History is a very marketable product. If you’re in any doubt about that, just consider the hoards of tourists that flock to Greece and Rome to gape at the ancient ruins.

South African wine has an impressive history and it’s good to see that some wine producers are marketing it.

You can buy history in a bottle in the Constantia valley.

Back in the days of Napoleon the Cape was famous for the “sweet wines of Constantia.” In fact Napoleon is said to have called for a glass of Constantia wine when he was on his death-bed on St Helena Island.

Jane Austen wrote about it. King Frederick of Prussia enjoyed it. But alas, nobody knows exactly what it tasted like or how it was made.

Fortunately the winemakers of Constantia valley are great respecters of history and have spent a great deal of time and research trying to re-create those great Constantia wines.

Until recently the closest anybody has come was Klein Constantia’s delicious Vin de Constance.

Now Groot Constantia’s cellarmaster, Boela Gerber, has produced the historic estate’s own version, labelled Grand Constantia.

It is the result of several years of research, both into the wine and its packaging.

A fragment of a wine bottle was discovered during the archeological research into an 18th century shipwreck in the Delaware Bay. It carried a moulded seal with the words “con stantia wyn” on it. This seal has been reproduced on the elegant, long-necked bottle in which the new Grand Constantia is now offered.

The bottle itself is a copy of the hand-blown bottles typically used in the 1700s, sealed with scarlet wax.

Of course, each of those early bottles would have been slightly different.

The wine is rich, amber coloured and honey-and-apricot sweet, but beautifully balanced by natural acidity that prevents it being cloying. A really delicious treat.

To add to the historical connection, each bottle of Grand Constantia comes packed in oak shavings in an elegant oak casket made from old barrel staves.

This is certainly a wine for the serious collector. The only problem is that it looks too good to open.

I suppose the obvious answer is to buy several bottles. At R295 a bottle that may not be possible for some.

Diemersfontein is a delight

What a treat it was to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations of winemaking at Diemersfontein in Wellington.

Apart from producing wines of a very high quality (including some of the finest viognier I have tasted) the farm is a model of what the new South Africa could be.

Owners David and Sue Sonnenberg have established a fine school on the farm for children of the area (an even racial mix of pupils), farm workers who have been on the staff for a year are offered shares in a progressive BEE project that produces wines for export and runs guest cottages, artists and musicians are sponsored and encouraged and several of the farm’s protegees have gone on to win international acclaim.

After being shown some of the projects and experiencing the joyful atmosphere of the farm I came away wondering why our politicians get it all so wrong.

Diemersfontein shows it can be done without fuss.

Maybe we should leave the running of the country to our winemakers.

Photo: Harvest time, courtesy of Diemersfontein Wine Farm

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Can wine drinkers save the planet?
Some wine producers certainly seem to believe this is so.
The pamphlet that came with my order of Obikwa wines proclaimed: “Save the Planet. Drink Obikwa.”
And the way the Obikwa people plan to save the planet is by reducing the glass content of their bottles. The new Obikwa bottle weighs 100g less than a standard wine bottle. This, the producers claim, means a saving in packaging materials and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. For every 1000 bottles of Obikwa we drink, we save 109kg of carbon dioxide emissions.
At Backsberg they’ve taken a different route toward planet saving, by putting their “Tread Lightly” range of wines in lightweight PET plastic bottles.
Backsberg takes its planet saving very seriously and became the first South African wine farm to be declared “carbon neutral”.
This means they reduce carbon emissions by the same amount they produce.
Backsberg’s PET bottles weigh a whole lot less than even the Obikwa bottle and come in at a mere 50g each.
And they bounce if you drop them.
They say the reduced diameter of the bottle allows up to 36% more wine to be packed into the same space as used for conventional bottles.
All these reductions in weight and volume mean that less energy is required to transport the wine from place to place.
It’s good to see that our wine companies are making an effort to be more planet-friendly, but the final impact on the planet rests with us consumers.
There’s not much point in saving a gram or two of carbon dioxide emission if we drive our big 4×4 urban tractor all the way to Backsberg from Sea Point in order to collect a case of Tread Lightly Sauvignon Blanc, is there?
I suppose part of the answer is to buy your wines as close to home as possible. Even if your local wine shop sells Obikwa or Tread Lightly at 50cents a bottle more than the hypermarket five km away, you’ll be helping by making the shorter journey  and paying the few cents extra.
Your planet will thank you for it.

Rosé outlook

I often bang on about the joys of drinking dry rosé wines in our South Africa climate. They seem to me to provide the perfect accompaniment to casual, but elegant outdoor living.
The latest of these to come my way was the Circumstance Cape Coral 2010, produced by Waterkloof, near Somerset West.
The Cape Coral is made from Mourvedre grapes and has the palest pink colour imaginable. It has delightfully zesty red-berry flavours and a fresh, dry finish, making it the perfect accompaniment to summer meals of smoked salmon, gypsy ham or a traditional Cape pickled fish.
I find the idea of naming a wine range “Circumstance” rather charming. Estate owner Paul Boutinot explained to me that the wines would probably differ from vintage to vintage, but each was made to the very highest standards the circumstances of the season would allow.
As far as reducing their own carbon emissions is concerned, Waterkloof has bought a team of elegant Percheron horses to work the vineyards, rather than rely solely on emission-producing tractors.
Apart from anything else, they certainly do look grand as they move sedately among the vine rows.
Incidentally, the farm’s restaurant and tasting facilities at the top of a steep mountain slope provide one of the most spectacular views of False Bay possible. It’s worth a visit for that alone. To get there, drive through the Sir Lowry’ Pass Village from Somerset West and watch for the turn-off.

