Win welcome bubbles and a three-course meal for two people worth R1 600 at Grub & Vine Norval.
Located at the art centre that is the Norval Foundation in Constantia, Grub & Vine by chef Matt Manning serves refined bistro-style fare.
There will also be pop-up bar featuring top local and international wine run by Culture until 30 April.
To enter, all you have to do is subscribe to Winemag.co.za for R55 a month or R550 a year.
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Competition now closed. Winner to be announced shortly. Travel not included. The winner will be chosen by lucky draw and notified by email. Existing subscribers are also eligible.
The SA Wine Harvest Commemorative Event is held annually at the beginning of February in commemoration of the first vintage on South African soil in 1659. At this year’s event, hosted at Groot Constantia, the 2024 harvest was blessed, the wine industry’s 365th anniversary was celebrated and trailblazers in the industry were honoured.
Those to receive awards were:
Tim Hutchinson, chairman of DGB – 1659 Visionary Leadership
Cathy Marston, founder and head lecturer at the prestigious International Wine Education Centre – Wine Advancement
Ilse Ruthford, managing director of Compagniesdrift – Growing Inclusivity
Dawid Saayman, soil scientist – Wine and Viticulture
In 2022, wine tourism contributed R9.3 billion to the South African economy, outperforming the 2019 contribution of R7.2 billion (prior to the Coronavirus pandemic).
Total winery turnover attributed to wine tourism grew from 14.7% in 2019 to 17.3% in 2022 underscoring its pivotal role as a revenue source.
During the same year, the South African wine and brandy industry contributed R56.5 billion to the country’s GDP, constituting 0.9% at market prices.
The industry’s activities also generated a fiscal contribution of R19.26 billion economy-wide, accounting for 1.23% of the nation’s total tax revenue in the 2022 financial year.
The industry is also a significant source of employment, creating 270 364 jobs across various sectors, accounting for 1.8% of national employment. Wine grape cultivation and winemaking activities spanning 89 000 hectares collectively support 85 962 jobs
This data was made available by non-profit industry gbody South Africa Wine following the Macro-Economic Impact Report by FTI Consulting, which measured the wine and brandy industry’s impact on the South African Economy for 2022. The FTI study was accompanied by a 2022 study by I and M Futureneer Advisors, measuring the economic contribution of wine tourism.
I’ll begin this piece with a rather blunt statement: I haven’t found a no-alcohol wine that I’d like to drink. And I’ve tried a few. But I’d also counter this by saying I appreciate the efforts of those who have taken on the challenge of creating these products, and I’ve always got an open mind about trying new examples. And this is certainly a growing category in the UK, with some products doing well in the market. Some consumers clearly aren’t as fussy as me, and good luck to them.
The real question though is this: why has it been so difficult to take alcohol out of wine and end up with something that tastes like wine, just without the booze? It’s because alcohol plays a very important role in wine flavour, even though it doesn’t taste of much.
It’s importance was illustrated to me several years ago when I was doing a bit of work with alcohol reduction company ConeTech. The late Tony Dann established this enterprise to bring the spinning cone technology to wine. This is a special fractionation process that separates a liquid according to the volatility of its components. It’s a big, expensive piece of kit so people have to bring their wines in for treatment. The first fraction off the column consists of the volatiles, and these are kept: they are the all important components that give wine its aroma. Then the alcohol is removed. And then the volatiles are blended back into this newly alcohol-free wine matrix.
The original idea was to use this to tweak alcohol levels, something that had previously been done with a process called reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis is a form of crossflow filtration that acts a bit like our kidneys. In normal filtration, liquid is forced through a membrane head on, which means that the bits that don’t go through the filter pores end up blocking the filter. In crossflow, the liquid runs at pressure through a tube made of a filtration membrane, so that the flow of liquid keeps the pores clean, and although the process requires long tubes of membrane, it’s more gentle than normal filtration. The idea here is that if you use a very fine membrane, just water and alcohol leaves and the wine remains, albeit in a concentrated form. Then the alcohol is distilled from the water/alcohol fraction, and the water is returned. Reverse osmosis requires processing much more of the wine, whereas the spinning cone only needs to treat a small portion of the wine, depending on how much the alcohol needs to be reduced by.
So ConeTech were interested in getting into the alcohol-reduction business, something that is common for even premium wines in California. And I tasted through samples of the same wine reduced to different alcohol levels, with the only difference being this alcohol reduction.
It was striking how different the wines were. Removing even the smallest amount of alcohol affects the flavour; removing a chunk of it fundamentally alters the wine, demonstrating just how much impact alcohol has on wine flavour.
