YOUR WINES Under the Influence is proud to unveil another sip and learn experience. So, if you don’t already have a glass of wine in hand please proceed to open one, a Cabernet Sauvignon from the selection if you will, because we are investigating the grape on this course and in particular Cabernet Sauvignon. The king of the red grapes, which is a standalone great or a leader amongst blends. We hope you enjoy our Cabernet Sauvignon selection and its blending partners with this ensemble. Wine
Best drinking
Cederberg Cabernet Sauvignon
Now to 2012
Paul Cluver Elgin Blend
Now to 2012
Belfield Cabernet Sauvignon
Now to 2012
Oak Valley Chardonnay
Now to 2011
Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc
Now
Rustenberg Brampton Viognier
Now
Appearance [3]
Nose [7]
Palate [10]
Total [20]
A reminder on how to rate your own wine: • The best wines are those that you enjoy most. • Appearance: Only rate less than three if there are any obvious flaws. • Nose: Start at 3.5 and work your way up for positive characteristics and down for negative. • Palate: Start at 5 and head up for the good and down for the bad. • Record your results and it is incredible how much you learn by going through this process. Practice makes perfect!
YOUR RED WINES Cederberg Cabernet Sauvignon
Producer: The Nieuwoudt family has been handcrafting wines at Cederberg for 5 generations. With David Nieuwoudt now at the helm of operations, an element of character and appeal is consistently enjoyed throughout the Cederberg range. A keen rock climber, David is not afraid to go in new directions, experimenting with new techniques and not merely resting on his own or his family’s success. His training at Elsenburg Wine Academy and passionate love of wine has resulted in a wide repertoire of wines, each with special character and appeal. Cultivar Characteristics: Cabernet Sauvignon is the focus topic of the course this month, found at the end of the booklet. The Cederberg Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic expression of what the variety has to offer. Wine Characteristics: This is an elegant, juicy and lively wine. It has intense dark mulberry, tobacco and cassis with a full and rich palate holding firm tannin structure. There is also some spice complexity to the wine.. Cellaring: Quite a young and relatively aggressive Cabernet Sauvignon so worth aging for four to six years. For the impatient see below. Complimentary foods: The tannin structure of this wine would be softened by a good cut of sirloin, simply seared on the braai or pan. Ordering: R510 per case of six.
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Paul Cluver Elgin Blend
Producer: As any good blend requires a good interaction between the comprising varietals, Paul Cluver Wines relies heavily on the close knit nature of the family on which this operation was founded. This family extends, not only to the Cluvers, but to all of those who call the farm home. Based in the cool climate Elgin Valley as part of the Kogelberg Biosphere, Paul Cluver Wines is one of the leading producers of fine wines in this region. Other well respected producers in the region include Iona, Ross Gower Wines and the relatively new Belfield Estate. Cultivar Characteristics: The intrigue and complexity of blended wines provides the winemaker with a stage to showcase his true talents. The art of creating the perfect blend is achieved by very few but sought by so many. While a winemaker only has so much control over a single varietal wine, the flavour and structure of a blend is left almost entirely in the hands of he who decides on the nature of the blend. This particular blend is comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon, providing much needed structure; Shiraz, providing further structure and spiciness and finally Merlot, which brings all three varietals together and adds significant fruit to the final product. Wine Characteristics: On the nose one is treated to plum and dark berry flavours with hints of mocha and chocolate flavours. The palate is inundated with fruit and shows great texture combined with densely structured tannins. Complimentary foods: This wine would be a superb partner with lamb. Cellaring: Can drink now or for next 5 years. Ordering: R330 per case of 6 Notes
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Belfield Magnifica Cabernet Sauvignon
Producer: Belfield is a boutique producer, with a mere 3 hectares under vine. The property lies on a warmer north facing slope with gravely, ironstone soils, ideal for the four red varietals of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet Franc that are planted. The small volumes make for incredibly high attention to detail and owner Mike Kreft believes strongly that a wine’s quality is decided in the vineyard. Meticulous canopy management, to ensure enough sunlight on the grapes, and careful grape selection are two focuses to ensure optimum ripeness and quality. Cultivar Characteristics: Cabernet Sauvignon, king of the red grapes, has the composition to produce huge wines due to its high tannin structure and intense flavours. Cooler climate Cabernet Sauvignons are more subtle, however, as they are often softer and less robust wines. Wine Characteristics: This wine is a signature cooler climate Cabernet Sauvignon with soft tannins and blackberry and plum flavours. Matured in 100% French Oak the wine also has smoky and cassis elements to it. Beautifully balanced, with a crisp finish this wine will present Cabernet Sauvignon in a guise not normally found in South Africa. Complimentary foods: In the recent Wine Magazine this wine was paired with a springbok casserole. Who are we to argue with that? Cellaring: This wine has integrated beautifully and will age well over the next five years. Ordering: R480 per case of six. Notes
