Wineblog

Our wines of the week

The Italian from Tyger Valley

 by Edo Heyns

You wouldn’t necessarily expect to find what is arguably South Africa’s best Italian varietal red a stone’s through away from the shopping hub of Cape Town’s northern suburbs, but Altydgedacht’s Barbera is known to surprise the sceptics.

This was also the case at last night’s WineLand Which Wine tasting, where the wine was tasted blind. Guest judge, Neethlingshof’s De Wet Viljoen, summed it up sharply, “I like wines that are different and this one stands out for the right reasons.”

The 2010 Altydgedacht Barbera was awarded four-and-a-half stars and was the best red wine at the tasting. It has generous juicy fruitiness and a supple and pleasant mouthfeel – well balanced and refined. A remark about heavy toastiness, was the only negative feedback, but this certainly wasn’t a prominent feature.

Panel chair Bennie Howard remarked that at R95, the Altydgedacht was a steal compared to its Italian counterparts – more than enough reason to pass the mall and visit the winery.

Not just another green pepper …

by Elona Nel

With summer finally here, the Sauvignon Blanc consumption will certainly rise along with the temperatures, and on such a summer’s evening, I was invited to an alfresco dinner by some good friends. Steenberg’s 2011 Sauvignon Blanc was my wine of choice and, as it turned out, it was a perfect match to the equally fresh and crisp summer chicken salad.

The wine has an alluring greenness, combined with some tropical and citrus hints. It has a good acidity and charming minerality, reminiscent of the ocean. A touch of tinned asparagus and freshly cut grass, with a complex palate and full, rich finish. The normal price is R95, but it is on special at the moment in the tasting room for R76.

Made by the young and talented JD Pretorius, this wine is a role model for expressing terroir. He explains that due to the warmer conditions of the 2011 harvest and the fact that they received no rain in that period, the wine shows greater concentration and riper flavours – yet still elegant and crisp with the help of the cooling effect of the ocean.

“In 2011, 30% of the grapes came from new and young vineyards, resulting in a very different wine compared to previous years,” JD said. It was made from different blocks and picked at different times, further adding to complete this complex wine. A long, cool fermentation was followed by lees contact for 90 days, resulting in a layered Sauvignon, perfect with food … or as suggested on the tasting notes, best enjoyed with good friends!

by Elona Nel

Constantia truly is a terroirist’s dream, being one of the coolest wine producing areas – in every sense – in South Africa. To celebrate their top-notch Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon wines, an evening of food and wine brilliance was held at the Constantia Uitsig Restaurant, aiming to showcase the wonderfully unique Bordeaux white blends the area is capable of producing.

The cool Constantia winemakers: Brad Paton (Buitenverwachting), André Rousseau (Constantia Uitsig), Adam Mason (Klein Constantia), JD Pretorius (Steenberg) and Boela Gerber (Groot Constantia).

In true French style, the Groot Constantia 2009 Gouverneur’s Reserve White and Constantia Uitsig 2009 White both contain more Sémillon than Sauvignon, resulting in fuller, more complex wines with a distinct waxy character. These relatively serious blends, however, offer only one side to the versatility of this style. Besides the apparent differences that various percentages of Sauvignon and Sémillon give, the wood component also lends itself to different blending options.

Groot Constantia winemaker Boela Gerber explains that 50% of the Gouverneur’s Reserve White goes into new oak, with the remainder put into older barrels – contributing even further to the complexity thereof. Paired with springbok carpaccio with a honey and rosemary vinaigrette, the wine is still lean enough with a good acidity to hold its own with the food.

The main course of pan-seared duck breast with a caramelized orange, ginger and chilli sauce, served with the Buitenverwachting 2009 Maximus, was my favourite culinary feast of the evening. The 86% Sauvignon Blanc and 14% Sémillon blend underwent a long and slow barrel fermentation of about 17 months and is a prime example of great winemaking – and combined with the food, a skilful showcase by chef Clayton Bell.

With other big guns such as the Steenberg 2009 Magna Carta and Klein Constantia 2008 Marlbrook also served, it truly was an affair to remember and a great way to celebrate the unsurpassed quality of seriously built Bordeaux white blends found in the cool Cape Peninsula.

If you want to prove it’s the best, serve it with the best. This seems to have been the approach to the launch of the 2009 Steenberg Magna Carta on Monday.

A small group of media were treated to an evening of Roederer Cristal, Kaluga caviar, crayfish, foie gras and, of course, Magna Carta – pure hedonism, even by  Constantia standards.

Eloquent cellar master, John Loubser , explained that Magna Carta was made to shift perceptions and expectations and therefore should comfortably hold its own in world-famous company like Cristal and Domaine Louis Latour – both abundantly served alongside the flagship white.

The maiden Magna Carta vintage, 2007, immediately caught the attention of serious wine drinkers, boasting a five star Platter rating before it was released. A price tag of R395 also took the pricing of South African white ‘Bordeaux’ to the next level.

The 2008 vintage didn’t yield the desired Magna Carta standard and was consequently ‘declassified’ and sold as Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc – Sémillon. John reinforces the no-compromise policy of the late Steenberg owner, Graham Beck, who invested significantly in the property shortly before his passing.

“Magna Carta signifies what Steenberg is about. Nothing that is even remotely less than perfect will go into the Magna Carta bottle,” explains John.

The 2009 vintage was like a red carpet for then newly appointed wine maker JD Pretorius, who admits that he couldn’t have asked for a better maiden vintage. “The tartaric acid that we ordered pre-harvest, was almost untouched when the crush was done and dusted – it was a vintage with incredible natural acidity and low pH’s,” explained the bearded young gun.

This was also evident in the analysis of the 2009 Magna Carta, which had a total acidity of 8.1g/l and pH of 3.24, without any additions.

The wine was served with seared scallops, crayfish, langoustines, crab beignet lemon gelee and shellfish foam, decadently presented, on a dish with edible ‘sand’ – an apt pairing for a wine that simultaneously bursts out of the glass, while still having a restraining, tight structure and acidity, promising that the best is yet to come.

Compared to the 2007, the Semillon component of the latest release was matured in bigger barrels, while the new wood component was also reduced. In both cases the two varieties were vinified separately and then blended.

Unlike the maiden release, the 2007 was not produced solely from grapes grown on the estate. John justifies this by commenting that even though it’s not an estate wine, the style is “unmistakably Steenberg”.

“Obviously we would prefer to keep it true to its Steenberg origin. New plantings of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon have been earmarked to become the next generation of Magna Carta. Quality, and not origin, is however the principle criterion and if buying in grapes could improve quality, we don’t mind doing it.”

John’s remark about being unmistakably Steenberg is spot on, with both wines being characterised by a very typical orange blossom nose and unique nartjie taste.

These special citrus flavours were definitely taken into account when chef Brad Ball designed the dishes to complement the wine.

The 2007 was boldly paired with veal osso bucco with a Sémillon reduction and foie gras Chantilly. The lemon zest used in this dish was apparently replaced with orange zest, elevating the already prominent citrus flavour of the wine.

As intended, the Magna Carta has set new standards in the South African wine scene. The 2009 has jsut been released at Steenberg’s tasting room and at R440 a bottle, the pre-release orders for 12 bottle cases were already lined up for pick up.

After indulging some of the world’s finest delicacies, I asked John how they are going to top this at the next launch. “Ag well, I’ll just have a braai.” I doubt it.