ON TARGET

Joanne Gibson meets Christiaan Groenewald of New Cape Wines, the 2013 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year

‘Where are you from?” asks the visitor in the tasting room at New Cape Wines on discovering that she is speaking to the owner. “You obviously aren’t South African.” Christiaan Groenewald laughs. “I was born and bred right here. It’s our family farm.” Perhaps it’s his Nordic blond hair and blue eyes; perhaps he’s been speaking too much English with the northern Europeans who can’t get enough of his wine. Either way, New Cape Wines on Welgemoed farm between Worcester and Villiersdorp in the Breede River Valley, has arguably been better known in its export markets than locally.

Until last night, that is, when Groenewald was named Diners Club Winemaker of the Year after impressing the judges with his “distinctly different” Arendskloof Tannat-Syrah Voetspore 2011 (R130 per bottle).

Groenewald, who studied winemaking at the University of Stellenbosch, inherited his dad’s grape and peach farm in 1997 and built his own cellar in 2003.

He bottles wines under the value-formoney Eagle’s Cliff and Dwyka Hills labels, as well as the more serious Arendskloof label, where the word Voetspore is included to acknowledge that his two young sons are already following in his footsteps. “They help me a lot in the cellar, usually ending up stained red from head to toe!”

The wine that has earned him the SA wine industry’s most prestigious title is an unusual blend of tannat and syrah, matured in French oak for 24 months. “Tannat is best known in Uruguay, where it can be very tannic. Our tannat is soft and fruity on its own but when blended with syrah, its spiciness comes through.”

Hints of anise, cinnamon, clove, vanilla and pepper combine with ripe plum and dark cherry flavours to make the wine a great match for the venison pies served at New Cape Wines, courtesy of Groenewald, a keen hunter. “What I shoot, I eat — that’s my philosophy.”

Cheese platters are also on offer at the tasting room, where springbok graze against a mountainous backdrop. “People sometimes arrive here at 11am and let themselves out after we’ve left.”

TANNAT IS BEST KNOWN IN URUGUAY, WHERE IT CAN BE VERY TANNIC

Next week: Meet Murray Barlow, Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year