If the artistic endeavour involved in winemaking was ever in doubt, then consider Francois Haasbroek’s motivation for leaving his position at high-profile Waterford in Stellenbosch to go it alone. “I wanted 100% creative control. From conception through to execution. For better or for worse,” he says. His wines appear under the Blackwater label and the business is sole-owned. “Silent partners would certainly help with cash flow but unfortunately silent partners are never completely silent.”

Perhaps his most successful effort to date is Noir 2010. From Walker Bay grapes, it’s a blend of 70% Syrah and 30% Grenache, matured in old, large-format barrels for some 20 months. “I want to avoid new oak but then you need patience for the process of micro-oxygenation to do its thing,” he says.

It shows red and black berries, fynbos, spice and some liquorice. Medium bodied with clean, pure fruit, really lively acidity and a dry, almost salty finish. The wine sells locally for R125 a bottle, and Haasbroek says “A fair price is very important. My wine’s not churned out and hopefully consumers will recognise that they’re getting something  special.”

Haasbroek’s new endeavour intrigues but really he’s just one of a whole bunch of young winemakers who are shaking up the South African wine scene. Others to watch include Chris and Suzaan Alheit (Alheit Vineyards), Donovan Rall (Rall Wines and Vuurberg) and David Sadie (Lemberg and David) to single out but a few. These guys and girls are typically in their 20s or 30s, are well travelled and not afraid to work with lesser known varieties in some of the more uncelebrated parts of the winelands.

Duncan Savage will be familiar to many wine enthusiasts as the winemaker behind the excellent Cape Point Vineyards portfolio but he has now also launched his own label simply called Savage Wines. Maiden releases includes a White 2012 consisting of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon plus a Red 2011 from 72% Shiraz, 21% Grenache and 7% Cinsaut.

“My target was to have my own wines in bottle before I was 35 and I turned 35 in January so I just about made it,” he says. Apart from saying that grapes are sourced from “a number of altitude and maritime vineyards around the Western Cape”, he’s reluctant to go into more detail – lots of tiny parcels and these set to change from year to year. “I’m using a shotgun approach to sourcing grapes,” he says. “I can’t afford a farm and I don’t know if I want to afford a farm.”

The origins of these wines might be more complicated than most, but their excellence is not in question. The White is wonderfully focused and tight and needs at least another 12 months to open up while the red has remarkable flavour intensity despite its relatively low alcohol by volume of under 13%. The Savage wines are sure to attract cult status and evidence once again that South African wine is going through a particularly dynamic and exciting phase.

Christiaan Eedes

Hess Family Wine Estate’s Glen Carlou recently celebrated 25 years of Chardonnay which prompted some reflection as I recalled an American’s enticement years ago to try his Sauvignon as it was “made in a Chardonnay style”.  His urging now has an ironic truth about it as Sauvignon – and to a lesser extent Riesling – have paved the path for modern Chardonnay.

Chardonnay has emerged from many misadventures, one was outliving the ‘Anything but Chardonnay’ or ‘ABC’ catchphrase – its catchiness probably one of the reasons it gained traction – another was too much richness, the latter more among trade than consumers.

While never far from vogue in its various incarnations, Chardonnay has in fact always been under attack,  and its again making a strong comeback with some surprising side effects – white Burgundy is wavering* and no longer producing the most interesting Chardonnay but rather in the new world including the Cape, Australia and Chile.

Glen Carlou’s first winemaker Walter Finlayson became one of theCape’s Chardonnay pioneers along with De Wetshof, Simonsig, Backsberg and Blaauwklippen. Walter travelled toCaliforniaafter winning the Diner’s Club Winemaker of the Year in the early 80s and was inspired by the ripe, generously oaked Californian Chardonnays like Far Niente.

Information on the Cape’s early clones is fuzzy, but by the mid 80s the focus appears to be onDavis(Californian) clones which could make richer, riper styles with an affinity for new oak. The trend toward less ripeness and restrained oaking saw more lower-yieldingDijon(Burgundian) clones being planted.

