“There is no brand loyalty in still wine - but it still
exists in the bubbly market. Consumers are confused in the still wine aisle at
a supermarket - but not when they get to the bubbly shelf” - Pieter Ferreira,
cellar master, Graham Beck Wines.
Hardly a week goes by without a new press release in my inbox, announcing the release of a maiden Méthode Cap Classique by a Cape wine producer - or the extension of a rosé sparkling wine to a portfolio. The new year is barely underway - and already heralds releases of Lanzerac’s maiden Blanc de Blancs MCC, Muratie’s maiden Lady Alice Brut Rosé 2012 and L’Ormarins maiden Brut Rosé. Over the last six months, I’ve attended high-profile launches of Delaire Graff’s Sunrise MCC (an intriguing blend of Chenin, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc), Vondeling’s Rural Méthode Ancestral (single bottle-fermented Chardonnay) and several others.
A bottle-fermented wine is de rigueur in a wine portfolio
these days. The category has grown to include reserve, vintage, non-vintage,
brut, demi-sec, blanc de blancs, rosé, zero dosage, low alcohol, low-sulphite
and MCC made from varieties from traditional Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to
Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz. Over the last forty years, the number of MCC
producers in the Cape has surged from a dozen pioneers (with 14 founders of the
Cap Classique Association in 1992) to an estimated 130 MCC producers across a
dozen regions making over six million litres - entries crossed the one hundred
mark in the 14th Amorim Cap Classique Challenge in 2014.
While MCC pioneers such as Graham Beck, Boschendal, Haute
Cabriere (Pierre Jourdan), The House of J.C. le Roux, Simonsig (whose Kaapse Vonkel was the Cape’s
first bottle-fermented wine in 1971) and Villiera led the way, many newer specialist
MCC houses have made their mark from Ambeloui, Ayama, Colmant, Genevieve and
Môreson to Charles Fox, Saltare and Silverthorn. Two newcomers, Claudia Brut MCC 2009 from Domaine
des Dieux, a boutique cellar in the Walker
Bay area won South Africa’s
best overall Cap Classique producer at the 2014 MCC Challenge - while Lord’s MCC
Brut from Robertson won best Non-Vintage Brut
At a benchmark vertical tasting of Graham Beck Blanc de
Blancs in 2014, Pieter “Bubbles” Ferreira identified the fascinating trends in
the cellar’s “pursuit of the perfect bubble”. Since the release of Graham
Beck’s maiden 1991 MCC, the portfolio has grown to production of over one million
bottles of seven MCC brands, including the flagship Beck Blanc de Blancs - the
2009 vintage won the only Platter five-star MCC rating and the IWSC 2014 trophy
for best bottle-fermented sparkling wine. Although they use 85% own fruit, Beck’s
“champagne philosophy” is based on blending fruit from a dozen areas to make a
multi-regional blend with a sourcing footprint from cool-climate Elgin and
Hemel-en-Aarde to Darling and Stanford.
In an overview of the evolution of the MCC industry over the
last decade, Ferreira, one of South Africa’s top MCC makers, stressed factors
such as the role of new virus-free Chardonnay clones, picking at 19 Balling to
create the right aromatics and low phenolic content of the base wine, gentle
whole-bunch pressing, minimal colour pigmentation, the use of barrel-fermented
Chardonnay and experiments with yeast strains. He believes, “A vineyard should
be at least six years old for MCC. The right soils create the right flavours. Time
on the lees is where the real magic lies - the linear development of the yeast.
We like to keep it on the lees for up to four years. The dosage is where the
unregulated, free space lies. We don’t add brandy, cognac or oaked Chardonnay at
dosage - and I like to use the same vintage for the dosage.”
When it comes to maturing Cap Classique, Ferreria says the
two styles of younger, fresher and older, more savoury, oxidative MCC depend on
consumer preference. He says the new wisdom is “the older the MCC, the longer
the time it should spend on cork”. The improved quality of cork over the last
twenty years is also a factor affecting the wine. He says changes in weather
patterns have also affected vintages - and that the 2008 vintage was the
tipping point for newer clones which build more minerality and brighter, “nervous”
nuances. “The best selections of the best parcels of Chardonnay express the
vintage of every Chardonnay-based MCC at Graham Beck”.
