MICHAEL GREEN’S WINE NOTES #214

Pleasant surprises from private wine-tasting group.

There were some surprises, mainly pleasant surprises, when our private wine-tasting group met at my home recently.

I presented wines which I described as “unusual reds”, adding that the only theme in the tasting was its lack of a theme. The list had seven wines, five South African and two French, in vintages ranging from 2004 to 1990.

The older wines had survived rather well in Durban’s hot and humid climate. I store wine in a reasonably cool, but not air-conditioned, room on the south side of the house, a room that has little direct sunshine. It is well ventilated, windows at both ends, and the temperature is fairly consistent. Wines in storage for a long time like plenty of air and they do not like frequent and extreme variations in temperature.

The tasting was, as usual, blind and at the end the scoring was very close, most wines being awarded 16 to 17 points out of 20. The top mark went to the Quoin Rock Syrah of 2004, a shiraz from a fairly recently established cellar at Stellenbosch which has vineyards in the Agulhas area (a quoin is a wedge to raise or lower the barrel of an old cannon). This syrah/shiraz (the terms are interchangeable) had a deep colour, intense aromas, and strong spicy/savoury flavours. Everybody admired it. Platter’s Wine Guide gives it four and a half stars out of five.

A big surprise, for all of us, I think, was the fact that second place was taken by the Nederburg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve of 1996. This 13-year-old wine had held its quality wonderfully well and in the scoring was only a fraction behind the Quoin Rock. It had mulberries and spices on the palate and bouquet and, interestingly, was only 12,5 percent alcohol (these days most of the upmarket Cape reds are 13 to 14,5 percent alcohol). The lasting power of this wine must be a tribute to Nederburg’s then winemaker, Newald Marais, and his team of the mid-nineties.

In third place was something of a rarity: the Paul Wallace Malbec of 2004. Paul Wallace is a veteran viticulturist who operates now in the Elgin area. Malbec is a grape that is used for very few single cultivar wines in South Africa, about 20 in a total of more than 6 000 wines produced annually. This variety comes originally from Bordeaux and is still grown extensively in France and in Argentina, but very little of it is planted in South Africa. The Paul Wallace Malbec is fruity, with blackcurrant features, and it has a lingering, rather dry aftertaste. Our tasters liked it very much.

Two other recent Cape vintages were up there with the leaders, both of them Bordeaux blends: La Motte Millenium 2004 from Franschhoek, flavours of berries, chocolate and spice; and The Work of Time 2003 from Springfield estate at Robertson, ripe plums and chocolate.

The two French wines offered were Carruades de Lafite 1990, a “second wine” to the famous Chateau Lafite de Rothschild from a 300-year-old estate at Pauillac in the Bordeaux region owned by the Rothschild banking family; and Chateau L’Arrosee 1994, from Saint-Emilion, also in the Bordeaux area. Both these wines were the classic Bordeaux blend: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot, with a touch of petit verdot, and both were 12,5 percent alcohol. Both were, I fear, past their best, but both were still very drinkable.

The lunch my wife provided after all this (and a couple of bottles of champagne to start with) was vichyssoise chilled soup; lasagne; strawberries, blueberries and ice-cream. Sounds OK to you? Tasted OK to me. – Michael Green