While Glen Carlou’s mid-range Chardonnay – a riper, oaked style – has grown steadily over the years from a few thousand litres to 14 000 cases, their new unoaked Chardonnay is generating lots of excitement. This is where my American colleague might have said ‘taste my Chardonnay, it’s made in a Sauvignon style’ and has joined producers like Jordan, De Wetshof and Groote Post sans barrique.

In one of the purest expressions of site possible, winemaker Arco Laarman has made the unoaked Chardonnay in egg-shaped Nomblot concrete fermenters. While this could be regarded as a manipulation – Chardonnay is after all one of the most malleable grapes – one has to have the courage to do nothing as Burgundian René Lafon said some 30 years ago.

This food-friendly wine was launched with little fanfare in their restaurant and cellar door and it quickly found a following. More Nomblot eggs were ordered to accommodate the consumer demand and new listings. Like Sauvignon, it has primary fruit aromas, lively acidity, no oak and a leaner palate – the traditional image no longer holds true.

CapeChardonnayplantings (2011) stood at 8092ha yielding around 76 000t. Since 1984, 9 555ha were planted and 3 171 uprooted which suggests that some 1700ha was replanted to Chardonnay with a recent preference for CY55.

*The premature oxidation crisis combined with fewer age worthy wines and little or no progress Vs redBurgundyhas led an argument that whiteBurgundyis suffering an identity crisis.

Jonathan Snashall                                                                                                                                                 7 May 2013

Not only are today’s young a smart bunch of winemakers, they’re also imbued with a strong spirit of innovation.

The latest idea, borrowed from the French, is a sparkling wine which undergoes a single fermentation and is known there as méthode ancestrale, méthode artisanale or méthode rurale. It’s hardly mainstream and generally not found in mainstream areas of France, except for theLoire, from where the small group of South African producers have drawn their inspiration.

The group trying their collective hand include Matthew Copeland of Vondeling and Willie and Tania de Waal of Scali both from the Voor Paardeberg, while on top of the ‘berg’ in the Swartland those honing their skills are Craig Hawkins of Lammershoek, Adi Badenhorst of the eponymous family winery and Chris and Andrea Mullineux of Mullineux wines. Their proximity is no coincidence; the hope is that this fizz could become a regional calling card.

It is, however, very early days for all: some are making their second vintage, others only their first. So enthusiasm is tempered with caution; “It’s more difficult than Méthode Cap Classique,” says Hawkins, while Copeland pulls no punches, describing it “as a pain in the butt”.

Taking no chances, experienced help has been called upon: Pascal Potaire from the Loire, who Hawkins describes as “the unofficial champion of this style”, taught him how to make a natural sparkling wine as opposed to “mini glass bombs”. Another Loire guru, Vincent Careme, has advised Adi Badenhorst and the de Waals.

Hawkins’ approach is to rack the fermenting juice several times prior to bottling to prevent too much lees sediment and residual sugar once the crown cap has been put on. This leads to too vigorous a fermentation in the bottle and the obvious explosions.

Willie and Tania de Waal follow a natural method of cold settling the juice before racking it to tank for a spontaneous ferment until sugar levels of around 30 to 40 g/l, then chilling the wine as cold as possible prior to bottling. This allows for a very slow ferment in the bottle with less likelihood of explosions.

The Mullineux’s winemaking is usually non-interventionist; not in this case, where the juice from the whole-bunch pressed grapes is settled, then cold stabilised and protein fined. After a natural fermentation,  the wine is bottled with around 35 g/l of residual sugar.

Copeland is even more cautious, bottling only when the sugar is around 25 g/l. As this is only his first attempt, the final analysis isn’t yet known, but he should take heart from Adi Badenhorst, who bottled with a similar sugar level. “We didn’t think it would ferment dry but it did, even when kept at 12 C; it’s really tasty,” claims the delighted winemaker, who guesses all 1 000 bottles will be drunk in house!

If each of the winemakers have a slightly different approach before getting the wine in the bottle (all though are following the French tradition of leaving it on the lees for between nine months and a year), they are also using several different varieties; anything from chardonnay (Copeland), chenin blanc and/or hárslevelü (Hawkins), viognier and/or chenin (De Waal), muscat de frontignan, chenin and verdelho (Badenhorst), and clairette blanche (Mullineux).

