It’s a Revolution!

Swartland Independent? Most would assume it must be a bunch of arty people, radicals, rebels against big corporations. It turns out to be so much more.

Swartland Independent is a bunch of wine producers from the Swartland in South Africa, just over one hour’s drive north of Cape Town, but not just any old bunch. It is a group of like-minded winegrowers who believe in the true expression of the region’s terroir and in wines having their own identities.

The Swartland, like Stellenbosch, is a wine district in South Africa. Any wine made with grapes grown there can be labelled ‘Wine of Origin Swartland’. But to use the ‘Swartland Independent’ logo, producers must adhere to a set of viticultural guidelines with priority given to the conservation of old vines. The wine must be produced with minimal manipulation, with no use of commercial yeasts or enzymes, no added tannin or acid, and must not be chemically fined. Moreover, Swartland Independent believes that heavy oaking ‘masks’ the essence of grapes, so no more than 25% of a wine may be aged in new wood, and the wood must be of European origin. There are also guidelines on grape varieties. For whites, 90% must be Chenin Blanc, Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier, and specified others, while for reds, 90% must be Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Cinsault, and more. Commercially popular varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are not permitted. The producers believe planting grapes on unsuitable terroir only results in wine with inherent limitations.

The result? Rhone blend wines from this Mediterranean climate in the Southern hemisphere. The wine is all about natural balance, freshness and purity.

The Swartland has some of the oldest bush vines in South Africa but viticulture was long in the back seat as this is traditionally a grain-producing area. Wines were robust and mostly fortified until a new generation of winemakers who believe in making wine that is a true expression of its origin went there to hunt for parcels of old vines.

Eben Sadie, one of the leaders of the movement, firmly believes in the diverse soils that the Swartland offers: decomposed granite in the Paardeberg Mountain, clay soils with iron similar to those in the Barossa, slate and schist, calcareous soils, sandstones from Table Mountain and alluvial soils like those found in Graves. It is a canvas upon which grapes can express their true sense of place. Eben praises bush vines with their 360º orientation towards the sun that helps avoid the excessive sun or shading of bunches that can occur on trained vines. And he expends the same effort in the winery. For years, he experimented with fermentation in amphorae underground, a Georgian winemaking tradition, with varying degrees of disaster until he finally mastered the skill. He is now extending the winery to accommodate a few amphorae. I am looking forward to trying those wines in a few years.

Swartland Independent has just over 20 members, all family businesses. Some of them, like Adi Badenhorst, ex-winemaker at Rustenberg, gave up their jobs in prestige wineries, while others, like Donovan Rall, still work for established producers but also make some wines of their own. Mullineux is an international team led by Chris Mullineux from South Africa and his wife Andrea from San Francisco. All of them, hands on in both vineyard and winery, gather in the Swartland to live their dreams of making passionate wine. Naturally, none of them has a big production. David Sadie (no relation to Eben) has just one barrel of 400 bottles for his Grenache Noir.

To attract the attention of wine lovers and to revive the image of the region, Swartland Independent organises an annual weekend event called The Swartland Revolution, comprised of tutored tastings, an auction and a braai (South African barbecue) evening that ends with a street-party open tasting. Tickets for last November's event sold out in 52 hours.

I am excited by the development of the Swartland and the enthusiasm of these producers. In the wine world, there are mass produced standardised wines that are clean and consistent but lack soul, and there are the premium wines with matching price tags that can only be a treat once in a while for many. To me, wines like those made by the Swartland Independent producers are wines for the true wine lover. We appreciate the fact that grapes are products of nature, and we embrace the different styles, even the not-so-mainstream funky ones. Above all, we respect winemakers who have the commitment, the passion and conviction to make wine that truly reflects the place.

Luckily, there is no shortage of like-minded producers in South Africa, and in fact in all wine producing countries. We should be bold enough to step out of our comfort zone and try wines from different regions and producers, including smaller and lesser known ones like these. Only then can we truly enjoy this wonderful drink that mother nature makes possible.

The Sadie Family wines is available from Berry Bros & Rudd.
Mullineux is available from Berry Bros & Rudd and Vincisive Wines.