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YOUR WHITE WINES Oak Valley Chardonnay Producer: Oak Valley spans a massive 1786 hectares, boasting a portfolio of fruit, cut flowers, beef cattle and increasingly, high quality cool climate wines. A wide diversity of slopes is available for vineyard establishment; the highest vineyard is situated at 600 metres above sea level on a south facing slope at the toe of the Groenberg mountains. Cultivar Characteristics: Sauvignon Blanc’s homeland is in the Loire appellations of France but it is grown in regions around the world. A Sauvignon Blanc with tropical fruit and gooseberry tones is very often from a warmer climate, whereas the grassy, greenpepper and more flinty Sauvignons often hail from cooler climates. Also, the cooler the climate, the more racy the acidity of the wine. Wine Characteristics: This is a beautifully balanced wine with tropical notes of litchi and passion fruit with some hints of greenpepper. The wine has a crisp acidity and comes alive on the palate. It is well rounded and benefits from a long aftertaste. A beautiful example of a Sauvignon Blanc. Complimentary foods: This wine will pair beautifully with a carbonara style pasta. Cellaring: Worth a dabble now but you can cellar this wine for at least three years. Ordering: R540 per case of six.
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Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc
Producer: Steenberg is actually the oldest farm in the Constantia valley and has all of the superb terroir that the region is known for. With cool, east facing slopes in close proximity to the ocean and granite based soils the wines from the Estate have won acclaim from around the world. Since 1990 some 68Ha of vineyard have been planted including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz and Nebbiolo. Cultivar characteristics: Sauvignon Blanc, the white savage! This varietal originates in the Loire valley of France and has a reputation for steely acidity and intense flinty, grassy and fruit flavours. It definitely has a penchant for cooler climates where its racy characters come to the fore. In warm climates it can be a bit flabby and low in acidity, with dull flavours. Wine characteristics: This Sauvignon bridges the Old World and New World beautifully in terms of style. Old World wines are grassy, with mineral and gooseberry characters while new world Sauvignons tend to have more tropical fruit. This Sauvignon has the best of both with the flinty and full bodied characteristics of grass, peppers and fruit. Complimentary foods: Here is a challenge for you‌ prepare a mussel dish with a slightly spicy sauce and pair it with this wine. Glorious! Cellaring: Worth drinking this year. Ordering: R450 per case of 6
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Brampton Viognier Producer: Brampton Wines fall under the Rustenburg estate, which can be found in the Southern Simonsburg amphitheatre. Surrounded by bold mountain peaks, the high elevation of this region allows it to benefit from the cooling sea breezes – despite being 30km from the ocean. Soils are typically granite-rich, high-yielding varieties, with good water and nutrient retention properties. Cultivar Characteristics: Viognier is characterised by floral flavours and aromas due to a specific flavour compound found in the grapes known as terpenes. This makes it one of the more gloriously perfumed grapes in the white wine bracket. It is usually used in blends, with both red and white wines, and single cultivar releases, like this one, are rare. The cultivar generally prefers a warmer climate, and is generally made to be consumed relatively young, as extensive ageing often leads to a reduction in the wine’s floral aromas. Wine Characteristics: This is a fine example of a single-variety Viognier. Not overly brash in its aroma or mouth-feel, the palate offers a hint of sweetness and an intricate structure. Bursts of honey and apricot indicate the varietal’s signature characteristics, and the four months in French and American oak have given the wine a rich, full-bodied character. Cellaring - Delicious now, so this is a good one for those with little patience! Complimentary foods: A sweet and sour chicken dish would be a good bet. Ordering: R290 per case of six. Notes
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FOCUS ON THE GRAPE Welcome dear Under the Influence member to our next focus point; that of the grape. In particular we are looking at Cabernet Sauvignon and without a doubt sampling it too! Cabernet Sauvignon is a grape and wine is made from grapes and only grapes. Now that we have got that out the way, let’s first briefly understand what does a grape consist of and how does it influence the end product in the glass. We know that a grape or bunch of grapes consists of the following: • • • •
Skin Pulp (the juice) Pips Stalks
The question we need to ask is simply, “but what do they do for flavour?” Let’s have a quick look. Stalk Take a stalk and chew it if you dare! It is mostly astringent tannin. Too much stalk contact will give lots of green tannin flavours. Some stalk contact is seen as positive, only for wines that need bulking up of tannin structure like certain Pinot Noirs.