And yes, despite limited quantities, some will be sold commercially; the Mullineux’s for instance will go into their wine club pack.

Here’s another case of ‘semper aliquid novi ex Africa’.

 Angela Lloyd

Burgundy,Bordeaux, Barolo: all are names that conjure up classic red wines – and in the case of the first two, whites also.

But like the lengthy history behind each of these areas, so do their wines benefit from years of maturation; years, during which, time does its magic of developing more intriguing flavours, while calming the exuberance of youth and softening the tannins.

Tasting South African red wines of a bygone era, the 1940s through to the 1960s, which I’ve been privileged to do on several occasions, these too have provided some wonderfully mature pleasures. Like their European counterparts, they too would have required time to reach this mellow state.

In today’s world of instant gratification, most wines are bought today and consumed tonight, so does the rest of the world need to or indeed, can they make wines that also benefit from age? I would argue that the best wines can and do benefit from age, even a few years.

But, whether designed for early drinking or maturing, well-made modern wines are drinkable on release. For, as Chateau Margaux’s Paul Pontallier reminds us, for a wine to taste good when it’s aged, it has to taste good when it’s young.

Personally, I believe there are few South African reds that need more than six to eight years and fewer still that benefit from longer.

So I’d anticipate a line up of 10-year-old South African reds would offer a mixed experience. Why 10 years? I guess because it’s a nice, round figure. And by starting a competition for 10-year-old reds, 2003 would be as good a vintage as one could want.

One might also ask why red wines? It’s ironic that South African white wines are generally considered more interesting and often better than reds but the status quo still dictates they are the ones that deserve maturation. Also, how many producers would have stocks of 10-year-old white wines? Many fewer than those with reds.

So red wines it was that fell under the spotlight at the inaugural RE:CM (an acronym for Regarding Capital Management, an asset management company) 10-year-old Red Wine Awards. In effect they continue, with embellishments, a theme, started by the now defunct Wine magazine.

With sponsors RE:CM, celebrating its own 10th anniversary, and Christian Eedes, former editor and tasting panel chairman of Wine magazine, organising, the event drew 73 entries representing 39 wineries. Required stock was two bottles for tasting with a further 22 for the awards dinner. Not an overly demanding figure, but for some of the Cape’s arguably best wineries with a noteworthy track record, their 2003 cupboard was bare.

Thankfully, Boekenhoutskloof, one of South Africa’s most renowned wineries, does keep a library and Marc Kent’s equally celebrated Syrah topped the list of winners with the sole five-star rating from the three judges – Eedes, internationally trained sommelier, Jorg Pfutzner, and wine educator, Nkuli Mkhwanazi. This wine’s solid track record stems from its fruit source – the same Wellington vineyard since 1998 – and cellar techniques, notably no new oak. After 10 years, it is an infinitely more interesting wine yet, according to those at our table at the awards dinner, it still has plenty of life in it.

Rudera Shiraz and Remhoogte Estate Wine, a merlot-cabernet-pinotage blend, which filled the balance of the top three spots, were less anticipated winners but they and the balance of the 51 wines that gained 3 or more stars, just go to show South Africa is more than a one-trick pony.

As matching variety to site, vine age (the majority of vineyards are still between four and 15 years), vinification techniques and oak ageing are all better understood, South African winemakers, especially the talented new generation, will undoubtedly turn out many more wines worthy of and benefiting from long maturation. Among them, maybe some that will challenge those classics above.

Angela Lloyd

“Staves are to good barrels what Nescafé is to properly made espresso – you’re reminded of the real thing but it’s not nearly as good,” says Giorgio Dalla Cia, at Meerlust in Stellenbosch from 1978 to 2003 and subsequently making wine under his own label.

Dalla Cia was famously involved in pioneering  the Bordeaux-style red blend in the Cape, the maiden vintage Meerlust Rubicon 1980 appearing the year after Paarl property Welgemeend produced the first ever. He’d studied at the Scuola Enologica di Conegliano just north of Venice but spent holidays in France to broaden his wine knowledge and was particularly taken with the wines of Bordeaux.

