The Magic of Site-Specific Wines

The Springboks, sunsets over Cape Point or the smell of a braai on a Saturday afternoon – all deeply South African hallmarks which stir pride in our souls. Our magnificent heritage also includes the beauty and the passion of the Cape Winelands and as someone so deeply in love with the history of this wonderful industry, I felt compelled to pen a short article of why switching to family run, heritage and site-specific wineries it something that we are obliged to do.

My hope is to have all South Africans and our international friends taste the love and passion that goes into every single drop of liquid art born out of the hands of our great site-specific producers.

My journey into the fascinating world of wine began as a vanilla experience: friend has tried a wine, friend recommends a wine, I try the wine, I like the wine, I recommend the wine to friend and so the closed loop of insular wine drinking perpetuated. Having not been exposed to the literally thousands of brands and varietals available in our wonderful country, I did not think to step away from what was comfortable to explore one of our truly great heritages! I believe that I am not alone in this thinking.

As a proud South African wine drinker, I know that we are blessed to have access to wines of incredible quality with any varietal and at most price points. It’s just that, I dare say it, we are happy keeping the blinkers on and drinking what we know. It is time to lift those blinkers!

The story of heritage vineyards goes back centuries: families setting root in our magnificent winelands and toiling for those same centuries on land that is as fertile as it is ancient and that has shown to give just reward for a labour of love. Generational toil also brings with it generational knowledge – through hard fought trial and error, the land showed the producers what she wants planted according to each unique terroir (soil type, climate and topography) and how she will reward those plantings with fruit that ranks as some of the best in the world. Site-specific wine production focuses almost exclusively on terroir – if you ask any winemaker worth her salt as to what the most important consideration is when it comes to winemaking, the answer is always terroir.

The idea that Shiraz from Swartland will have the same taste profile as Shiraz from Stellenbosch is false and it is therefore also becoming increasingly important that when you drink wine, you identify region and broadly, the taste profile your region will deliver. More importantly, identify which region suits your style of wine and begin to explore the bounty from those regions – you may just find that you like Chardonnay after all. High class winemakers like Danie Steytler Jr. at Kaapzicht (Stellenbosch) or Janno Briers-Louw at Eenzaamheid (Agter-Paarl) take full advantage of years of knowledge and only produce the purest expressions of wine based on their specific region. That knowledge extends from vineyard, through to fermentation vessels and bottle aging – each step is meticulously managed to deliver wine that proudly bears each family’s name.

Rooiland Pinotage from Kaapzicht is produced from vines that grow on stones called Koffieklip (literally coffee stone). The iron rich soils give a power and structure to the wine while showcasing bright acidity and lovely red fruit tones – a truly exceptional Pinotage! This is the absolute importance of generational knowledge at play.

The three pillars of terroir (excluding human intervention) directly impact flavours in the glass. I often have to explain to clients that flavours of bright cherry, passion fruit or jasmine are not from any additives to the wine but instead derive directly from the terroir management and clients are always fascinated with what that impact does to their wine. Site-specific winemakers then take full advantage of this knowledge and the varietals to make sure that wine grapes are specifically cultivated to give the ultimate expression of fruit based on where they are planted.

The intricacies in site-specific wine run so deep that a varietal from the same farm and from adjacent slopes managed by the same winemaker will taste totally different based on wind direction: Benguela Cove as an example of terroir produce two totally different styles of wine based on slopes facing either into or away from the icy cold Atlantic breezes.

Site-specific wine at it’s heart then showcases the very best of family love, poetry in a bottle and intricate knowledge of how to produce the very best expressions of liquid art. Generations of winemakers have passed down knowledge and history to ensure that the next bottle of wine that you explore exposes your palate to the true beauty of our wonderful industry. Drink site-specific wine and experience true greatness in every sip!

The beauty of our wonderful craft runs so much deeper than the above and in future articles I will present more insight into site-specific wine production. I and am hopeful that through this knowledge, you change the way you experience our beautiful wines.

Albert Ahrens Benguela Cove Kaapzicht Wine Estate #eenzaamheidwine Spirits and Bubbles SA (Pty) Ltd