Wednesday, May 12, 2004
South African Wine
South Africa and wine have never been synonymous in my mind. Until this trip to India. One of the real downsides to being in India is that one rarely gets to drink a decent wine. Golconda Red and Port (Goa style) tend to taste like a cross between cough syrup and bad grape juice. So it was a really pleasant surprise to find Zulu Pinotage at a French restaurant in Goa. It really is an excellent wine and is not too expensive either (around $10/Rs450). Pinotage is fundamentally a hybrid varietal exclusive to South Africa (and not very popular there as I understand) that features a cross between Hermitage (cinsault) and Pinot Noir. Since my first glass of Pinotage in Goa, I have sworn by it and have been trying to introduce as many people as possible to this excellent wine, especially my wine starved friends in India.
I have been curious about South Africa's wine growing tradition since then. Frank Prial provides some answers. No mention of Zulu Pinotage here though.
Under the white minority government a single bureaucracy dictated everything in the business: what grapes to plant, where to plant them and how much wine to make. Good European grapes like cabernet and shiraz were frowned upon. Few South African winemakers had worked abroad, and foreigners with modern techniques were not always welcome. The Western Cape was half a century behind the rest of the wine world.
Now business is booming, new vineyards are being planted and new wineries being built. This once-sleepy college town is becoming a chic resort. Reservations in the best restaurants can be as scarce as they are in St. Helena, in California. Franschoek, just over the mountain, is even more exclusive. And if the old wine communities like Stellenbosch, Constantia and Paarl are thriving, so are new regions like Olifants River, Tulbagh, Swartland, Elgin/Walker Bay and Klein, or Little, Karoo.
Even chenin blanc and pinotage have taken on new life. Chenin blanc, known here as steen, and still the Cape's most heavily planted grape, traditionally produced a heavy, flabby wine, better suited for distilling than drinking. No more. A 2002 old-vine chenin from Cedarberg, in distant Olifants River, had the depth and intense bouquet of a fine, dry Vouvray. At the same time, a newfound, almost chauvinistic interest in pinotage has produced some smooth, full-bodied wines that might be mistaken for shiraz.
I have been curious about South Africa's wine growing tradition since then. Frank Prial provides some answers. No mention of Zulu Pinotage here though.
Under the white minority government a single bureaucracy dictated everything in the business: what grapes to plant, where to plant them and how much wine to make. Good European grapes like cabernet and shiraz were frowned upon. Few South African winemakers had worked abroad, and foreigners with modern techniques were not always welcome. The Western Cape was half a century behind the rest of the wine world.
Now business is booming, new vineyards are being planted and new wineries being built. This once-sleepy college town is becoming a chic resort. Reservations in the best restaurants can be as scarce as they are in St. Helena, in California. Franschoek, just over the mountain, is even more exclusive. And if the old wine communities like Stellenbosch, Constantia and Paarl are thriving, so are new regions like Olifants River, Tulbagh, Swartland, Elgin/Walker Bay and Klein, or Little, Karoo.
Even chenin blanc and pinotage have taken on new life. Chenin blanc, known here as steen, and still the Cape's most heavily planted grape, traditionally produced a heavy, flabby wine, better suited for distilling than drinking. No more. A 2002 old-vine chenin from Cedarberg, in distant Olifants River, had the depth and intense bouquet of a fine, dry Vouvray. At the same time, a newfound, almost chauvinistic interest in pinotage has produced some smooth, full-bodied wines that might be mistaken for shiraz.