Photo: Courtesy of Backsberg Estate Cellar

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When I arrived in the Cape from the Karoo, more than 35 years ago, I knew nothing about wine and wasn’t particularly interested in it. Then I met a fascinating character called Laurie the Fish.
The Fish was not like anybody I had ever encountered in the dry old Karoo. He lived on – and from – the sea. Worldly stuff meant little to him.
Laurie was, as his nickname implied, a fisherman. He was also a great lover of wine in the best possible way. He cared nothing about wood maturation, skin contact, or elegance, or tannin or acid balance or pH. He just knew what he liked and drank plenty of it.
Winemakers wish there were more like him.
As far as he was concerned, there were only two kinds of wine – soetes and vrottes (the sweet ones and the rotten ones).
He enjoyed muscadels and jerepigos and sweet hanepoot. When he went fishing he took along a bottle of Old Brown sherry as an essential part of his equipment.
Laurie the Fish introduced me to the delights of sweet wines, and although my palate has changed over the years, I still enjoy an occasional glass of rich, sweet fortified wine. Indeed, I’ve developed something of a reputation as a soetes lover.
My professed love of sweet fortified wines landed me on the panel of the annual Muscadel Competition and it has become one of my aims to get more people aware of these wonderful sweet delights that we make so well in South Africa. They deserve far more recognition than they get. I believe they reflect the warmhearted sweet spirit of South Africa’s people.

Divine dessert wines
And, talking of sweet wines, I was delighted to taste the Fort Simon Viognier Noble Late Harvest recently. One doesn’t often get a NLH made of viognier, and Fort Simon is not usually associated with sweet wines, but this one is a treat, full of luscious fruit and floral flavours with an added hint of vanilla from some time in French oak.
The world of wine is full of delightful surprises.
Another very charming sweet wine recently enjoyed was the Opstal Chardonnay Barrel Dessert. Here again, one doesn’t often find a sweet fortified version of Chardonnay, but this is really pleasant and packed with layers of complex flavour – a fine example of imaginative winemaking.
From Robertson we expect fine muscadels, so it was no surprise that the Rooiberg 2006 Red Muscadel proved a sweet delight. It has all the warming, raisiny flavours that make a good muscadel so special, and it comes in an elegantly tall and slender bottle that tells you this is not just a casual sweet plonk. It’s made to grace the finest dinner table and should provide the perfect end to a memorable meal.
Enjoy them.
When the weather turns warmer I shall probably find myself switching easily to cooler, dry white wines, like chardonnay, chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc.
In the meantime, it’s still “soetes” time, so let’s raise a glass of warming bottled sunshine in a toast to life.

Karoo photo: Courtesy of Martin Heigan on Flickr.com

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Among the many grape varieties it is often said that Cabernet is king and Chardonnay is queen.

This may be so, but not all of us enjoy the social strain of associating with kings and queens every day. Sometimes we prefer to relax in the company of a favourite uncle instead.

And when it comes to favourite uncles among grapes, mine is undoubtedly shiraz. Shiraz (or Syrah) makes warming, comfortable wines for everyday enjoyment.

It’s a surprising versatile grape, too, and can add an appealing dimension to a red blend.

David Frost uses shiraz as one of the components of his very easy-drinking, and well-named, Soft Smooth Red. The other ingredients are cabernet sauvignon and cinsaut. The result is a comfortable and unpretentious red that’s great for drinking by the fireside or with a meal.

(I may add here that cinsaut was once the backbone of the Cape’s wine world, used in such great names as Tassenberg, but it has sadly fallen out of favour and there’s very little left. Such a pity.)

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Still on the subject of Shiraz, when I visited Opstal winery in the Breedekloof Valley recently I was delighted to taste their very charming pink wine labelled Opstal Blush 2009. Unusually, it’s a blend of a red and white grape.

Most South African rosé wines are made by giving red grapes just a few hours of skin contact before separating the juice from the skins.

With Opstal Blush the shiraz (which they have called syrah) is grown and harvested together with viognier grapes, and the two are vinified together. In other words, it’s blended in the vineyard.

The result is a very grown-up wine, pretty salmon pink and loaded with peppery fruit flavours with a clean, dry finish.

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Shiraz makes a good everyday budget quaffer too.

The Obikwa shiraz 2009 was recently voted the Best Value wine in the Wine Magazine Shiraz Challenge, scoring a very creditable three stars.

I first encountered Obikwa wines in Canada before I’d even heard of them in South Africa. They’ve grabbed a big slice of the wine market in more than 40 countries and represent excellent value for money.

The Obikwa Shiraz is full-bodied and full of fruit flavours, with a nice clean tannin bite. It’s easy to see why it sells well.

*****

It’s always interesting to see how sweet wines are sneakily appreciated by wine lovers who would never admit to enjoying them.

I like to offer a muscadel to guests, who usually turn it down, claiming to prefer a chardonnay or a elegant red wine. However I leave the muscadel bottle out and invite people to help themselves, and there’s seldom very much left at the end of the evening.

The latest muscadel to bite the dust in my house was a lusciously rich Dutoitskloof Red Muscadel 2009. It provided a comfortingly warm end to a chilly winter’s evening.

Our climate and soils are ideally suited for the production of sweet wines and we produce some deliciously juicy fortified wines that are sadly under-rated by local wine lovers. I believe they capture the warmth of our country and its people perfectly.

*****

Photo: Courtesy of Opstal Estate and Restaurant

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