Greg Sherwood MW: Adding further context to the “10 Years On Tasting”

Judging and assessing wines is part and parcel of what wine critics, wine journalists, and wine buyers do on a daily basis. But scoring wines, whether tasted sighted or blind, is an altogether more difficult task that requires experience and plenty of practise if the numerical scores applied to such wines are to be fair and representative of the true quality of the wine inside the bottle. While there will always be a subtle element of subjectivity in this process, rating wines should, at the very least, strive to be as objective as humanly possible.

In my last column, I profiled the fascinating “South Africa’s New Wave Tasting – Ten Years On” tasing that was held recently in London. With the intention of the undertaking primarily to capture as much qualitative feedback around the maturity and qualities of the wines as possible, the organisers felt my publishing of the group’s average scores was not accompanied by sufficient context and analysis, thus distilling the emphasis of the tasting down to a more score-driven exercise, which of course it was not intended to be.

I’ll readily concede that a broad “10 years on” tasting of nearly 80 premium South African wines deserves deeper discussion and analysis. That said, I’m not entirely convinced the group’s average scores were artificially low – perhaps because I fully expected that outcome the moment the organisers opted to average blind scores across a large panel of tasters. Nevertheless, I think Winemag readers will find my own personal scores for the individual flights equally enlightening and dare I say, perhaps more representative?

Given the limited scope of this tasting, the results did not aim to represent a comprehensive view of the Cape’s 2015 vintage, rather the first in an annual series of such tastings intended to chart the growth and quality / stylistic trajectory of many of the most acclaimed and commercially relevant “New Wave” producers available in the UK. Looking ahead, it is envisaged that the number of producers represented in the tasting will grow as new projects come on stream in 2016, 2017, etc. whilst the number of wines per existing producers in the tasting will need to shrink to accommodate a wider sample set of relevant producers.

Headline Positives:

A strong showing in the Swartland, both red and white. The group felt it evidenced the region’s pioneering of the quality revolution in the period post 2010.

White Bordeaux blends and single varietals was arguably the most surprising flight, producing some of the most youthful and impressive wines of the day.

Chardonnay proved a strong category with solid performances across the board in a range of styles.

White blends proved divisive, though the best wines shone. A style unique to, and a calling card for, the best of modern South Africa – though also a category that needs more education.

Syrah demonstrated its huge potential, and ability to age, consistent across regions.

Chenin Blanc from the Swartland – again, youthful, intense, complex and ageworthy. The overall most exciting white flight.

Headline Criticisms / Drawbacks:

Inconsistency of closures, as all tasters were forewarned, proved to be an issue. Approximately 30% failure rate across the whole tasting which at times damaged confidence in the wines.

The group concede the limitation of the format when it comes to assessing reductive and fragile varieties such as Syrah and Pinot – most agreeing that the wines deserved (more) time in the glass.

The more aromatic varieties (reds): Pinot Noir, Grenache, and certain blends, were felt to suffer more from inconsistent closures – accentuating varying maturation rates and a drying out of the fruit.

The group discussed the reality of tasting wines from often young vines i.e. Hemel-en-Aarde, where though the 2015s broadly showed well, there was a sense that the best is still to come.

Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc and South Coast Syrah were too small sample sizes to draw any meaningful conclusions on a bigger scale. These regions will naturally grow in representation over time.

Below is a summary of my personal blind scores for the wines:

When I score Pinot Noir from South Africa, or anywhere else for that matter, I always use Burgundy as my benchmark. I know producers are not trying to copy Burgundy per se, but I cannot abide by one set of scoring criteria for one country / region and another set of scoring criteria for another. In my opinion, these 10-year-old Pinot Noirs showed admirably well. Expecting them to score much high is slightly delusional. However, newer vintages from these producers may very well age better than these 2015s.

Wow, what a strong flight with some impressively high scores. The Foundry from Chris Williams is a perennial star performer and always ages incredibly well, while Adi’s reds can be a little bit hard work, foursquare and tight when very young, but that’s undoubtedly because they have the stuffing to age well in a true classical sense. Marelise at Momento makes beautifully precise wines that should also age very well.

Bit of a mixed bag for me here. Great to see Duncan’s Follow the Line performing so well but I think the Savage Red was not a great individual bottle? Once again, Adi’s red blend had a wonderful depth and power and Donovan Rall’s Red was pinpoint and classy.

A small flight from the early days of Kershaw Syrah but also a series of wines that has most definitely grown in quality and stature with more recent releases. But no denying Samantha O’Keefe’s Syrah pedigree from Greyton. True class.

*I felt my samples were slightly oxidised.

These two Syrah flights seemed to suffer more than some of the other red categories. I found the wines slightly oxidative, overly savoury and lacking freshness. 2015 Syrahs are not at all “old” in my mind, so these bottles are not particularly representative of the vintage for me. Closure issues to the fore here again?

This was a fantastic flight that really showed the class and pedigree of the Cape’s Bordeaux Blend category. The standout has got to be how well all the Boekenhoutskloof wines are ageing, including the Syrah above. Big ripe wines when young, they also have the capacity of age incredibly well. As for the Journeyman, what a phenomenal wine that I recently tasted during a full sighted vertical with Marc Kent in February in London. Great to see I scored this wine 97/100 sighted and blind!

My individual white wine scores:

A genuinely exciting line up of wines. A few years earlier and they would have been riper, more honied and less fresh. This group of wines were all very impressive, proving that South Africa’s best Chardonnay producers are certainly making age-worthy wines. If these were tasted sighted, some may have even cracked a point higher.

Looking at the two Chenin Blanc flights, it seemed there was some controversy over the groups low average scores. Looking back at my individual scores I think the wines are holding up very well. Of course there are always surprises, in this instance, it is undoubtedly the Cartology, David & Nadia, the De Morgenzon and The Fledge & Co. examples. A solid category as expected.

*Slightly oxidative

Some interesting wine in the Cape White Blend flight. The Palladius was a little oxidative unfortunately and can certainly show a lot better than this performance based on other bottles I have drunk recently. Slow and steady from Mullineux’s Old Vine white, but special mention has to go to the maiden release of Sebastian Beaumont’s New Baby Chenin Blanc. Truly exceptional quality.

Last but not least, the Sauvignon / Semillon Blends flight lived up to its high expectations, with all the wines showing impressively well. Hard to pick out favourites, but looking at my notes, the Boekenhoutskloof Semillon and the Reyneke Reserve White were both real stand out treats showing youthful exuberance and plenty of freshness.

I will have to wait and see if I get invited back next year for the second “Steenwold” tasting, as someone has already coined this event, which will preview the 2016 vintage in which Neal Martin famously scored the Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2016 higher than the score he gave the Tim Atkin MW 100-point 2015! If I am involved again, I will almost certainly dispense with referencing the group’s averaged scores and will simply focus on my own individual ratings which always make more sense to me.

• Greg Sherwood was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and as the son of a career diplomat, spent his first 21 years traveling the globe with his parents. With a Business Management and Marketing degree from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Sherwood began his working career as a commodity trader. In 2000, he decided to make more of a long-held interest in wine taking a position at Handford Wines in South Kensington, London, working his way up to the position of Senior Wine Buyer over 22 years. Sherwood currently consults to a number of top fine wine merchants in London while always keeping one eye firmly on the South African wine industry. He qualified as the 303rd Master of Wine in 2007.