Pulp (the juice) They juice holds key ingredients. The juice is sweet and the sugar within it is converted to alcohol. So the more sugar, the more alcohol. The juice has a certain degree of acidity. So, if a grape is under ripe the acids will be too high, if over ripe the grapes won’t have enough acidity. Finally, grape juice holds different flavours. Through evolution grapes held fruit and floral flavours and aromas to attract birds and insects to pollinate them. These are unlocked during fermentation.
Skin The skin is another really important part of the grape. Skin gives a wine flavour, colour and tannin. So, it stands to reason that a red grape that has a thicker skin will have more flavour, more colour and more tannin. The skin also holds a very important ingredient, especially for traditional wine makers. Grapes skins can have wild yeast on them which trigger fermentation naturally. Pips There are two types of people, those that eat pips in grapes and those that spit them out. A third kind, which is on the increase buys only seedless grapes! The reason we spit them out is that they are bitter. They will give a wine a similar bitterness if the grapes, skins and pips are pressed to hard. This can actually crack the pips.
CABERNET SAUVIGNON With an understanding of the grape we can now have a look at the majestic Cabernet Sauvignon. Similar to when you meet someone new it is customary to ask “where are you from?”. Let’s take a similar approach with Cabernet Sauvignon!
Cabernet Sauvignon is a product of a chance crossing between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc that probably occurred during the 17 th century in France. Cabernet Sauvignon shares similar aromas with both grapes – the blackcurrant and pencil box aromas of Cabernet Franc and the grassiness of Sauvignon Blanc. Its first recorded plantings were in the Pauillac on Château Mouton and Château d'Armailhac , and these were probably the source of many grapes for the rest of Bordeaux and the world.
Characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon Since we have moved on from the origins of the grape we can start to analyse its character. The grapes have thick skins and the vines are hardy and resistant to rot and frost. This has led to it being widely planted around the world. The grape itself is very small, so it has a small proportion of pulp, or juice, to the skin. This gives Cabernet Sauvignon intense flavours, higher tannin levels and dark inky colour. These characteristics often give Cabernet Sauvignon a leading role in a blend. Another notable trait of Cabernet Sauvignon is its affinity for oak, either during fermentation or in barrel aging. In addition to having a softening effect on the grape’s naturally high tannins, the unique wood flavours and vanilla and spice compliment the natural grape flavours of black currant and other dark fruits. So, in terms of character traits Cabernet Sauvignon is quite a dominant character, thick skinned and somewhat intense at times but also mixes well with others, usually as the centre of attention! We all know one... Where are you planning on travelling? If you had asked Cabernet Sauvignon back in the 17th century, “where are you planning on travelling?”, it would probably not have imagined the extent of its influence around the world. From Bordeaux, Italy, to Australia, South Africa and California, many different styles are produced. In the Old World, Bordeaux is king and shows Cabernet Sauvignon’s propensity for slightly cooler climates and well drained gravel based soils In South Africa, Stellenbosch is seen as a centre for producing great Cabernet Sauvignon’s and red blends. It is a warmer climate than Bordeaux and shows more riper fruit flavours.
What does it do for flavour? So, when confronted with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and a table of Guests who have gone silent in anticipation of your informed comments on the wine in the glass, what to say!? The style of Cabernet Sauvignon is strongly influenced by the ripeness of the grapes at harvest. When more on the unripe side, the grapes are high in pyrazines and will exhibit pronounced green bell peppers and vegetal flavours. When harvested overripe the wines can taste jammy and may have aromas of stewed black currants. “I would tend to agree with
When Cabernet Sauvignon is young, the wines typically exhibit strong fruit flavours of black cherries and plum. The aroma of black currants is one of the most distinctive and characteristic element of Cabernet Sauvignon that is present in virtually every style of the wine across the globe. Styles from various regions and producers may also have aromas of eucalyptus, mint and tobacco. As the wines age they can sometimes develop aromas associated with cedar, cigar boxes and pencil shavings. In general New World examples have more pronounced fruity notes while Old World wines can be more austere with heightened earthy notes.