When he’s not in Graham Beck’s customised three-part
sparkling wine cellar in the Robertson Wine Valley, Ferreira is a flying MCC
winemaker making the first bottle-fermented sparkling wine at Kendall Jackson’s
renowned winery in Sonoma, California - working with on a maiden
Chardonnay/Pinot Noir sparkling blend.
“Robertson is the Cap Classique capital of South Africa.
MCC put Robertson on the map” declares Jacques Bruwer, third generation
winemaker at Bon Courage. One of the pioneers of MCC in the early 1990s in the Robertson Wine Valley
- with Graham Beck and Weltevrede - Bon Courage has been overall and category winner
at the annual Cap Classique Awards several times for its three styles of Blanc
de Blancs, Reserve and Rosé MCC. He adds, “Robertson has world-class terroir
for Chardonnay. We can match any champagne. Many MCC producers in other areas
of the Cape buy grapes from us”. He adds they
make MCC in “a cellar within a cellar”- and “The mouthfeel, the balance of
sugar and acid is so important. The dosage is our secret!”
Jacques Bruwer who works with his brother and father in the
cellar and vineyards says, “We have dedicated specific vineyards of Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir to make our MCC. We want to get the terroir into the bottle, to
make site-specific MCC. When it comes to our Brut Reserve, I want to make a big
wine. We keep it on its lees for 36 months - and under cork for nine months. This
is what champagne should taste like! We use 100% barrel-fermented Chardonnay to
add complexity. We get optimum physiological ripeness at lower balling in
Robertson. We get a typical lime/citrus flavour profile - whereas Franschhoek
gets a signature granny smith apple character. We produce so many styles of MCC
in all the wine regions of South
Africa”.
I explored the Robertson thumbprint at tastings of a dozen
or so MCC producers at the annual Wine on the River in the Robertson Wine
Valley in October 2014. A
range of MCC blanc de blancs, rosé and reserve styles were showcased by Bon
Courage, Bon Cap, De Wetshof, Graham Beck, Lord’s, Robertson Winery, Roodezandt
(Balthazar Brut), Weltevrede (made by fourth generation family winemaker Philip
Jonker), Windfall (Mendola), Wonderfontein (under the stunning new Paul René
MCC label of the fifth-generation Marais family farm) - not forgetting Silverthorn
(a trio of acclaimed MCC’s made from Robertson grapes by Steenberg’s John
Loubser).
One of the highlights of the festival was a tasting of
Philip Jonker’s award-winning trio of Weltevrede Brut MCC’s - a collection
poetically named Entheos (a Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend), The Ring (Blanc de
Blancs Chardonnay) and Lindelize (100% Pinot Noir). Since making his first
vintage of Cap Classique in 1994, Philip has gone on to specialize in making
different expressions of still Chardonnay and MCC. He says, “Chardonnay is the
main role-player in the Robertson
Wine Valley.
The rocky shale soils give us wonderful minerality. There’s a reason why every
country’s Chardonnay taste different - it’s about the national palate. South
African consumers like exotic, fresh fruit flavours in their Chardonnay.”
Last but not least I did a vertical tasting at De Wetshof of
their MCC Brut and Pinot Noir Brut (both rated 4,5 stars by Platter’s SA Wine
Guide 2015). Johann de Wet reveals it took seven years to release their first
commercial vintage (Brut 2007 which spent five years on lees) and that MCC volumes
are still very niche in this renowned cellar which specialising in making seven
or so styles of Chardonnay in rich clay and chalky, limestone soils. He says
Robertson is able to harvest Chardonnay at 19 balling to make a neutral base
wine - and that the MCC develops its real character on the lees.
* The Sixth Annual MCC Festival of Bubbles takes place at
The Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town
on Sunday, 1 March. The Robertson Hands on Harvest Festival is underway at wine
farms from 7 Feb to 29 March 2015 - www.handsonharvest.com