Stellenbosch, Empire of Cabernet

The Empire of the Rising Sun did a Pearl Harbour on an out-of-shape and fatally complacent SA
rugby team on Saturday as the Rugby World Cup kicked off in Brighton. The 32-34 result
made headlines around the world and was hailed as “the biggest shock in the game’s history”
by several British newspapers. That the only team Japan had beaten before in the competition
was Zimbabwe back in 1991, emphasises the scale of the victory.

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Earlier in the week, a 2011 vintage Cabernet from Hans Schroder’s Oude Nektar sakuba in
Jonkershoek did more or less the same thing. The venue was a high profile tasting of 20
Stellenbosch Cabernets which raised the curtain on Cape Wine 2015.

A Cab nobody had heard of called Three Pines from Stark-Conde Wines rolled over heroic
scrum from Vriesenhof, Alto, Rust en Vrede and Kanonkop and was rated best on the day by
Decanter magazine. The Stellenbosch team had been lifted high into the marketing firmament
on the powerful Springbok shoulders of Jan Boland Coetzee, Hempies du Toit and Jannie
Engelbrecht three decades ago with Jan still valiantly making wine at Paradyskloof.

The underdog hailed from Jonkershoek and was off radar. Oude Nektar owner Hans made his
fortune from Parker pens in Japan in the 1970s and brought a wife Midori Maruyama, whose
family owned the largest art gallery in Tokyo, home to Stellenbosch. No mean feat in those far
off Old SA days.

Son-in-law, Jose Conde, arrived in SA from Independence, Missouri, with wife Marie and a
game plan to become a graphic designer in Cape Town. But after tasting grapes from the family
farm, he turned his hand to winemaking, beating his stylus into a round-the-clock punch-down
broomstick.

Twenty years later, he makes the best Stellenbosch Cabernet by a country mile. It is called
Three Pines under the Stark-Conde brand, with Stark the maiden name of Hans’ mother. Three
Pines is an eastern brandname if ever there was one, reeking feng shui, restraint and elegant
class. The Japanese rugby team are called the Cherry Blossoms and Jose’s wines have them in
excelsis.

The Three Pines was the last of the 20 Cabs on the tasting and was three places down from the
Neil Ellis 2010, also made from Jonkershoek grapes.

In the case of the Three Pines, I was captivated by bright fruit bursting from the glass and a
couple of days later Decanter agreed. They had this to say about it:

Stark-Conde Three Pines Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

95 points

Modern, vibrant and vivacious. But also classical and true to its Stellenbosch roots. Great
florality (jasmine and violets), polish and presence here with ripe creamy cassis and coffee
notes on the palate. The Cabernet fruit is grown on decomposed granite from the Jonkershoek
Valley and winemaker Jose Conde’s expert fruit handling means that the silky tannins and violet
notes really stand out and sing. This wine is all about elegance, freshness, pleasure and
refinement. A genuine class act and a joy to drink now and for the next ten years.

Alc: 14.5%. Cellar Door R295.

Drink: 2015-2025.

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The 95 point score is fully 2 points higher than any other handed down – a whitewash on
the anorak scale. After the tasting, Jose was mobbed by foreign media and American
restaurateurs who can smell a winner when they taste one and vice versa. Proof of the
pudding surely as the aim of these public tastings is ultimately to shift stock.

The wine has at least three secrets: a 5% dash of Merlot to up the acidity and a 5%
splash of Petit Verdot, which provides an extra textural dimension to the wine and notes
of exotic violets, lightly crushed. The final secret is balance, a harmonious union of acid,
tannin, flavour and alcohol which explains why Oude Nektar is favoured tasting
destination of Korean tourists “who order a cup of coffee and stay the whole day” as
Hans notes.

The Pines is Italian in elegant style and the Petit Verdot secret weapon has stiffened the
mid-palate of many a Super Tuscan. A question from the floor on the prevalence of the
Bordeaux varietal in Stellenbosch Cabs elicited a storm of negative comments from the
panel, with the exception of Jose, who rose valiantly to defend it.

Whatever your opinion of PV, the lively discussion – the only time the tasting woke up
from somnolent respect – confirms that Cabernet is a dynamic style and a handy playing
field on which Stellenbosch may challenge the Swartland, who have made all the
running to date in the international perception stakes with powerful Syrahs and oxidative
Chenin.

Stellenbosch has terroir to burn and often does – a runaway veld fire destroyed the first
Three Pines vineyard in 2000, located beneath a vulgar Teutonic castle which was
unfortunately spared. The Swartland choses a different direction and trucks in terroir
with single vineyards replaced by single names: Eben, Adi and Callie and Toyota
bakkies.

Playing to the strong suit, the tasting was organized along terroir lines, starting with the
Helderberg before switching to the Simonsberg and then the outlying areas of Bang-
and Jonkershoek. The absence of Bottelary Hills and the Stellenboschkloof raised a few
eyebrows as did the Garland from Simonsig, a low fruit left unharvested.

Which lifts the curtain on how the Top Twenty were chosen. All producers were invited
to submit wine for a blind tasting and entries were duly evaluated by winemakers. Five
reputational icons failed to make the cut and so were parachuted into the final lineup.

Which reminds me of how Singapore Airlines chooses wine for first class service.
They hire Steven Spurrier of Decanter fame to chair a tasting panel in Singapore and
then Steven adjusts the scores to reflect brand reputation. Wines are rated blind out of
20, which is then rescaled down to 15 to which Steven adds 5 points for reputation. It’s
all a bit like Harry Potter and the Stellenbosch Spittoon with Professor Dumbledora
awarding bonus points to Gryffindor just as it looks like Slytherin may win the house
cup.

But then fine wine is a magical domain and common sense and fair play is suspended
to keep true believers enthralled and cash registers ringing.