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Sexy single vineyard register

Monday, 20 March, 2006
Graham Howe
Are single vineyard wines getting too sexy for their sites? (with apologies to a one-hit Brit pop band called Right said Fred).
A new Sawis register (see www.sawis.co.za) lists over 100 units registered by a range of small, medium and large-scale producers who intend to produce single vineyard wine under new South African regulations. Graham Howe reports. Some of these new products may well come on stream with the release of new red and white vintages in 2006. Among a tsunami wave of newcomers, you’ll spot a few well-established single site wine trademarks like Jakkalsfontein, Oom Pagel and Pegleg (Fairview), Old Road and The Ridge (Graham Beck), Methode Ancienne (Springfield), Vera Cruz (Delheim) and Schaapenberg (Vergelegen). Winemakers and critics may debate the merits of single vineyard wines versus blends, with some arguing single site wines tend to be too one-dimensional. Whether you prefer a smooth Scotch blend to an individualistic single malt, or a small estate wine in the French clos tradition, you’ll understand the issues. Whatever your position in the great debate, single site wines with evocative names like Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz have proved a unique selling point for the Australian wine industry – and for producers like Fairview, Graham Beck, Springfield and Weltevrede closer to home. Apart from the Franco-Dutch Clos D’Oranje registered by Jean-Vincent Ridon for his Signal Hill winery, many of the delightful names on the register draw on indigenous Afrikaans culture and conjure up a unique sense of place. For starters, there’s ‘Clos’ Bobbejaanblok (from L’Ormarins), Oorkant die Pad/The Far Side and Pampoenland (all three potential Warwick sequels to Professor Black), Mielieland (Weltevrede), Dassieklip (Wilgenhof), Louie se Gat and Gatland (from Kranskop 'oor die berg' in Klaas Voogds Valley). Only time will tell whether they actually plan to use these trademarks on new labels or are simply reserving their options by registering ahead. I rather fancy the thought of a Groot Gat Pinotage or a Mielieland Merlot. The register of single vineyards makes a good read – albeit surprisingly lacking in Griqua and Khoisan names to suit the new political culture. Watch this space. Not to be outdone, a wave of English names anglicises the new viticultural landscape with names on the register like Lomond (the Cape Agulhas/Cape Legends initiative), Spring Grove, Steepside, Lonehill and the Clones (Graham Beck/Vink Rivier), Canary Bush (Lourensford), Textiles (De Zoete Inval) and Railway Block (Delaire). As for the rest, other single vineyard sites are either literally named after their erf numbers, their owners (Miep, Maude and Maartje) or hint at their past lives – check out reservoir, office, skool bosstok, boblok, bergblok and nuwedorp. Just another blok in the wine wall to misquote Pink Floyd – which, en passant, would be a fitting sobriquet for a rosé wine named after food and wine celebrity Floyd. Of course, once the marketing folk get hold of the notion, this register might get a lot more imaginative. Single vineyard wines have only just begun. Mr T, Ken Forrester has registered his award-winning Chenin Blanc bush vine site at Scholtzenhof as Noble T. There are a few surprise omissions but maybe these are still in the pipeline – single site trademarks like Jordan’s Nine Yards Chardonnay Reserve (five stars in Platter’s South African Wines 2006) and Lanner Hill from the Groenekloof, the company of wine people's top-notch Sauvignon Blanc formerly exported under Vinfruco’s Credo label. I’ve gone the whole nine yards and walked through both of those vineyards with the winemaker/viticulturalist – and when I occasionally open a bottle of either, an evocative sense of these unique sites comes tumbling out of the glass like a genie. First released in late 2003, the Nine Yards Chardonnay enjoys great grape views in a high-lying block planted in decomposed granite soils grown in a maritime climate on the slopes of Stellenbosch Hills. Gary Jordan once explained to me, 'This particular Chardonnay vineyard stands out every vintage. We decided to focus on the strength of our vineyards by making a top-tier white wine from our top block that would express the unique aspects of the Jordan terroir.' They have spent years planting a range of grape varieties specifically suited to the altitudes, soils and slopes of Jordan. Climbing high above Darling to Lanner Hill amidst a sea of new vineyard plantings, I sought out the source of the Sauvignon Blanc 2005 which won the SAA white wine trophy and a double gold Veritas. David Tullie, an ex-Scottish barley farmer who took up grape growing in 1999 joined forces with winemaker Nicky Versveld to develop a single site meticulously selected for Sauvignon Blanc. Situated some seven kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean, the prized block on rich red Clovelly soils produces low yields of 8 tons per hectare. Versveld comments, 'This is the best we’ve produced from the Lanner Hill site so far; a big, complex flavour profile that really shows the age of the vines.' Some single vineyards are too sexy for their labels – let alone sites.

Graham Howe

Graham Howe is a well-known gourmet travel writer based in Cape Town. One of South Africa's most experienced lifestyle journalists, he has contributed hundreds of food, wine and travel features to South African and British publications over the last 25 years.

He is a wine and food contributor for wine.co.za, which is likely the longest continuous wine column in the world, having published over 500 articles on this extensive South African wine portal. Graham also writes a popular monthly print column for WineLand called Howe-zat.

When not exploring the Cape Winelands, this adventurous globetrotter reports on exotic destinations around the world as a travel correspondent for a wide variety of print media, online, and radio.

Over the last decade, he has visited over seventy countries on travel assignments from the Aran Islands and the Arctic to Borneo and Tristan da Cunha - and entertained readers with his adventures through the winelands of the world from the Mosel to the Yarra.
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