By Manos Angelakis
 

The South African Wine industry is starting to make some inroads in the US East Coast market.

Even though vine growing and winemaking date to about 5000 BC in North Africa, wine really did not appear as a viable viticultural product in South Africa until the planting of vineyards at the Cape in 1655. In modern times, the South African wine industry has exports growing by 335% between 1995 and 2007. Currently, more than 3,999 farmers cultivate some 101,957 hectares of land under vines.

Ntsiki Biyela is South Africa's first black, female winemaker. Biyela first became aware of wine through an oenology course in Stellenbosch - 800 miles away from her hometown, where she was studying on scholarship. She was the only black member of her class. She’s a young (thirty-something), dynamic, great winemaker at Stellekaya Winery in Stellenbosch where she now practices her craft, one of the better South African wine producers. Her 2004 Cape Cross won a Gold medal at the Michelangelo Awards. It was the first gold medal won by a black winemaker in South Africa and it was her first vintage! She’s also a very talented communicator and actually convinced me to take a second look at Pinotage, a grape that frankly, I have never been partial to because of the intense green bell pepper notes exhibited by poor examples of the wines made from this varietal.

Stellakaya is an African winery that makes wines in the European tradition (Stellakaya is a compound word from the Italian word for stars, Stella and Kaya, an African word for skies i.e. starry skies). They make about 10,000 cases a year from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, Pinotage, and Sangiovese.

After harvest, grapes are allowed to rest, then they go through a cold maceration for 3 to 4 days. The grapes go into open fermenters and the cap is punched down in the traditional method. Stellekaya uses a wooden basket press and matures its wines in French oak barriques. Most of the wines are matured for 12 to 22 months in the barriques, and then spend an extra few months in the bottle before being released to the market.

The Cape Cross - which is Ntsiki’s favorite - is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a small percentage of Pinotage. This blend is New World styled with juicy black summer berries on the palate. Ntsiki looks for balance and integrity in all of her wines and it seemed to me she was right on target with the Cape Cross and the other wines I tasted.

My favorite wine of the ones we tasted was the Orion made from a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Ntsiki’s treatment of the blend was lovely. This wine truly impressed me and had me asking for more, despite its high alcohol content, 15%. Perhaps it was because it was so deep colored and well balanced, but I didn’t get the kind of heat I usually get in a wine with that much alcohol. It was beautiful with layers of flavors and nuanced aromas of tobacco, chocolate, cedar, herbs and spices.

Finally, there was a Cabernet Sauvignon full bodied monovarietal, with dark berries, currants, cedar, and cigar box on the nose. This is really a winter wine to be enjoyed with game and strong flavored cheeses. Really classic.

The major problem I see is the retail price. They might be great wines but, in my discussions with other wine professionals, we all agreed that South African wines do not command the prices of the better Italians, French or even Chileans. Retail prices above $20 (most of the others suggested retail of $14 to $17 per bottle for the top of the lines) are not going to create a following for these wines, no matter how good they are. The current vintners are paying for the poor quality wines with which past exports initially flooded the US market.

To your health!

© June 2010 The Oenophile Blog. All rights reserved.