THE CAPSULE| April & May 2002 – Two for the price of one!
Goodbyes
Life returns to normal like a weary cross-country runner climbing slowly onto a king size waterbed. Our “Crush” was officially exhausted with an all-night braai at F1. Bernard “Haasie” Le Roux taught Cristiana “Famous Flagstone Italian Winemaker” Cantarini how to “Langarm” – a fickle Afrikaans danceform, requiring courage and cozy exuberance.
Our French import, Franck “Boude” Lambert (from Narbonne) sang a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise. Amanda “Snoek Braaier” Shepherdson (from Margaret River) took the temperature of our last ferment (a Cab from the Langkloof) at 2am with her thumb – and guessed it right – now that’s a party trick only winemakers find riveting.
And so we said “see you later”, to each other, nightshifts and another vintage.
Cape Wine 2002
Cape Wine 2002 is our National Trade Show where we enthusiastically bare our vinious legs to the passing international trade. What’s great is that we do it here – they come to us.
Many producers use the show to attract a suitable agent, who will shout their praises and present their wines in far-flung lands where the currency tends not to be as fragile as ours. The show also attracts wine writers from big, flashy international wine magazines and newspapers. There are one or two with intelligent, original opinions. More importantly the show attracts serious VIP winebuyers.
It was uncomfortably hot, but the passing trade was polite. We take part in these shows primarily to hear their opinions.
There is a valid reason the guy with a sunbed tan and botox treatment from Ontario thinks your Pinotage smells to him just like his zooty racing bicycle tires, while half an hour earlier three Scandinavian journalists did summersaults of ecstasy when they tasted it – I could have started a religious order.
There’s an important reason the ex-hippy, wannabe-agent from Brussels clucks so furiously over your Sauvignon Blanc you think her eyelashes are attached to springs, while the slick restauranter from NYC calmly and coolly explains that he couldn’t serve this same wine with anything edible. He’s really sorry about it, Buddy, but that’s the state of apple pie in the Big Apple. It’s great.
These insightful, usually honest reactions to the wine reflect the market these guys and girls have to sell into. Pushing other peoples’ life’s work is their means of living. They are either right, or out of pocket. What they say is fascinating and incredibly valuable.
Why Do They Want To Buy South African Wine
The vast majority of international grape peddlers are interested in our wine because South Africa has overflowing tanks of good, cheap wine.
With South African booze they can turn a quick buck, and if they flog enough of it they can make a lot of boodle. Do the numbers and it looks easy. Hey, I don’t blame them; anyone can smell a weak currency from the other side of a wine lake.
There are also the fly-by-nights without the market positioning experience to sustain business. These are the shifty-eyed, bottom-of-the-barrel breed who the experienced supermarket buyer will spot a mile off. As a producer you need to be able to do the same so you don’t end up associated with them. There were very few this year, which was a good sign.
The best wine agents are a cool bunch of traveling salesmen - urbane, streetwise, well traveled, selfish, ruthless, sensitive, unshakeable, secretive, passionate and as hard as nails.
These are the guys and girls at the sharp end of our industry and do a job I am practically incapable of. You can’t help but admire them. Making wine is a lot more straightforward than selling it.
Generally, however, I would suggest less than 2% are seriously interested in unearthing the answer to a French First Growth, a Penfold’s Grange, a Cali. Cult or a Super Tuscan.
This is not because we aren’t informing them about our top wines, but partly because they haven’t stopped to consider if it is possible and partly because they just aren’t interested in South African wine for that reason.
It is too tough to sell expensive, handcrafted wines from South Africa. This is not difficult to accept. Sure the rewards are there once the wine is selling, but I can understand why many hesitate when faced with the challenge.
There is a reason these guys are middlemen and not making the stuff – no offence intended – it’s the same reason these middlemen make more money. A different skill set and mindset are required for the job. The single-minded passion, extreme dedication and ridiculous hard graft required to put someone else’s South African masterpiece on the map must be overwhelming in the short term.
What is the solution? For producers making wines whose complexity, character, concentration and balance reflect wines worth over £20 per bottle in the global marketplace this is a difficult one. Perhaps they need to re-asses the suitability of an agent or middleman to sell this wine. The uncomfortable question should be asked if the agent successfully selling the lower priced wine is the right person to sell the masterpieces.