“Where flavour and beauty meet ...”

What a name for a wine tasting event! Only the Italians are romantic enough to come up with such a name for a sparkling wine tasting session ... and it was not a disappointment. What’s more, the tasting was led by Hong Kong based JC Viens, a French Canadian who recently became an Italian citizen because of his passions for all things Italian, especially his lovely wife Maria. His enthusiasm was contagious.

If you think Prosecco is only a quaffing wine for making Bellini (a Prosecco based cocktail) or as an aperitif, read on and think again … perhaps you haven’t tried the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG denomination yet!

When sparkling wine is made using the ‘traditional’ method where the secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle and the wine spends some time on lees to produce the toasty and nutty characters (through a process called yeast autolysis). A lot of people dismiss Prosecco as a ‘simple' wine because its second fermentation is carried out in pressurised tanks and it only spends a short time on lees. How wrong this view can be!

Prosecco is all about fruitiness, freshness and floral aromas. And the majority of the Prosecco in the DOC denomination may indeed be fairly simple, but those from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG are certainly not. This DOCG region, framed between the town of Conegliano in the east and Valdobbiadene in the west, is only 40km wide but has its own distinctive soils and climate. Conegliano is warmer with richer soil producing more structured and fuller-bodied wine, while Valdobbiadene, at the foothills of the Alps with more ancient soils, is renowned for more delicate wines with finesse.

To further highlight the quality, the authority has established a 'Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze’ category, equivalent to the ‘Cru’ of the region. It lies in the Valdobbiadene commune comprising a 107 ha rectangle on steep hills. Moreover, a new quality category, ‘Rive’, meaning steep hills, was introduced in 2009 to highlight the stylistic variations between villages.

So, Prosecco is not always as simple as it might seem. We tried eight wines from different regions with various sweetness levels (Brut, Extra dry and Dry) and it was a fascinating experience. Each had its distinctive characters reflecting the terroir. Those from the Conegliano area were clearly rounder while the Valdobbiadene had more minerality.

The Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG denomination produces 68 million bottles annually, 23% of total Prosecco production of 300 million bottles (the rest is from the basic DOC denomination). By way of comparison, Champagne produces over 300 million bottles a year and Cava just under 250 million.

My favourite Proseccos are:
• Bortolin Angelo Brut for its elegance and floral nose. Available from EnvItaly.
• Valdellövo Extra-Dry ‘Annozero’ for its creamy mouthfeel. Apparently it is perfect with spicy Indian food according to both JC and Matthew Stubbs MW. Available from Soho Wines & Spirits.
• Marsuret Extra Dry ‘Il Soler’: vibrant and concentrated. Available from Marco Polo Fine Wines.

Big shot tastings in Hong Kong: what’s the impact?

March is set to be a busy month on the Hong Kong wine scene, with wine lovers torn between two equally famous yet very different wine gurus: Jancis Robinson and Robert Parker. Each of them, coincidentally, has two evenings of dinners in Hong Kong—on the same dates. When Robinson is answering questions from WSET diploma students and graduates on the 5th, Parker will be showcasing iconic French wines and their New Word counterparts to 300 guests. The next evening, Robinson will be lending her support to the charity ‘Room to Read’, with wines sponsored by Watson’s, while Parker will be sharing his ‘legend’ wines with some 200 guests, each paying US$1,000+ for the privilege. Hong Kong is just one of the stops on their Asian tours and luckily it seems their schedules only clash in Hong Kong.  

In the last few years there has been no shortage of wine ‘big shots’ staging high profile events in Greater China. Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve, two respected French critics, have held tastings under the banners ‘Le Grand Day of Indulgence’ and ‘Wine Experience’ in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and I believe the ticket price of HK$18,000/person in Hong Kong for an intimate whole-day gathering of 50 guests is still the record price. James Suckling, an American wine critic who now spends half his time in Hong Kong, has his ‘Great Wine Tasting of Bordeaux’ and ‘Great Wine Tasting of Italy’ events priced at around HK$2,000/person for VIP tickets.