“It became clear to me that high-quality barrique was a crucial determinant of wine quality. Bordeaux had long been drunk by the English and the use of barrique originally came around for practical reasons as it made shipping easier. In Italy, meanwhile, most consumption was domestic and wine tended to be vinified in large-format vats which did not impart the same complexity,” he says.

When Dalla Cia arrived in South Africa in the 1970s, Cabernet Sauvignon was relatively widely available and along with the late Nico Myburgh, father of current Meerlust owner Hannes, the two set out to make a wine inspired by Bordeaux.

“Lafite was the reference – I loved the wine and we needed a target to aim for.” He relates showing the 1984 to the Lafite team at a later stage and taking great satisfaction at their disbelief that South Africa was capable of such high quality. “They called it ‘the best French wine outside of France’”.

According to Dalla Cia, South Africa’s sunshine is both the greatest asset and liability of the wine industry. “We get better ripeness but also higher alcohols than Bordeaux,” he says. “As soon as I arrived here, I could recognise the potential to make a great Bordeaux-style blend – no frost, no rain, no hailstorms. You get a good vintage here 80% of the time.”

Now 72 years old, Dalla Cia’s winemaking skills seem far from waning with his current release Giorgio having been rated 5 Stars in the current edition of Platter’s. It’s a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot, all grapes sourced from the Helderberg area of Stellenbosch. His approach to oak maturation, as you might guess, is none too cautious, the wine having spent 18 months in barrel, 80% new. “You must allow the wine and oak to interact. It stabilises colour, enriches the bouquet, adds intricacy.”

 Christian Eedes

‘Cape Townis quite a drawcard; the eyes of the world are on you with your excellent wines and food.’ This compliment, paid by English MW, Nancy Gilchrist, came at the end of an exploration of a selection of Backsberg Black Label wines and how they react with a variety of ingredients.

This was the second such event, the first a week earlier having proved so popular that Simon Back, in charge of marketing at the family farm, decided to hold another.

It was certainly an eye-opener to all there; mainly, of course, wine stewards, sommeliers and restaurateurs, the people with whom all those international and local visitors rely on to help with a wine choice to accompany their meal.

Faced with trays bearing everything from lemon grass, soy sauce and brie to nectarine, lemon and salt, Gilchrist described our event as ‘playing with fundamentals’; we would progress from tasting and analysing a wine to trying an ingredient (usually three or four per wine), then re-tasting the same wine to assess how the ingredient affected taste and structure.

The goal, says Gilchrist, is to attempt ‘to achieve a balance in the combined structural characteristics – acidity, saltiness, sweetness and bitterness/tannin – and also in their effect on perceived alcohol.’

This we did with ten different wines, including three-vintage verticals of Pumphouse Shiraz and the Bordeaux-style blend, Klein Babylonstoren; there were many levels of success or failure and not the same for everyone.

Backsberg John Martin 2012, a partially wooded sauvignon blanc faced up to green apple, salt and coriander leaves, on the basis that acid decreases the perceived acid in wine, as can salt, while coriander is a complementary flavour. There was no difference with the salt, the coriander flavour swamped the wine; only the apple worked for me, not for others.

The Klein Babylonstoren vertical threw up interesting differences: fruit in 2007 was enhanced by brie but mint highlighted tannins; not so in 2005, where mint lifted the fruit but the brie didn’t. So it’s not only down to which wine but which vintage. Confusing?

The good news, Gilchrist pointed out in her notes, is: ‘Firstly, there are no rules; only tried and tested observations and generalisations.’ In other words, if it doesn’t do it for you, it doesn’t mean you’re wrong, but it was encouraging when the partnership did work and gave the anticipated effect.  As in pepper emphasising alcohol in 2007 Klein Babylonstoren and lemongrass lifting fruit in the subtle, fresh Hillside Viognier 2009; the latter a grape often paired with Thai food.

Talking of rules, it appeared there were none for the wines; both Back and Gilchrist were bemused by how different they tasted from the previous week; ‘quite a bit less expressive’ according to Back. ‘It’s a leaf day,’ Gilchrist suggested, referring to the biodynamic calendar, where ‘fruit’ and ‘flower’ are considered best days for tasting.