It comes down to belief and commitment. Does your representative believe South Africa in general and you in particular can produce some of the best wine in the world, and if so, are they committed to selling this reality to the world?
There are an unprecedented amount of great, handcrafted South African wines selling for a fraction of their value in the global marketplace. How soon this imbalance is redressed will be fascinating to watch.
WOSA (Wines of South Africa) did brilliantly to set the whole show up. I wonder how many of us in the trade realise how lucky we are to have the team we do at WOSA. It is extraordinary they are able to achieve so much, working in the politically charged environment they do; not to mention the lack of 1st world funding and the sometimes naïve antipathy of the producers.
State Of The Nation
At Cape Wine 2002 I bumped into Tony Allen, the senior winebuyer for the award-winning chain of Oddbins wineshops in the UK.
“I am really worried,” he confided. “There are so many good wines available for tasting that any winebuyer could put together a very good South African selection without really trying.”
That comment means two things. Firstly, handcrafted South African wine has improved greatly in quality AND quantity over the last few years. New labels (and there are lots) like Nico Vermeulen’s Havana Hills are turning as many heads as the cutting-edge professionals like Charles Back, Abrie Bruwer and the Jordans.
The cult winemaker/craftsmen like David Trafford are making wines that are so complex and brilliant they take your breath away. These wines are vastly under priced. When comparing similar quality from around the world they are selling for a tenth of their value.
Then there are the medium-sized teams building magnetic momentum like Stellenbosch Vineyards (tried the Kumkani Shiraz recently?), Vergelegen/Boschendal and Graham Beck. At almost every price point you look there are wines that will take on the best the world can offer, but perhaps still not all in the quantities required.
Secondly, the show makes this increasing number of torch-bearing wineries accessible in an organized, efficient and positive way. Oddbins prides itself on discovering the hidden gems in the rough. They did it in Australia, South Africa and now Greece (some exciting varieties with potential for here, by the way). Shows like Cape Wine 2002 sign post the gem mine and turn the spotlights on, so even a half-wit who has been buying shampoo for a supermarket could put a great wine selection together.
New Releases
We have just bottled a new Strata Series. It is called Flagstone Strata Series “In Cahoots” Merlot & Pinotage 2001. The Merlot is from one of our very best growers, Oak Valley (Elgin) – owned and run by Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen and expertly managed by Pieter Visser. The Pinotage is from a very exciting farm called Maatjieskuil (Paarl), run by Jannie Laategang. We blended the varieties after months of tasting trials. The result is an extraordinarily complex, full-flavored wine, offering structure, intensity of fruit and a guns-blazing personality. It forms part of our on-going exploration of the mystery and majesty of Pinotage and Pinotage blends. Please contact Michelle for a release date and a price.
Recent Awards
Our Flagship Pinot Noir, The Poetry Collection 2000, was awarded top marks at WINE (SA) magazine’s most recent Pinot Noir tasting. This follows a gold veritas medal and claiming the title as best Pinot Noir at the Wine of the Month Club. This follows the same Wine magazine feat in 2000 by our BK5 1999.
There is something that needs to be made public about the BK5 – my friend Rudi-Lynn has suggested I let the cat out the bag. This wine goes brilliantly with sushi. Willoughby’s (at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town) stock this ethereal beauty and serve it chilled. Just Do It With Wasabi!
Our Music Room Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 was chosen as one of the top ten Cabernet Sauvignons blind by a very experienced panel at Wine Magazine. I am seriously chuffed. 1999 was my first vintage back home after many years overseas and we were working under difficult conditions. To have had another wine rated as one of the best in South Africa from our first year is an extraordinary and unexpected accolade.
Adam Mason was my assistant that vintage. We lived vicariously through our work and winemaking dreams and every day felt like a cauldron of explosive creation and crushing stress. We probably willed and prayed that Cabernet to drinkability, never mind accolades. We loved the wine, sometimes more than we should have judging by the exhaustive hours we spent over winemaking decisions (just ask my wife!). This wine, the Music Room 1999 is showing quite well now, but she has just learnt how to wink seductively. Give her five years and she’ll be driving a Ferrari and running a multi-national.
And watch out for her younger sister the Music Room 2000. I would bath in this wine if there was enough of it.
Until next month,
Bruce Jack
Winemaker
