July 2001
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Naturel, Authentique, Vivant The French have no shame when it comes to praising and describing their own wine, but they do have a huge advantage over English speakers, French sounds like the language of wine.
If you prattled on about Cosmoculture in English on a wine label it would be laughable, but somehow the French can get away with it. This was the self description of one of the wines tasted by Tom G-W on his trip to the Rhone, and typifies the romantic attachment that the French have to their wine. The Rhone area is huge - about 200 km North to South but it is really only in the last few years that it has been on the international wine drinker's map. The grape growers are from rustic agrarian stock, and the ancient vines grow in the same small plots that have been worked for generations, often on steep, almost impossible slopes. It is really only the economics that has changed. Even into the 1970's wine making was not for profit but for local and family consumption. Fortuitously vines were put where more profitable crops such as fruits and vegetables could not survive. It is on these stony precipitous hillsides that the vines have produced their best most concentrated wines. The best of these are now highly sought after around the globe and as a result are ruinously expensive. But the growers, even the internationally renowned ones, have kept their feet firmly in the stony earth. The buildings and monuments are not monuments to wine as are the Chateaux of Bordeaux but have survived from the Roman and Holy Roman empires. Wine making seems less of an economic activity in these parts. It is part of the fabric of society. Most wine is produced by small family run "Domaines" who sell to the local cooperative, to negociants or who bottle their own and sell direct to wholesalers. A lot of these shrewd producers are recognizing that the rest of the world is coming back to the way they have been making wine for generations. Organic, low yields, small plot fermentations and careful handling in the cellar are all part of the regime. The agro industrial processes of chemicals and large scale mechanization have passed these guys by and they suddenly find they are part of the new "old" movement. Now that every young New World winemaker worth his salt is "doing a harvest" in Europe, many of these guys are finding themselves much in demand, and their ancient techniques are suddenly all the rage. Dare we say it but 100% new oak is very passé, small open concrete and wooden fermentation vessels are back in, and fining, filtration and mechanical harvesting are out. The important thing to remember, however, is that harvest time in the Northern hemisphere (Sep/Oct) tends to be a lot cooler than in most of wine growing regions of the Southern hemisphere (Mar/Apr). Something to do with degrees North vs. degrees South. So these techniques may not necessarily transfer South that easily. One of the Rhone producers who is playing the new/old card for all it is worth is Philippe Viret at the eponymous Domaine Viret. It is he who penned the description at the beginning of this diary and so in love is he with the idea of terroir that he has numerous "selection parcellaire" in his range. Not only that but he has built his cellar out of huge blocks of stone each weighing 5 or 6 tons, hewn from the rock that his vineyards stand on. A monument if not to wine then to terroir. His wines are as different as they are numerous, but each is superb for something. The tester is actually enjoying what the vintner usually samples before blending. The cellar itself is probably what the Prince of Wales would call a carbuncle, but which Philippe prefers modestly to refer to as a "cathedral". As Tom G-W would say "only a Frenchman could get away with that." One of Tom's tests of a good wine is if, having consumed a whole bottle by himself, he wakes up in the morning without a headache. Mrs G-W's favourite tipple is the local sparkler and she swears that she has never had a headache the next morning no matter how many bottles of Krone Borealis she necks. Maybe this is just "practice makes perfect" but there is a lot to be said for this test. Good wine never causes a headache. Tom reports that these small "Appellation Cote du Rhone Village Controllee" producers make good inexpensive wine in abundance and he is now a Rhone convert. There is nothing heavy about these wines. They open up beautifully in the glass and are surprisingly rich. They are not difficult or astringent and are very honest. How many expensive Cab/Merlots can one say that about.
Back in Tulbagh however it was very cold, very wet and very green. In fact it could easily be mistaken for Scotland rather than SA. The main problem hanging over us now is that we have underestimated the amount of drainage required, especially where the run off from the neighbouring land was washing onto our prepared soil. More drains were required and fast. Because of the soft ground the bulldozer couldn't be used to close the irrigation ditches or the drainage ditches which meant slow and expensive work with the trencher. Manie was getting quite sick of mud and poles.
To cheer himself up he went off to see a local grape farmer who was going with the organic soil preparation system that we were about to embark on. His vines have got nice even growth and are doing better than the inorganic ones he planted at the same time. He also mentioned that he had made no application during the growing season so maintenance costs were low. John M was not idle either. We are going to need a winemaker to run this whole show starting August next year and John was busy in London, Cape town and France talking to aspiring candidates. We are looking for a young person who has made wine in both the New World and in the warm European regions. Someone who has the ambition to run their own show, the experience to know what they can and cannot achieve, and good depth of knowledge from the soil to the bottle. They also have to be committed to organic viticulture. Of course we don't expect there to be queues forming to take the job, but if you think you fit the bill then contact us. Copyright © 2000 Tulbagh Solutions. All rights reserved. |
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