Their idea was to promote wines at low alcohol levels of around 5.5%, and the big problem was what to do with the hole left by the alcohol. The reds tasted sharper and more savoury, and a bit thin. The whites showed less fruit, seemed a bit thin, and lacked charm. The answer at the time seemed to be to add sugar, which added volume that was lacking, but also gave the wines sweetness, which is unsurprising, making them less gastronomic.
So how about zero-alcohol wine? This is a huge challenge. Fermentation is needed to give complexity to wine, otherwise it would taste like grape juice. So the result is alcohol, and its removal leaves a significant hole that no one has worked out how to fill. It makes all the other components of the wine stick out a bit, and changes the way they present, so that wine no longer tastes like wine. I think the best of the bunch is probably Zeno’s Alcohol Liberated Red which sells in Waitrose for £9.99 and is doing well, but it still isn’t convincing for me to want to buy it, especially not at a price that would see it sell at £40 in most restaurants. Torres make a zero alcohol series of wines that are OK, and are a bit cheaper, but they aren’t particularly wine like.
Some of the lower alcohol options are a bit better, and I’ve had some wines at 5.5% alcohol that have a pleasant personality, but they are almost all a bit sweet. Of course, there are Mosel Rieslings at 7.5% alcohol, but these are a unique style of wine and while I love them, I’d not want to drink them all the time. New Zealand has done a lot of work creating lighter wines at the 9% level through viticulture and picking decisions, rather than alcohol reduction by spinning cone or reverse osmosis. The canopy reduction used to make these wines may shorten the life of the vines, though, and they are usually slightly disappointing when compared with their full strength peers. They do taste like wine, though.
So the real challenge of making low/no wines is this: replace the alcohol with something that does the same job as alcohol in terms of adding body and binding flavours together, and then use this to replace the alcohol that you have extracted from the wine without damaging the other components too much. If someone succeeds with this and makes something that could be confused with actual wine in a blind tasting setting, they will make a lot of money. I’m sure many are busy trialling options right now.
95/100.
Here are our five most highly rated wines of last month:
Mother Rock Liquid Skin Chenin Blanc 2022 – 95/100 (read original review here)
Mullineux Old Vine White 2023 – 95/100 (read original review here)
Mullineux Syrah 2021 – 95/100 (read original review here)
Remhoogte Reserve Honeybunch Chenin Blanc 2022 – 95/100 (read original review here)
Tim Hillock La Cósmica Chenin Blanc 2022 – 95/100 (read original review here)
A few days ago, just as news got out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will now allow alcohol sales in the since-1952-teetotaller country, the Pope had some very nice words for a gathering of Italian winemakers at the Vatican.
In one of those very fancy halls in Rome, his Holiness praised wine: “Wine, land, agricultural skills and entrepreneurialism are gifts from God – the creator has entrusted them to us because, with our sensitivity and honesty, we make them a true source of joy.”
Amen, we all say. And again, to the other robed leaders of a different religion who decided that maybe wine is not so bad being around when tourists visit to pay their respects in Arabic or otherwise.
Today, first of February, another blessed event is taking place at Groot Constantia where the annual celebration of the first South African harvest centuries ago is being held. May it be a beautiful, colourful and meaningful day out there – and in the rest of the winelands where the new harvest is picking up steam.
Celebration, ceremony and ritual are so part and parcel of wine that the cultural weight of that special bottle or the sensational single glass of rarity cannot be missed.
Just think for a minute the gravitas required when an ancient Vin de Constance’s long-suffering cork is pulled from the odd-shaped brown flask. Or from that bottle of tawny that has stayed alive for the twenty-one years required, waiting in the dark for the ‘coming-of-age’ of a beloved off-spring.
Of all the varieties in which alcohol can be produced and offered, wine’s ancient roots deep in human history are the reason for its cheerful presence in our celebrations and ceremonies of life.
The most prominent of this, of course, is the place of wine in Christian church rituals where the symbolism is boldly exploited. (Even if you only think about it poetically and fantastically, the dramatics of changing water into wine at a grand Biblical wedding is a coup d’elegance in hospitality!)
The most foolish of all rituals, of course, is the ‘champagne shower’ from the triumphal podium that some winners seem to accept as their due indulgence and a glorious waste.
Perhaps the most blessed and enjoyed one is the friendly toast that a host proposes when opening a special wine to guests and friends over a sociable table.
Think of that wine as something that presents itself embodied with a great story, cultural suss, poetic provenance and a uniqueness of nowhere else.
This was on my mind talking to Johan von Wielligh, a congregation member, who keeps an eye on the rare vineyard that belongs to the beautiful, old Strooidakkerk in Paarl.
