On recent outings to the winelands, I’ve spotted a curious conundrum. At tastings in cellars from the Simonsberg and the Helderberg to Paarl and Wellington, the winemaker has spoken passionately about the terroir of wines made from grapes grown in vineyards developed in another region altogether. We’re not talking multi-regional blends - more of the art of extending the diversity of a cellar’s wine portfolio by combining home terroir (wines made from grapes grown in situ) and cool-climate terroir (wines made from vineyards planted elsewhere). It seems to be all the rage.
On a recent visit to Quoin Rock I was struck by the fact that two-tier terroir in tastings and on Cape wine labels is quite the trend - take Cederberg/Ghost’s Corner (Elim), Fairview/Hidden Valley/Land’s End (Elim), Boschendal/Elgin, De Bos/Walker Bay, Thelema/Sutherland (Elgin), Boplaas/Cool Bay and Quoin Rock/Cape Agulhas (Elim), to mention a few. We sat down to a tasting of two terroirs at Quoin Rock, some two hundred kilometres “oor die berg” from the vineyards in Elim where the grapes for the cellar’s renowned MCC, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are grown.
“Keep calm and carry on” was the legend emblazoned on the t-shirt of Narina Cloete, the talented young winemaker who vinified the last five vintages at Quoin Rock as it underwent a transition as rocky as the outcrop at Cape Agulhas which gives the Stellenbosch winery its name. Of the challenges of the extreme maritime terroir of Cape Agulhas, she quips “You have to find the right jockey to ride a wild horse”. While the home vineyards of Simonsberg are the ideal terroir for signature Bordeaux varieties (watch out for the maiden 2011 red blend), the cool climate terroir of Elim yields the pure fruit and oyster shell minerality which won acclaim for the unwooded, wooded (Nicobar) and vine-dried Sauvignon Blanc, MCC and Oculus white blend.
“We want to take the terroir a step forward. Simonsberg is Cabernet country. Our main focus in these vineyards will be on Bordeaux varieties” declares Nico Walters, the new viticulturist who talks about a focus on eco-friendly sustainable viticulture and winemaking down to 99% natural fermentation. It’s business as usual under new owner, Ukrainian magnate Vitaliy Gayduk who acquired Quoin Rock for R85m in late 2012 - and began an extensive restoration programme through extensive cellar renovation and vineyard replanting. Five new Nomblot concrete eggs in the revamped cellar wait like giant dinosaur eggs to give birth to the 2014 vintage of Chardonnay under the Cape South Coast appellation (a blend of Elim and Walker Bay grapes).
Leaving behind the Stellenbosch cellar named after a landmark in another wine region, I headed over to Hidden Valley to taste the maiden Shipwreck Shiraz 2011 made from grapes grown in the Elim area - which joins the line-up of Land’s End wines also made at this Stellenbosch cellar from grapes grown near Cape Agulhas.
“Elim is not for sissies” declares owner Dave Hidden who went one step further with maritime terroir and matured wine in a cask anchored under the sea. For eighteen months, the cask sealed in concrete matured at 12,5 metres underwater as the tides and temperatures interacted through holes in the concrete shell. “You’ll pick up something different in this wine” Hidden says of the wine inspired by the shipwreck of the Merasheen, a minesweeper which brought his father to South Africa in 1946.
Every wine should tell a story. Hidden recalls he was looking at the lighthouse at Cape Agulhas, thinking “We take grapes all the way from Elim back to ‘Beverley Hills’ (Hidden Valley) in Stellenbosch. We should mature the wines right here on the coast. Let’s put the wine into the sea.” His was the newest experiment in maritime terroir since Abrie Bruwer of Springfield matured a case of Cabernet Sauvignon at one of his favourite fishing spots in the area - and Anthony Hamilton-Russell matured cases of barnacle-encrusted Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 2004 in Hermanus Harbour. I’ve tasted all three “underwater” wines, none of which are salty nor watery!
Hidden adds, “I don’t want to use the ‘T-word’ - it's cheesy. We do want to make wines with a unique sense of place though. It’s a third more expensive to farm grapes on slopes at our elevations up to 382m. We get less vines and need more drainage”. Winemaker Emma Moffat - who has worked cool climate harvests in Hawkes Bay - led a tasting of Hidden Valley wines made at her showpiece cellar in the golden triangle of Stellenbosch. She says, “We have a green philosophy. We work with nature. We get great minerality and natural acidity in our Sauvignon Blanc.”
In search of the new maritime terroir, I revisited Groote Post to taste the fruits of the first fifteen vintages grown and made at one of the largest family-owned wine farms in the Cape. Set in the hills of Darling on the west coast, these high-lying vineyards have given great expression to cool climate varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir. Winemaker Lukas Wentzel has made the wines here since arriving in 2000. There has been no turning back for the Pentz family, which has made the farm a tourist gateway on the west coast with wine tastings in the old fort, country fare at Hilda’s Kitchen (named after Hildagonda Duckitt - the grande dame of Cape cuisine), and game-drives and bird-viewing in an eco-conservancy.
It is not only Elim grapes that are the secret cool climate ingredient in many of the Cape’s top aromatic wines. Standing in the shadow of the Kapokberg (the name of the cellar’s new reserve label), Nick Pentz comments “Grapes from Darling go into at least one hundred Sauvignon Blanc wine labels in the Cape. We get really good balance”. Lukas adds, “Sauvignon Blanc, our flagship variety, is very consistent in our area. We get great natural acidity and distinct green flavours in Darling - typical dusty, gooseberry and nettle character - and great structure. The younger vines give fresher fruit; the older vines give depth. We’re honest producers. You always have to be able to keep up with changes in wine styles and consumer preferences.”
Nick Pentz concludes, “Wine tourism is so underplayed in South Africa. If we want to sell our wines overseas, we have to sell our country first. Wine has to sell a story in a bottle. We sell 50% of our wine within 100 kilometres of the winery at the cellar-door, restaurants and hotels”. And they source most of the ingredients for the country cuisine at Hilda’s Kitchen from within ten kilometres of Darling from the creamery and meat market to fruit and vegetables. His father, patriarch and former dairy farmer Peter Pentz has the last word on the virtues of taking up wine farming, “In 47 years of dairy farming, no-one ever said to me I enjoyed a bottle of your milk last night!”
At home I’ve tasted my way through the new cool-climate coastal terroir wines developed by warmer climate inland cellars in Calitzdorp in the Little Karoo. In a classic case of two-tier terroir, Boets Nel of De Krans has developed an acclaimed terroir-specific Garden Route range of Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc from a high-lying vineyard in the Outeniqua wine ward. And Carel Nel of Boplaas has expanded into cool-climate Cool Bay Sauvignon Blanc from old bushvines in faraway Darling - as well as a stunning new Bobbejaanberg Sauvignon Blanc from vines in the Upper Langkloof (Outeniqua mountains). Two-tier terroir is spreading like wildfire in the Cape.
Not for sale to persons under the age of 18. Enjoy Responsibly.