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Hand-picked grapes yield velvet texture
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
The Halifax Herald Limited

By SEAN WOOD / Wood on Wine

There are exciting things happening in South Africa these days. With the apartheid-era isolation now well past, the fruits of new investment, innovation and better understanding of the country's enormous viticultural potential are producing outstanding new wines. In the past, South Africa's wine industry was tightly controlled and regimented. Innovation and individuality were not encouraged by the system. Today, all that has changed.

Under the spur of intense competition for world markets, South African winemakers are rising to the challenge. Dynamic and creative individuals are giving a new face to South African wine. Among them is Bruce Jack, winemaker, viticulturist and energetic promoter of Flagstone Winery and Vineyards, the only winery on the Cape Town waterfront. South African wine writers, in a survey by Grape Magazine, rated Jack second only to Charles Back's Fairview as the Cape's "most exciting, dynamic, innovative, forward-looking winery." High praise indeed!

Jack's philosophy is to take meticulous care of the grape from vineyard right through the winemaking process. Flagstone gets its fruit from a variety of vineyards, each specialized in growing grape varieties best suited to local conditions. At the winery, hand selection of the best fruit and extremely gentle treatment create velvet-textured wines of extraordinary richness and depth. Flagstone wines come in two ranges, Foundation and Strata. The latter are described as "experimental, once-off and seriously adventurous" wines. The Foundation range includes both single grape and blends, each named for some colourful local feature or characteristic of the wine. Included are Music Room Cabernet Sauvignon, Free Run Sauvignon Blanc and my favourite, Writer's Block Pinotage.

Port of Wines has one of Jack's wines, Bowwood, a very fine Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend. The grapes came from closely planted vines grown in well-drained, shale-derived soils. The Merlot is hand-picked and the grapes softly de-stemmed. They are not crushed, but fall into specially designed open top fermenters for soaking until the slower ripening Cabernet Sauvignon is ready. Subsequently the Cabernet grapes are de-stemmed into the same fermenter and the temperature is allowed to rise until natural, spontaneous fermentation starts. This unusual technique of blending right from the start is designed to create greater harmony in the final result.

Similarly painstaking work is leading to new standards elsewhere in the southern hemisphere. Chile's Silva family is working with French and Swiss experts, in the cool-climate Leyda region of the San Antonio Valley, to create tenderly nurtured small-batch Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The wines, under the Amayna label, clearly challenge Chile's best. Amayna Sauvignon Blanc confirms this grape even more clearly as Chile's star white variety. Unfortunately, it has been discovered by Robert Parker, who awarded 92 points to the 2003 vintage. This means that it is not inexpensive. However, the $43 price is what one should expect to pay for such carefully crafted wine made in very small quantities. Two Amayna wines, including the Barrique Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, both from the 2003 vintage, are currently listed.

Bowwood Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, 2003 Western Cape, South Africa, 14.5 per cent alcohol, $33.54, Port of Wines

The blend for this elegantly vibrant, deep ruby-coloured wine is 63 per cent Cabernet and 37 per cent Merlot. Bouquet is opulently rich, with deep dark berry fruit and ripe plum and subtle traces of smoke, tobacco and mineral. Concentrated and thickly textured, showing sweet ripe dark fruit dominated by lush blackberry flavours and some earthy mineral notes, the wine also has some chocolate and firm but agreeable tannic grip. Finish is seamlessly integrated with lingering fruit, spice and rich dark chocolate. Impeccably made and very harmonious, it is drinking well now, but will be better with another couple of years to smooth out youthful acidity.

**

Amayna Pinot Noir, 2003 Leyda Estate Valle San Antonio, Chile, 14.2 per cent, $42.74

Only 3,530 cases were made of this interesting and well-made Pinot. There is good varietal character on the nose with plenty of ripe strawberry fruit, subtle light cinnamon spice and quite intense overtones of freshly mown hay. In the mouth, lush red berry fruit is balanced with unaggressive acidity and light but firm tannins. With some milk chocolate smoothness on the palate, it also shows well-integrated fruit and French oak on the finish. This is by far the best Chilean Pinot Noir I have tasted. It is not quite on a par with the top California Pinots, although it does show cool-climate Old World finesse.

Amayna Sauvignon Blanc Barrique, 2003 Leyda Estate Valle San Antonio, Chile, $43.08

I have not tasted this one, but I did taste the 2004 vintage, although not the barrique version. Here is my review of the '04. Bouquet has classic Sauvignon character, with grassy herbal, gooseberry and mineral notes. On the palate, beautifully crisp green gooseberry fruit and some citrus is superbly balanced with zesty tingling acidity and some tart grapefruit on the finish. Nothing stands out in particular, and that is this wine's strength. Neither cool climate greenness nor tropical fruit lushness dominates. It is simply extraordinarily well-balanced and harmonious.

*

Special Alert

If your budget doesn't extend to the price range of the wines reviewed above, Hardy Stamp Series 6 packs from southeastern Australia are back in limited supply. The selection of six 750-ml whites and reds is available at 40 Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. stores for $54.30 while supplies last. Great value.

***

Sean Wood conducts wine tastings, auctions and other wine-related events. Write c/o The Chronicle Herald, P.O. Box 610, Halifax, N.S. B3J 2T0; phone 902-465-2464.