This 0.9-hectare plot, right across the church, is in the same league as the famous Le Clos Montmartre of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris: a real parish vineyard with wines produced for church funds – and hence blessed in numerous exceptional ways, limited to some 4 000 bottles a vintage.
Started decades ago, the vineyard had been planted with cabernet sauvignon from which some rosé too had been made in recent years under Blackwater winemaker Francois Haasbroek’s supervision. But leave-roll forced replanting of the vineyard last year (by Paarl wine personality Derek Clift). Wine-sussed members of the congregation advised that ‘Le Clos Strooidak’ take on a modernised personality. And so grenache noir and carignan were planted, 60 to 40 percent.
While there is a gap before the first of that holy blend comes on the market, Johan says they have some of the previous vintages. Of course, the church cannot be a wine-trader, but they usually, for now, offer a bottle or such in lieu of a donation.
Punters will notice that that newly-planted grenache noir is one of the grapes blended into the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines. Those from the ‘Pope’s New Castle’ have a history dating back to the Burgundian 14th century. But surely the same blessings of the current Pope last week applies to that special parcel in Paarl.
David Clarke of the agency Ex Animo Wine Co. provides a podcast consisting of a series of interviews with industry figures, a recent episode featuring some of the winemakers of Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. Listen to it here.
The Macdonald and Jeffery families farm deciduous fruit in the Agter Witzenberg valley, which sits between 750 – 950 metres above sea level outside Ceres. They have also long dabbled in wine grape farming (notably plantings are ungrafted) and the respected Donovan Rall currently takes charge of vinification.
The Winterhoek Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is a dramatic offering. Pronounced green melon and blackcurrant on the nose before a palate that is rich, round and smooth textured. At 14% alcohol, it’s not exactly “racy” but it does speak of a particular terroir. Price: R135 a bottle.
CE’s rating: 91/100.
Check out our South African wine ratings database.
The new Signature wines from Swartland producers Chris and Andrea Mullineux are due to be released in February, the white blend and sweet wine from 2023 and the Syrah from 2021. Chris Mullineux of the eponymous label describes 2023 as “typical” of the district in the sense of being dry. There was rain in December, however, which meant canopies maintained their leaves and “grapes were growing in the shade of their own leaves” to quote his wife and winemaking partner, Andrea – they generally are quite bullish about the resulting wines. 2021, meanwhile, was famously a very cool vintage and wines from this year typically have excellent structure.
Mullineux Old Vine White 2023
Price: R420
60% Chenin Blanc, 15% Semillon, 13% Clairette Blanche, 7% Grenache Blanc, 5% Viognier and 3% Verdelho. Matured for 11 months in a combination of older barrels and foudre. Citrus, peach, herbs, ginger anda little waxy character on the nose. This vintage is substantial but completely harmonious – excellent fruit density, brisk acidity and a dry finish. Alcohol is 14% and the wine has good texture and weight.
CE’s rating: 95/100.
Mullineux Syrah 2021
Price: R420
90% whole-bunch fermentation. Matured for 12 months in 500-litre barrels, before being transferred to 5 000-litre foudre for another 12 months. Red and black berries, olive, fynbos, cured meat and white pepper on the nose while the palate is pure and poised – lovely clarity of fruit, bright acidity and powdery tannins, the finish long and savoury. A seamless wine that carries its alcohol of 14% extremely well.
CE’s rating: 95/100.
Mullineux Straw Wine 2023
Price: R670 per 357ml bottle
Grapes from two Paardeberg blocks that have the appropriate bunch structure to dry successfully and provide enough acidity. Left to dry outdoors before going to barrel for 12 months (fermentation takes 10 months to complete). Pronounced notes of straw and fynbos plus peach, apricot and quince. The palate is unctuous – very dense fruit and well-integrated acidity before a savoury finish. Makes a huge impression. Alcohol is 7.5% and RS is 336 g/l.
CE’s rating: 93/100.
Check out our South African wine ratings database.
The wine world is not generally cheerful at present – and I mean the whole big world, not just the South African corner of it. With wine consumption declining in most markets (domestic and export) while the global surplus rises despite 2023’s global production falling to a 60-year low (think: weird weather and climate change), one doesn’t need to look far to find gloomy analyses and prognostications for most countries.
Just the other day I saw a report on the head of an association representing some 500 growers in California calling for 30,000 vineyard acres to be uprooted there in order to balance the market. That’s 12 000 hectares of vineyard, about as much as South Africa has lost in the past dozen years or so (to some people’s laments – not mine).
