SOUTH AFRICAN WINE
AFTER 10 YEARS OF FREEDOM

In July 2003, I wrote on South African wines for Specialty Food Magazine. Since then, I have had the opportunity to visit South Africa for Cape Wine 2004, a biennial wine trade event held at the new Cape Town Convention Centre in March of this year on the eve of that country’s 10 year anniversary of democracy.

Over the course of a week, I tasted almost 300 wines. I was impressed by how many were well made and how many were good values. I was equally impressed by the beauty of South Africa’s wine regions.

Cape Town is a charming city with a very European feel. It is perfectly situated for an event like Cape Wine 2004 because you can get from it to many of South Africa’s wine regions in less than two hours by car, which is what I and several other American wine writers did. In this sense, Cape Town is a lot like San Francisco. Continuing with the California analogy, Stellenbosch would be the Napa Valley of South Africa and the town of Stellenbosch, the St. Helena.

But there are plenty of other places to explore. One of my favorites was Franschhoek, the tiny and utterly charming valley and town of the same name. Despite its size, Franschhoek boasts eight of South Africa’s top 100 restaurants. (For more information on the valley, go to www.franschhoek.org.za.)

At a tasting on a cool, foggy morning at Boekenhoutskloof winery in Franschhoek, I found the following wines worthy of mention. (Note: while I tried to taste only wines that are or will soon be available in the United States, some wines below may not fall into that category.)

• La Petite Ferme, 2003 Blanc Fumé. Ripe pear, melon, and apple flavors nicely integrated with oak.

• Plaisir de Merle 2003 Sauvignon Blanc. Elegant, ripe and smooth with a creaminess from lees contact and a nice acidic tang.

• Pierre Jourdan Cuvèe Bell Rose. Much more delicate than most sparkling wines made of 100 percent Pinot Noir grapes. Lively strawberry fruit.

• Boschendal 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon. Ripe raspberry fruit with earthy notes and plenty of tannins. Still needs some time.

• Graham Beck 2002 Old Road Pinotage. Ripe cherry fruit with lots of meatiness and firm structure.

• Stony Brook 2002 Shiraz Reserve. Earthy, smoky and meaty with ripe fruit and lots of depth.

Boekenhoutskloof, the host winery for this event, didn’t show as well on this morning as it did a few nights later. At a small gathering I tasted several of winemaker Marc Kent’s wines and was thoroughly impressed. Overall, his wines were among my favorites on the trip. The Wolftrap is a spicy, aromatic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Cinsault that delivers amazing flavor for about $8 a bottle. Another tremendous value is Kent’s 2003 Porcupine Ridge Syrah ($10), which has more flavor than wines twice the price. The meaty and delicious 2001 Boekenhoutskloof Syrah could easily be mistaken for a topflight Rhone wine. Just to prove he can make white wines too, Kent’s 2002 Semillon (a vastly underrated varietal) showed good varietal character, spice and fruit. Keep an eye out for Marc Kent and Boekenhoutskloof wines.

For even more on South African wines, go here.