The recent rise in the number of South African wines breaking the four-digit price ceiling could be part of shedding the industry’s cheap and cheerful reputation. But do the expensive wines justify their hefty prices? 

Many would argue that it requires a serious price tag for a wine to be taken seriously. South African wines are inexpensive (dare I say, cheap?). That applies equally to premium wines, other bottled wines and bulk wine. This is strikingly illustrated by the wines that, in 2014, attained scores of 90 points or higher in the influential wine publication Wine Spectator: the average of these South African wines was US$40, compared to US$106 and US$75 for French and Italian wines respectively.

This prompted our special R1 000-plus Which Wine tasting. The majority of South Africa’s four-digit wines were tasted by a top panel. Most of the wines were supplied by the wineries. (One estate declined to participate.) Two wines were faulty and in both cases only one bottle had been supplied.

Kanonkop, De Toren and Delaire Graff were the top performers at the tasting, with the Kanonkop ‘Black Label’ Pinotage the firm favourite. Interestingly, although these wineries fervently encourage the top end of South Africa’s wine offering, they have significantly different approaches to their top wines.

The tag comes with the track record 

“You need real credibility and a track record before you can ask anything close to R1 000 for a bottle of wine. This does not happen overnight and there are some who force it prematurely,” comments Kanonkop proprietor Johann Krige.

Kanonkop is one of very few wineries that can confidently present vertical tastings of 15 vintages of many of their wines. This, according to Krige, needs to be the case before wineries start meddling with prices. He adds that it would be difficult to justify a hefty price tag if the wine is not site specific.

“The Black Label Pinotage is a result of innovation by the winemaking team. Beeslaar vinified the oldest (62 years) block on the farm separately for years, before we decided to launch a new product. The wine constantly stood out and we knew that we had something special.” Krige is sceptical about ‘boardroom creations’, stating that quality should be the driver and the aim, and not products crafted for a niche or a price point.

“We will never have reserve wines at Kanonkop. Your wines should be the best – end of story. That’s why the Black Label has to stand on its own feet and is handled as a completely separate project.” And it has certainly proved itself, having grown from 1 000 to 5 000 bottles in seven vintages. Furthermore, Kanonkop boasts several old blocks of Pinotage. The second oldest block on the estate is deemed a suitable replacement, should the current vineyard ‘retire’.

“It had to be a Pinotage. Not only because it’s South African or because we are known for the variety, but because older Pinotage blocks yield fantastic wines, even if they have leaf roll – which is inevitably the case for these old vines,” explains Krige.

The Black Label Pinotage has exactly the same bottle as the standard Kanonkop Pinotage. “The wine is from a special site and is of superlative quality. It does not need a heavy bottle or wooden box. We have boxes, but if people want a box, they can buy them,” confirms Krige.

Serious luxury 

South Africa desperately needs 20 or more wines that sell for more than US$100 and are viewed as top-quality products by wine critics. “Wines under US$50 are no longer viewed as serious, and compared to other leading New World producers, South Africa is nowhere. We have shot ourselves in the foot and need to change this perception.”

This, according to business-savvy De Toren proprietor Emil den Dulk, who researched expensive New World wines through winesearcher. com. His search revealed that the average price of South Africa’s 15 most expensive wines was US$67.00 per bottle, compared to US$82.00 and US$139 for Chile and Argentina respectively. “It’s also interesting that the average price for the top 20 French wines is 65 times more than their South African counterparts!” emphasises Den Dulk.

According to Den Dulk, luxury wines – the style that De Toren is pursuing with both Book XVII and Black Lion – are not to everyone’s taste. “You need to enjoy big, full wines that really make an impression. They fit in with a luxury lifestyle and are the kind of wines you want to enjoy with a cigar. Think Opus One, but not necessarily Sassicaia.”

Judging by the results of Wine Cellar’s 2014 Luxury Tastings, held in Johannesburg and Cape Town, De Toren’s efforts hit the mark. Book XVII and Black Lion were ranked in first and third place among 12 South African wines, judged by consumers, trade and media.

The biggest market for both these big guns is South Africa, followed by Switzerland. Exclusivity is part of this game and purchases are limited to one case per customer.

Den Dulk comments that luxury wines are undeniably also much more expensive to produce and require luxury packaging that complements the wine. “In fact, we don’t make a lot of money with these wines: they serve as research projects, which lead to important insights. These insights are then applied to our ‘normal’ wines, which remain the focus of the business. They are the F1 cars of the wine world. You don’t see them on the road, but the resulting technology is applied in other cars.”

The shining diamond 

The Laurence Graff Reserve was a result of a challenge put to Delaire winemaker Morné Vrey to produce the shining diamond of the Delaire Graff wine range. “It obviously had to be a Cabernet – that’s what we are best known for – and an old block on the estate was an equally obvious contender,” confirms Vrey.

The inaugural 2009 vintage was a selection of the five best barrels from that block and this approach has been followed since then. “It was the ideal vintage to start with and the five stars in Platter’s certainly made a great first impression,” he comments.

This also meant that the bar was high from the onset. The 2010 vintage did not meet the required standard and was subsequently not bottled as Laurence Graff Reserve. Vrey echoes the sentiment of the other four-digit pioneers, emphasising that asking a premium price for a substandard wine would have serious long-term consequences.

“The wine will sell, but that’s not really what it’s about. It’s about selling the best Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon we can possibly produce,” confirms Vrey.

And he is right. The wine does sell and it does so pretty swiftly. The Laurence Graff Reserve is only available directly from the estate, as well as from the Delaire Graff restaurant. A lot of it is sold at the restaurant, but there are also instances where more than 200 bottles are ordered.

Opportunism vs Excellence

A key point of discussion among the judges after the tasting was that none of the wines attained their four-digit status due to gradual economic powers of supply and demand – powers that inevitably constitute a survival of the fittest/greatest mechanism.

Wines like Eben Sadie’s Columella and Hamilton Russell Vineyard’s Pinot Noir were cited as examples of wines that sell out quickly, year after year, at prices below the four-digit mark. Gary Jordan, in particular, stated that the industry would be better served by a tasting comparing reputable local and international wines selling for less than R1 000 with the R1 000-plus wines.

It was also contended that the top South African white wines could very well outperform the top reds by both price and reputation. A similar tasting of the top white wines may be a worthwhile exercise.

The panel concluded that currently some South African wines over R1 000 were not necessarily the best the industry has to offer and that opportunism could harm the bigger cause. The number of four-digit wines are likely to keep growing. If done properly, this could accentuate value for money at the top end – which is already being noticed by critics and collectors worldwide. If the wines at the top end disappoint, the detrimental ripple effect could be as hefty as the price tag.