Even with no conclusions, there was plenty of discussion and everyone discovered how ingredients can affect wine’s structure and taste profile, for better or worse.

Angela Lloyd

Two to three years in the realisation, a wine farm in Stellenbosch’s Devon Valley is shaping a new model after undergoing a renaissance.

Former businessman Tom Breytenbach was involved in property retail and concedes that there are any number of reasons why it was not a smart move for him to buy a wine farm in the midst of both a global economic recession and a particularly challenging period for the South African wine community.

With wife Hayley’s experience in asset management to support his entrepreneurial bent, he believes his background and different perspective affords him the opportunity of starting with a fresh slate. Brenaissance is more than just a wine farm – it’s a mixed farming operation. Breytenbach is quite honest about the fact that most of the farm’s income will be derived from its herd of stud Boran cattle rather than from wine. “But the Boran allows me to live the dream and the lifestyle of farming and making wine.” He’s crunched the numbers and is fully aware that the amount of money to be made per hectare of grapes only just matches – and in many cases falls short of – the input costs.

So what are Brenaissance’s alternative revenue streams? Firstly, there’s a 200-seater wedding chapel and functions venue which has already proved popular – for conferences, parties and events as well as nuptials. Secondly, there’s a café with beer on tap and a wood-fired oven which churns out crispy-based pizzas. Week on week, the parking lot gets fuller as the wood of mouth spreads. And there is farm-stay accommodation for 18.

When it comes to wine, the range is restricted to what’s grown on the farm – so there’s a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz, two red blends, a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon. One of the things he won’t do is build a winery or employ a single winemaker. “My experience in property has taught me that it’s better to source the best people for different elements of a project.” So that means his Sauvignon Blanc, red blends, Shiraz and Cabernet are all made by different winemakers in separate wineries. These include Jasper Raats of Longridge, Charl Coetzee of Babylonstoren, Nico Grobler of Eikendal and Billy Marklew of Marklew wines.

And then there are the cattle… Boran is a breed of beef cattle with a bloodline which has not been sullied by cross breeding for more than 1300 years. They look somewhat similar to the Brahman breed with their distinctive neck humps, big dewlaps and droopy ears but they’re heavier and can pack on a lot of meat. Breytenbach points to Brigadier, his 14-month-old bull penned on the lawn for a media launch. He weighs in at 450kg and his 9-month-old pen-mate tipped the scales at 200kg.

“Pound for pound, if you were to eat them, these particular animals would cost you more than caviar,” said Hayley. That’s because they’re on the 116-hectare Devon Valley farm purely for their DNA and bloodlines. Boran is highly sought after and with 33 beasts, the Breytenbachs are intent on filling the niche.

Each Boran cow can produce a total of 80 eggs a year, while occupying just half a hectare of land. Fertilised with Brigadier’s sperm and then transplanted into another surrogate cow – usually Angus – a full blood Boran is then the result of that egg harvest. With the demand for the offspring being so high, each cow is capable of adding one million rand to the farm’s bottom line every year.

Not only are they assisting in diversifying the farm’s revenue stream, but they are crucial to the farm’s sustainability – grazing in the vineyards and keeping weeds down, so reducing the need for pesticides. Another benefit is the in-situ composting and fertilising service they provide.

“Everything we do is geared to allowing us to make the best wine we can off this property – and we believe we’re living the dream,” was Breytenbach’s summation.

Fiona McDonald

An ancient vine became the inspiration behind one ofSouth Africa’s newest viticultural wards – Stilbaai (StillBay) East – with Inverrouche as sole member. Owners Lorna and Michael Scott teamed up with the Dept of Agriculture to trial the area and train locals in viticulture. Some 5 years later they have settled on Pinot Noir, and Sauvignon Blanc, the remaining trial varieties will be used in brandy distillation for use in liqueur production.

Meanwhile the Scotts are riding the craft distilling wave. Their distillery lies just outsideStillBayon the Southern Coast, nestled among vineyards, olive groves and fynbos*. It is a tranquil and ancient landscape where man survived the last ice age – and modern man emerged.

