Stellenbosch en primeurs

My gig as wine curator for Stellenbosch Visio, the new all-singing, all-dancing lifestyle magazine for Oak City, is one of the plushest berths in the Winelands. Unlike some organs, which monetize undeclared advertorial, or laundry lists in knock-and-drop leaflets, Visio reaches the kind of people who actually buy wine. Folks who bank with Investec but buy shares in Capitec. You get my drift. My winter wheeze was to punt first growths for SA, along the lines of Bordeaux.

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Twinning of towns became all the rage after the Second World War as an attempt to avoid future

catastrophes. Hence the Scottish village of Dull is twinned with Boring in Oregon. But while Cape

Town is twinned with Nice on the French Riviera, Stellenbosch remains an only child.

Yet it has a most obvious twin: Bordeaux. Both towns are centres of the wine industry and vines

were established in both by the Dutch at around the same time, the middle of the 17th century. Both

endured an English occupation and the Grande Dame of Bordeaux, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing

memorably translated to madam hierlangsaan by the farm workers of neighbouring farm

Rustenberg – now lives in Ida’s Valley on her Glenelly estate. She’s not alone. Christian Dauriac

makes wine in the hills of St. Émilion and on the Simonsberg as does the world’s most famous flying

winemaker, Michel Rolland.

 

It was Dutch engineers who drained the marshes of the Gironde estuary while Simon van der Stel

was busy founding his eponymous town. But while Stellenbosch is home to the most prestigious SA

wine brands like Meerlust, Rustenberg and De Toren, the brands of Bordeaux are global synonyms

for luxury: Chateaux d’Yquem, Pétrus and La Tour – the Gallic version of De Toren.

 

So why does Bordeaux box so much above its weight? Perhaps the cru classé system has something

to do with it. Back in 1855 the canny merchants of Bordeaux classified their brands into five growths

based on the selling price of the wine. At the top of the pops was La Tour, various properties of the

Rothschilds and Haut Brion. In the second tier was May-Eliane’s former property Chateau Pichon

Longueville Comtesse de Lalande while in the fifth division was Chateau Lynch-Bages, or “lunch

bags” it is fondly nicknamed.

 

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A couple of years ago a visiting UK wine writer had the presumption to classify SA brands into

classed growths. The cultural arrogance reminds of the world’s most famous wine taster, Robert

Parker, travelling to Japan to score sake, an ancient and mysterious distilled rice wine, out of 100

points.

 

This foreign classification whipped the SA wine spittoon into a tsunami as young guns with a couple

of vintages under their belt who buy in their grapes were rated as first growths while many

venerable estates were left out in the cold.

 

It seems obvious that an SA first growth should be grounded in terroir. Where would many

Franschhoek brands be if their Shiraz vineyards in Somerset West were grubbed up – as happened to

the most famous brand from the French corner. A track record would also be nice.

 

While Antony Beck’s Capensis Chardonnay is a stunning wine and at a whisker under R1000 a bottle,

surely a contender for first growth status, it is made from grapes grown in Villiersdorp, Robertson

and the Banghoek. While Stellenbosch supplies 2/3 of the grapes, this is a maiden vintage and until

all grapes come from Banghoek and a track record is established, first growth status remains an

aspiration.

 

So does Stellenbosch have any first growths? Certainly the Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage, as it’s a

single vineyard wine from the Simonsberg and at well over R1000 a bottle, it costs enough. Likewise

Meerlust Rubicon is a terroir wine and the De Toren Fusion V is even called a “Left Bank-based”

blend, referring to the left bank of the Gironde River in Bordeaux where its namesake Chateau la

Tour is situated.

 

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The way to establish an uncontroversial classification of Stellenbosch wines is to institute an en

primeur tasting like the one which takes place in Bordeaux every year. Reds barely six months in

barrel are shown to the trade: merchants, sommeliers, retailers in a week of tastings and customers

place their orders for delivery when the wines are bottled.

 

Such a system has obvious marketing potential for brand Stellenbosch and the week between the

Nederburg Auction and Cape Wine Makers’ Guild Auction would seem an ideal time. Wines to be

tasted by ward: Helderburg, Simonsberg, Devon Valley, Bottelary as happens in Bordeaux.

 

Besides, if Stellenbosch can pioneer wine routes after the French model, establishing an annual en

primeur tasting makes sense. If Stellenbosch sleeps, Franschhoek will surely seize the initiative.

Or Robin von Holdt, God forbid.