Old and white…
Some years ago, when the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show added the Museum category to its growing list of awards, questions were raised about the validity or benefit of rewarding older, and possibly unavailable, wines.
Awards convenor Michael Fridjhon, in his usual inimitable style, convinced the doubting Thomases and broader public otherwise! It just took everyone else a few years to catch up with his thinking…
One of the most convincing arguments for the quality and class of South African wine of late was made before the advent of judging the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show (OMTWS). After all, it was a tasting of Lanzerac Pinotage and Chateau Libertas from the 60s which had Neal Martin, SA category critic for Robert Parker’s hugely influential Wine Advocate website, claiming that these were profound wines which could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with First Growth Bordeaux of the same vintage … and possibly best them! And no less an authority than Jancis Robinson awarded the fabled 1966 GS Cabernet 20/20 on her last visit in 2015.
In the past five years there has been a groundswell of support for the notion that some older South African reds are truly world class. As Fridjhon stated at the awards lunch for the OMTWS: “Increasingly we see the country's top wineries choosing to send a message about the age-ability of their best vintages. Since this coincides with a wider industry commitment to emphasise the age-worthiness of our top wines, we see in the growth of the Museum Class numbers an important message for South Africa's wine aficionados.”
In total, six trophies and three gold medals were awarded in museum class categories out of a total of 21 trophy-winning wines and 35 golds. So how do older white wines fare? Well it was illustrative that five of the six museum class trophies were white wines, as were all three gold medals!
Trophy for the best museum class Sauvignon Blanc went to KWV Cathedral Cellar 2010 but it was the gold for Stellenrust’s 2006 that kicked off a discussion at our table, especially as Fridjhon described it as a “mind-changing wine”.
Singita wine director and OMTWS judge Francois Rautenbach said international visitors to the safari lodge were always surprised when exposed to local whites with a few years of age on them. “They believe that our white wines don’t age as well as the reds – and we love proving them wrong!”
Wine writer Tim James echoed this sentiment, speaking fondly of a chance discovery he made when he came across a forgotten box of wine in his kitchen recently. “I have a habit of mixing things up – and I can also seldom afford to buy case lots so I have odd bottles squirreled away in a number of places.” The wines he had discovered included an older Sequillo white blend and t’Voetpad from Sadie Family Wines. He’s written about the experience of the surprise enjoyment of both here.
So it was interesting to find out that a winemaker stumbling over 25 cases of forgotten wine was what led to the Stellenrust gold as well! The 2007 Platter Guide described it at the time as a “satisfying summertime drink; a veritable bowl of tropical fruit”.
The result was interesting on two levels: firstly, it was a Sauvignon Blanc from Stellenbosch as opposed to the more feted ‘cooler climate’ Sauvignon-producing areas of Constantia, Cape Peninsula, Elgin or Durbanville; and secondly it was one of the first wines ever bottled under the Stellenrust label!
“That was one of the first wines we ever made and bottled,” winemaker Tertius Boshoff recalled. “I still made it under winemaker Mike Dobrovic’s guidance – so the wine would have had a bit of residual sugar but I certainly didn’t expect it to still be showing well 10 years on from harvest.”
Boshoff attributed the wine’s longevity to that dab of residual sugar as well as its low pH. “All too often when making Sauvignon, winemakers tend to focus on the acidity. But I think if the wine is from a healthy, balanced vineyard and has good analysis, there’s absolutely no reason it can’t last longer than the cricket season.”
He also made the point that the fruit for this wine was from the first Sauvignon Blanc vines planted on the home farm in Stellenbosch. “They’re old bush vines planted in 1977 – so would have been nearly 30 years old during that 2006 harvest.”
Finally, he recounted a discussion he’d had with some British wine buyers at the end of a vertical tasting of the farm’s Sauvignon Blanc recently. “They asked me why I was in such a rush to get the 2016 to market when the 2015 was still so fresh and vibrant.
“I think they’re right and perhaps we are rushing the wines – and not giving them the chance to develop a bit of character with time in bottle.”
In this world of ‘international taste’ and ubiquity, buyers and consumers are beginning to demand individuality more and more often, wanting something different and unique. South African white wines with a few years on them offer exactly that point of difference.
– Fiona McDonald