Gin has evolved over the course of a millennium from an herbal medicine and has always contained botanicals like juniper berries, cassia and cardamom.   However the botanicals of choice at Inverrouche are fynbos, used for centuries by the Khoi and San people as medicinal and edible plants.

Distiller Michael Scott uses extracts of fynbos such as buchu, wild geranium, suurvygie, aloe, kankerbossie and rooibos, which are unique toAfrica. The terroir includes meters-deep limestone and groundwater is pumped by windmill from the limestone aquifers while rainwater is harvested from the roofs of the farm buildings, stored underground and filtered for the distillery and domestic use.

The distillery is about as green as it gets. The building is made from limestone rock off the farm, and is naturally ventilated. The still – specially made in Stellenbosch – is wood-fired with invasive alien acacias, the harvesting of which provides jobs and helps with fire protection. Fynbos is collected in the veld in a sustainable fashion, and practically extinct species have been re-established.

But wait there is more. Material left in the still after the distilling process is compacted, mixed with cement and moulded into cobblestones used to pave pathways on the farm and the floor of a huge underground cellar. The botanical waste is composted and put back into the soil.

Following re-grafting of the remaining trial vineyards, the Scotts will make either 2014 or 2015 their first harvest of Pinot Noir. They intend making bottle fermented sparkling wine with the help of Pieter ‘Bubbles’ Ferreira.

*Indigenous flora of the cape floral kingdom, the smallest yet richest in the world. It boasts the highest concentration of plant species 1300 per 10 000km2, more than triple found in South American rain forests.

Interested parties should contact Lorna Scott on 072 447 4211.

Jonathan Snashall

Freelance writer

George W Bush left a somewhat dubious (Dubya-ish?) legacy when he vacated the Oval office in favour of Barack Obama four years ago. Among his many fumbles while holding the highest office in the world was the continued refusal of the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol – a treaty initially adopted by the world’s nations in December 1997.

The goal of the Protocol was to get agreement on firstly stabilising and then reducing greenhouse gas emissions to a level which would prevent further damage to the earth’s climatic systems. It was one of the most significant environmental frameworks of the past century. It acknowledged the damage that has been done to the earth.

Even before the Kyoto protocol was mooted environmentally aware groups were warning of the effects of climate change and lobbying for more drastic action. Fast forward fifteen years and there is widespread recognition of the irreparable harm done to the planet and broad adoption of plans to at least stem the tide.

Alternative energy has crossed over into the mainstream with more and more domestic home owners opting for solar energy or even hybrid vehicles. Dessertification and melting polar ice caps make the news – as do changing weather patterns. The Eastern seaboard of the United States is reeling from the impact of recent super storm Sandy while South Africans know that once every decade El Nino will affect our annual rainfall. Which makes efforts such as the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI), Integrated Production of Wine, organic and biodynamic winemaking and the support for efforts such as these by Nedbank in the form of the annual Green Wine Awards more laudable.

The Biodiversity and Wine Initiative was established a number of years ago and South Africa now boasts in excess of 130 000 hectares of land given over to conservation by wine farmers alone, compared with 102 000 hectares of vineyard. (For more information on BWI visit www.wwf.org.za/what_we_do/outstanding_places/fynbos/biodiversity___wine_initiative/ )

The Green Wine Awards is already in its fourth year and while Nedbank’s sponsorship has never wavered, the vehicle for publicising the winning wines has changed from Wine magazine (2009 and 2010) to sister publication Getaway magazine since 2011. The results were announced this week – and, for the third time in four years, biodynamic producer, Reyneke wines, walked off with the ultimate accolade. Whereas Reyneke Chenin Blanc won the top prize for wines made from organically produced grapes in 2010 and 2011, it was the Reyneke Reserve Red 2009, a Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon mix which impressed the judges this year.*

Conventional wine farmers have begun to crossover and adopt a number of practices which were formerly the preserve of the organic lobby – things such as composting and using natural predators to control disease and pests in the vineyards, natural ferments and lower sulphur regimes. But it is in the field of best conservation and environmental good practice awards where huge strides are being made. With the Western Cape being in a winter rainfall area and with climate change an accepted reality, water management and preservation has become critical, particularly in the wine fraternity.