Amother example: Mid last year Robert Joseph wrote in Meininger’s International that “Australian wine is in crisis”, noting, amongst other things, falling volumes in many markets, value per litre sold falling faster still, with more wine shipped in bulk at lower prices. Familiar sort of stuff. Crisis is a word much in use in the global wine industry.
The latest ProWein Business Report, Ways out of the crisis, considered the results of a survey of “2,000 members of the wine industry, from producers to retailers, conducted by Geisenheim University”, as reported by Drinks Business. Major threats identified by the respondents included cost increases, global economic downturn, decreasing wine consumption, and climate change. (As an interesting aside, it seems that not only are people drinking less, they’re also not drinking better, so there’s no real comfort for South Africa’s smarter producers there – except, perhaps for the few who might be the beneficiaries of quite rich people drinking less burgundy and Napa cab.)
The ProWein report also noted that many potential wine-drinkers are turning to both beer and spirits, and in fact a crucial factors in the alcohol world’s woe is the consumer move to low- or non-alcoholic drinks. Health concerns are central here, with increasingly vehement arguments made against alcohol consumption. A year ago, the World Health Organization stated firmly, on the basis of research, that “when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health”. Further, the form in which the alcohol comes is largely irrelevant. Governmental and other actions and arguments against alcohol conumption, including wine of course, are only set to further increase. (Of course, one of the particular problems in this regard for wine is that, unlike low/no-alc beer, dealcoholised wine is at present pretty widely considered – including by me – to be pretty undrinkable stuff.)
So, a world-wide crisis, in many estimations. It’s worth being properly aware of it when confronted by contextless, bleak and bald statements about the decline in the volume and value of South Africa’s 2023 wine exports, such as Winemag’s recent note on a recent Wines of South Africa’s press release. Winemag’s summary was that “South African wine exports declined by 17%, in 2023 resulting in total export volumes of 306.3 million litres. Value, meanwhile, dropped by 11% to US$540 million.”
Interestingly, if you look at the value in rand terms, it actually rose, by nearly one percent – reflecting the downward spiral of the rand, but not an unreal consideration for those earning rands. Also, even in dollar terms, the 16.9% drop in volume versus the 11% drop in value does indicate something positive: a not-insignificant rise in the value per litre of wine exports.
(Unfortunately it’s probably necessary to mention that the Wosa press release, despite labouring mightily if not elegantly to put a positive spin on things, did not bring out this cheerier element. Instead, its opening paragraph incorrectly speaks of a “positive value growth of total exports to a respectable US$540 million (R10 billion), despite the volume decline”. It was an accompanying set of Sawis figures which showed the 11% decline given on Winemag, rather than that “positive value growth” in dollar terms. Michael Fridjhon has taken this up with Wosa, but no correction has been issued at time of writing this.)
Statistics I have seen (I’m not privy to Sawis’s continuing amassing of figures) do suggest that things improved for South African exports in the last quarter on 2023. Ciatti’s latest Global Market Report states that “SAWIS data showed a 27% decline in South Africa’s wine export volumes in the 12 months to September”. If this is so, and September’s 27% decline became December’s 16.9% decline, then that indicates a big late-year jump in exports – but whether of bulk or packaged wine, or of what varieties, I do not know.
And, of course, the big percentage volume decline (though at least shared by most other countries) remains a decline, and deeply worrying for producers. As I reported some months ago, one surprising advantage that the South African industry has at present is a new growth in the domestic market, helping to bring some balance into the equation. Will this industry-encouraging uptick in domestic consumption continue? Will the export situation improve (Cape Town harbour permitting)? We must wait for more international and local statistical releases to give us some more clues.
I think we can certainly expect more reports of local (and international) vine-pulling. Leaving vineyards to decay is an unmitigatedly depressing sign, but if there’s an alternative, something like citrus or wheat or almonds to make it worthwhile to replace unwanted vines, that’s surely excellent. To quote myself, we must hope that land and the labour force are better used elsewhere than in producing more grapes to feed the world’s wine-glut.
Focusing inwards, I wonder what the export decline means for the producers of the kind of local wine Winemag readers are mostly interested in. Many of the smaller new producers of the last decade have had quite an easy ride so far, thanks to buoyant exports for their kind of wine, supported by an encouraging international critical reception. Word is that declining exports mean that many of them have a lot of stock still on hand – and therefore reduced financial resources – as they enter harvest 2024. Unless the export scene changes fairly soon, they might well be forced to turn more attentively to their local customers, who might not be keen to continue paying the sort of escalated prices that have been becoming the norm for many of the international darlings. Something else to watch out for. But of course we must wish them well in the big wine world, where cruel winds are blowing.
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