Typical Cabernet Sauvignon Smell and/or Flavour Descriptors (The cheat sheet) Varietal Aromas/Flavours: Processing Bouquets/Flavours: Fruit: Blackcurrant, Blackberry, Black cherry, Plum, Cassis
Oak (light): Vanilla, Coconut, Sweet wood
Herbal: Green Pepper, Mint, Green Olive, Asparagus, Bell Pepper
Oak (heavy): Chocolate, Coffee, Smoke, Toast, Tar, Oak
Spice: Ginger, Green peppercorn, Pimento
Bottle Age: Pencil Shavings, Cedar, Cigar box, Musk, Mushroom, Earth, Leather
Regionality in South Africa The wine world loves to differentiate wine styles by region and this stems largely from areas like Burgundy and Bordeaux where one vineyard can be a stone throw from another vineyard and the wines vary in flavour just as much as price! Here is a very general overall of some regional styles to look
Stellenbosch: Well drained sandstone and shale soils and partly shielded from cool sea breezes. Intense flavours and dense tannin structures are the typical traits here. A lot of award winning Cabernet Sauvignons. Helderberg: Similar to Stellenbosch but varying altitudes and more sea breeze contact. Blue and blackberry is typical with a finer tannin structure and lower alcohol levels. Helshoogte pocket: Just outside Stellenbosch. Slightly cooler climate and famous for minty traits of Thelema Cabernet Sauvignons. Elgin: Cool climate with Cabernet Sauvignons showing Old World freshness in acidity, lower alcohol and dark fruit character. Franschhoek: Warmer interior, concentrated fruit and rounded tannins, usually quite accessible at a young age. Paarl: Big, beastly Cabernet Sauvignons. Beautifully rich and structured. Durbanville:
A
cooler
climate
produces
Sauvignons with herbaceous characters.
finely
textured
Cabernet
BLOG POST Here is an extract from an interview we had with Eben Sadie, focusing on soil. You can read more articles at www.undertheinfluence.co.za. Click through to our blog.
It is said that all wine has one thing in common. Many may argue that the commonality lies in the fact that all wines are made from grapes. Taking the fact that grapes create wine as an absolute, the commonality lies in the fact that all wines in the world have an address…a place. Wines are liquid images that give us an understanding of a place. This is why wine has an origin, an address, a place. With European labels, or for that matter the old world, the importance of the wine is not who produced it, but rather where it is from! For instance, in Burgundy, Mussiny would be large and apparent on the label and the producer’s name, small and insignificant in comparison. Mussiny is a place with a certain soil. These producers produce places, not certain percentages of alcohol with certain stylistic flavours. Soil is where a plant roots itself; a vine puts its whole life, its anchor, in the soil. The whole neurological system of the vine is placed in the soil. In the late 70’s wine became like fashion. Everyone wanted to be a famous superstar of the wine world. Producers started pushing wine making as a determinant factor for wine styles. Before the 70’s, the soil, the history and the community were the driving factors. In the late 70’s and early 80’s a shift in wine toward prestige and excellence was apparent, moving away from the importance of soil and into the cellar.
BLOG POST continued... This saw the birth of great winemakers, the great winemakers portfolios, and consumers opting for varietal wines like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, which became a function of branding. Hence, more important than the vines grown and the soils grown in, was the need to produce a varietal wine of fashion. In retrospect, we have lost so much in the last 20 years. Many wines were made by people who put their own importance above that of the region or address. All wineries use the same barrels, the same consultants and the same university textbooks; hence it is only normal to assume that most of the wines are starting to look the same. Now we drink a Cabernet in Australia, Bordeaux and Napa and the differentiation is minimal in many cases. What is important, in these wines, is precision viticulture, precision wine making, precision barrels, precision yeasts and precision clones while in the end it is no surprise that many of the wines have no character of soil. In Burgundy there are vineyards the size of a dining room in a large house, a soil with an expression. Within a stone throw of this aforementioned vineyard you have a similar sized vineyard, however one wine is priced at 5 Euros and the other at 300 Euros. Not because the light is better, or the climate is so different, but because the soil is superior and everything is working in harmony. The New World is developing its wine regions where everything needs to occur instantaneously. The development of viticultural land is determined by the economy, excel spreadsheets, the financial manager, profitability and real estate values. Europe’s wine regions were developed around 500 years ago, and before this they had a thousand years without these modern day pressures, such as marketing and branding. The varieties growing in Europe were planted first and foremost as a function of the development of time. These grapes are best suited to their chosen soils, not because of the economy, nor profitability, nor a fashion created by newspapers 18000 kms away. These producers looked at their climate, their disease pressures, their soil behaviour and cultural values and this information determined that specific plants, varieties and vines on their soils would make the expression of their place. Eben Sadie’s unique philosophy on wines and their expressions of their place have yielded world acclaim through two of South Africa’s most rare and most highly rated wines, Columella and Pilladius.