards the riper and fuller flavoured, such as the old vines Elodie Chenin Blanc 2018, (£22.48 laywheeler.com£29.00 specialistcellars.co.uk) also from Swartland which is full of concentrated baked pear, quince and some honeysuckle touches and a long finish. A lovely special meal wine and an absolute must for lighter white meat and pork dishes. The same varietal fullness and vibrancy that imbues both the Beekeeper pinot grigio and the Elodie chenin is also apparent in the Journey’s End Haystack Chardonnay 2019 (£11.80 tanners-wines.co.uk; £12.00 vinvm.co.uk) from a very reliable winemaking concern in the Stellenbosch region, which has tropical fruits, a creamy overtone but a streak of citric acidity to cut through the smoothness.
While all these wines are terrific, they are also, it has to be said, quite conventional, so to finish, a wine from the determinedly off-piste Blank Bottle outfit of winemaker Pieter Walser who makes wines from dozens of different vineyards from around South Africa, with an ever changing series of self designed labels and names and a wide variety of grapes, none of which are ever named on the label, hence the title, of which around 30 per cent are never to be repeated one-offs. So before it disappears, grab the Don’t Look Back Blank Bottle 2017 (£23.68 laywheeler.com) which is actually made from the obscure French grape clairette and is fresh, zesty and zingy at first, but has a steely, complex backbone that gradually reveals itself with some spice and smoke. Great for shellfish and big grilled fish dishes. And if there was just one bottle to buy to support the future of wine in South Africa, this might be it.