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De-vine South Africa
Wine tasting in South Africa is a way to get close to the heart of this remarkable country and, as travel writer Brendan Harding discovers, learn a thing or two along the way
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HERE are creatures, blind and devoid of pigment – some made up of no more than a handful of primitive cells – unaware of the outside world and dwell in dark, dank underground caves whom, I suspect, know more about wine than I do. For God’s sake, thanks to latenight spillages there are dust mites living on the surfaces of carpets, floor coverings and couches across the world who are more educated on the subjects of viniculture and oenology than I am. However, this does not mean that I’m unwilling to evolve to something higher. Recently, for a whole week I was lucky enough to have been fast-tracked, hot-housed and surrounded by the royalty of the South African wine industry in those temples dedicated to the vine throughout the Atlanticwashed Western Cape – the country’s grandiose wine estates. For a whole week at the country’s showcase Wine Fair ‘Cape Wine & Vindaba’, this protozoan writer was allowed to stray above ground into the light and stare blankly as Pinotages, Chenins, Merlots, Sauvignons and a host of grape varieties that sounded vaguely like characters from a Victor Hugo novel were sucked, sniffed and spat out by those in the know. For those who don’t know – where have you been living? – South Africa is a Mecca for wine lovers and the country has decided to declare this fact from the rooftops. Inside the Cape Town Conference Centre, as bright late-spring sunshine beamed down and Table Mountain had cast off its table cloth mantle of cloud, the country’s wine producers were putting the finishing touches to their show stands. Bottles were being decanted, glasses polished, signage and brochures being laid out as the wine-makers prepared to meet the world’s buyers, media and lovers of all things grapey. When most people think of South Africa several things crop instantly to mind: safari drive close-ups with lions, buffalo and leopard, diving with sharks, whale and dolphin watching, stunning scenery and, of course, rugby. And like most people, these too
Stellenbosch viewed from the five-star Asara Wine Estate and Hotel
STAYING THERE
Stellenbosch ����, www.dornier.co.za.
Southern Sun Waterfront Hotel, Cape Town, www.tsogosunhotels.com/hotels/waterfrontcape-town D’Oude Werf Hotel, Stellenbosch (one of South Africa’s oldest inns), www.oudewerfhotel.co.za Spier Hotel, Stellenbosch, www.spier.co.za/ spier_hotel Asara Wine Estate and Hotel, Stellenbosch, www.Asara.co.za.
WINE ESTATES Beyerskloof Wine Estate, Koelenhof, www.beyerskloof.co.za Hartenberg Wine Estate, Die Boord, Stellenbosch, www.hartenbergestate.com Villiera Wine Estate (��km from Stellenbosch), www.villiera.com Waterford Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, www.wat erfordestate.co.za Dornier Wine Estate, Blaauwklippen Road, were once my initial thoughts. In order to fully appreciate the importance of South Africa’s vast wine culture, the good people of the country’s tourist board decided that seeing (or tasting) really is believing, so they loaded a group of journalists and writers aboard a bus and set forth to educate their jaded palates. It was my first time in South Africa and despite the ��-hour flight from London jet lag was non-existent. The drive from Cape Town along the Western Cape confirmed my preconceptions of a prosperous country deeply entrenched in post-apartheid rebuilding. Sure, the townships still exist on the edge of the
DINING THERE �� Apostles Hotel and Spa, Victoria Road, Camps Bay, Cape Town, www.��apostleshotel.com Taj Bombay Brasserie, Wale Street, Cape Town, www.tajcapetown.co.za/blog Reuben’s at the One&Only, Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, www.oneandonlycapet own.com Cuvée Restaurant at Simonsig, Stellenbosch, w ww.cuveeatsimonsig.co.za Bodega Restaurant at Dornier, Blaauwklippen Road, Stellenbosch, www.dornier.co.za/ restaurant Asara Wine Estate & Hotel, Stellenbosch, www.Asara.co.za.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION South African Tourism, www.southafrica.net.
city, but within their confines there’s evidence of regeneration, construction, clean water supply, public lighting and the early churnings of industry. Beyond the city limits, the mountains of the Western Cape bulge from the surrounding plains in spectacular and inspiring enormity. The farmers working in the fields and vineyards which lined the route towards Stellenbosch were dwarfed by their sheer scale. Beyerskloof is the wine estate of Beyers Truter, a man known to the wine world as ‘Mr Pinotage’. The Beyerskloof estate is South Africa’s top-selling, most popular and loved producer of bottled
Pinotage – a variety of grape of which my cave-dwelling brain was totally unaware. For �� minutes, Mr Pinotage’s son Anri put us through our paces with an engaging and educational wine tasting of the winery’s most famous brands. In a modern room decorated with signed and framed Springbok jerseys, Anri explained how to identify a young wine from a mature wine through colour alone. He spoke passionately of notes and length, of body and tannins, the effects of barrel times on the tongue and reconfirmed in spades the notion that I was way out of my depth. At the Hartenberg estate, our
host Sonnette paired impeccably – even I realised this mastery – the estate’s wines with a selection of gourmet treats from salmon and snoek patés to richly sweet samosas. I was learning. Along with the wines, Sonnette was proud to share the estate’s long history; speaking of each owner as if they still walked the cellar’s long, barrel-filled corridors. So infused with this history is the estate that in the dim light of the cellar’s private dining room her guests were forbidden from sitting in two chairs at each end of the large dining table as two of the previous owners (although long deceased) still use them. There was nothing strange about this, I knew, for Sonnette carried with her an understanding and affinity with the estate that others would never know. At Villiera estate, Simon Geir proudly showed off his dedication to energy efficiency and coexistence with nature – the estate also includes a small game reserve. Oh, and Simon also showed off some exceptional wines. At Waterford estate, the charming Kevin Arnold led the intensive tasting session in a gigantic drawing room where logs burned on a room-sized open fire as his pair of scene-stealing dogs played to the audience. At the Dornier estate (yes, the airplane people), more wines were tasted and paired in the elaborately designed winery whose roof sweeps in great flowing lines which play in harmony with the line of waterfallcovered neighbouring peaks. And so it went, like an eager member of a group of itinerant winos, my knowledge increased with the opening of each new cork; Sauvignons, Chenins, Rosés, Pinotages, Chardonnays all played games with my taste buds in a land devoted to wine. But although I am no expert, one word of advice: when you do visit South Africa and engage in the pursuit of wine knowledge, you will, like me, learn one valuable lesson: they spit the wine for a very good reason. Now, where did I leave those Asprin? Cape Town and the Western Cape close-up coming soon ...