Acknowledged for their efforts for best contribution to water management was Waverley Hills Organic winery in Tulbagh while the best contribution to energy efficiency was made by Stellenbosch producer Bartinney wines. Spier won the award for best contribution to environmental initiatives and awareness programmes while Cloof/Burgherspost of Darling made the best contribution to Cape Winelands eco-tourism and conservation. The overall prize for innovation and leadership in conservation and environmental good practice went to Spier. Head of the judging panel which included Inge Kotze of the WWF and wine write Joanne Gibson, Duimpie Bayly said it had been impossible to separate the runners up simply because all had set such a high standard – and La Motte, Cloof/Burgherspost and Waverley Hills were tied.

(* Declaration of interest – I chaired the judging panel for the 2012 Nedbank Green Wine Awards, tasting with Christian Eedes, Howard Booysen, Johnathan Snashall and Harry Haddin.)

The first weekend in December should be circled in red on any bubbly enthusiast’s calendar. That’s when the self-styled gourmet food and wine capital of the country hosts its annual Methode Cap Classique and Champagne festival.

But Franschhoek recently gave members of the local wine media a sneak preview of its relaunched Cap Classique route. Franschhoek Vignerons head Irene Waller of La Bri said their organisation now had 18 members, 16 of which produced bubblies in a range of different styles. Newcomers to the ranks include Plaisir de Merle, Grande Provence and La Motte.

The wines tasted at the media launch included Dieu Donné 2010, Pierre Jourdan Blanc de Blancs NV from Haute Cabriere, Môreson Solitaire Blanc de Blancs NV, L’Ormarins Brut Classique 2008, Colmant Brut Reserve NV, Plaisir de Merle’s inaugural offering – the Grand Brut 2010, La Motte Brut 2009, Backsberg Brut 2008, Stony Brook The Lyle 2007, Rickety Bridge Brut Rosé 2010, Boschendal Le Grande Pavillon Brut Rosé NV and Morena Brut Rosé.

Interesting points made by some of the winemakers present included the subtle nuances now becoming more and more obvious in their bubblies. The use of reserve wines, for example. Clayton Reabow of Môreson said that this was a feature of the Solitaire. There are generally portions from two previous vintages contained in the current bottling. Only in exceptional years will their winery produce a vintage MCC – “but then it will be something very, very special and reflective of a superb vintage.”

Specialist bubbly producer and passionate advocate of this style of wine Jean-Philippe Colmant is of the opinion that freshness and vibrant acidity is key to his wines – so he foregoes malolactic fermentation as part of his regime.

Haute Cabriere’s Tamo von Arnim proved that the genetic apple had not fallen far from the tree by entertaining everyone with tales of his father’s exploits. More seriously though, he said it was now a feature of Pierre Jourdan sparkling wines to have an oak matured component to flesh out the body and add more richness and texture to the final wine.

Softly-spoken Niel Bester admitted that he was excited by the challenge of making MCC. “We’ve made some base wines for some of our sister labels over the years,” he revealed. “It’s something I always wanted to do but with the Plaisir de Merle Manor House undergoing a renovation in 2009 and becoming a popular venue for functions and weddings, the marketing department decided that we needed to have a bubbly to cater specifically for these events.”

And slumbering quietly in the La Bri cellar is a bubbly due for release in a year or two’s time, Irene Waller revealed. “I spent so many years making Cap Classique at Graham Beck that it was a non-negotiable for me when I joined La Bri! It was always part of the plan to make a bubbly and we’ve done it with some bought in grapes.”

But the most entertaining contribution came from Morena’s Nick Davies who revealed a seduction formula derived in consultation with his two bachelor sons. It involved a Jacuzzi with a sea view on the deck at a Plettenberg Bay beach house, lovely bikini-clad ladies and Morena bubbly. “We decided that the successful scoring formula was 25% for the view, 25% for the Jacuzzi, 47.5% for the bubbly and 2.5% for my son’s personality. But we had to revise that and add the 2.5% for personality onto the view, deciding that he should just shut up and keep the glasses topped up with Morena bubbly!”