All these glamour events no doubt create excitement and buzz among Hong Kong’s wine connoisseurs and paint a rosy impression for producers, yet somehow I wonder if they really help expand the Hong Kong wine market. Let’s look at things from the consumer point of view:

Those who sign up for or aware of these events will almost all be wine collectors or serious wine lovers who appreciate and drink wine nearly every day. They won’t drink more because of these VIP events as their livers are pretty much working at capacity already.

For those who hardly drink or are not interested in wine, they won’t know how influential these big shots are and won’t drink more because of them. So these events have little or no impact on them.

That leaves the last group, which is actually the majority of wine consumers in Hong Kong—occasional drinkers who have some interest in wine but don’t know much about it. What is the impact of these events on them (bearing in mind that they won’t attend the events but may hear about them)? Will our VIP presenters inspire them to drink and enjoy more wine, or will they be led down the path of believing that only expensive wines are worth drinking? Sadly, I fear it will be the latter because of the herd mentality. And that is a pity because it means the middle market, which ought to be the core of any mature wine market, is left hollow and undeveloped.

I’m not saying high profile tasting events are bad (we all enjoy them, don’t we?). But I do think that for a still developing market like Hong Kong, perhaps it would be more beneficial—more help in building a solid, sustainable market—if the big shots could, in addition to the lavish tastings, host some simpler, more affordable tastings for new and curious wine consumers, aimed at providing that spark that inspires them to love wine for what it is rather than chasing labels. We can then, over time, nurture them into core wine consumers as opposed to occasional drinkers. In turn, they will inspire other average consumers to give wine a try. And of course some of them will one day grow to become the enthusiasts who sign up as guests of these high-profile exclusive events!

Marqués de Riscal - Tradition and Modernity

Great afternoon sunshine at the tasting, View 62

As much as he is proud of the wine, José Luis Muguiro, one of the owners of Marqués de Riscal, is also proud of the history and development of the estate, founded in 1858 and one of the oldest wineries in Rioja.

First the wine: the grapes come only from the Rioja Alavesa region, the best sub-zone in Rioja with vineyards at up to 800m altitude. Apart from the traditional grape varieties of Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo, Marqués de Riscal has also planted Cabernet Sauvignon since 1858 and is one of the very few wineries that are allowed to have Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. And it was precisely because the quality of its Cabernet Sauvignon so impressed Paul Pontallier, the then technical director and now managing director of Chateau Margaux, that in 1998 he agreed to become a consultant to Marqués de Riscal in charge of blending its top range. The Barón de Chirel 2006 we tasted, with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend and aged in French barriques, clearly has the footprint of a Bordeaux. It is, according to José, a wine that combines tradition and modernity.

In addition to the Frenchman, the estate has also secured the help of Frank P. Gehry, a renowned Canadian architect who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, to design the ‘City of Wine’, a colossal project that combines tradition and innovation in the heartland of Rioja. The wavy titanium roof of pink, gold and silver houses a hotel and the oldest cellars of Marqués de Riscal. On this occasion, it was not Cabernet Sauvignon but a bottle of Marqués de Riscal 1929, the birth year of Frank (probably with some Cabernet in the blend), that charmed him to agree to take on the project.

And the next big plan? José has decided to call on all international help. Marqués de Riscal plans to invite 10 people, one from each of 10 different countries—the US, the UK, Japan, China, Hong Kong, to name a few—for a 3-day vertical tasting of Marqués de Riscal dating back to 1858 (the founding year). The tasting notes and comments of these experts will be made into a book commemorating the estate. The guests are not finalised yet apart from Japan’s. No doubt a few of our friends in Hong Kong and China will be jockeying for an invitation. I wonder who will be the lucky ones.

Marqués de Riscal is certainly far-sighted. It was the first to produce white wine in Rueda, and in 2011 held an auction of 100 vintages in Beijing. Like many big and long-established companies, it had its downs in the 1980s but has since transformed in the 21st century. Let’s hope it will continue to reinvent itself over the next 150 years.

We also had a vertical tasting of Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 1997, 1998 and 1999. The 1998, coincidentally without any Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, was voted by most as their favourite of the day.

Marqués de Riscal is available from ASC Fine Wines.