Post-harvest predictions and ponderings   26 April 2007

Martin Moore talks of a possible shortage of sauvignon blanc, and of methoxypyrazines, oumensgesiggies and ice in wine

The size of the harvest in terms of our own intake was down 10% on last year and Sauvignon blanc down 18%, which was still less than in some other areas. Thank goodness we have more than enough for our own blends, and what there is, is of truly excellent quality. I am predicting that there is going to be a shortage of Sauvignon blanc in the market and that by December stocks are going to be very difficult to come by.

I left for overseas right after the last stragglers made it to the cellar just before the Easter weekend. I spent some time in the Netherlands introducing our range to our new agents in that country and from there to the UK, again to talk to our agents, and also to discuss the latest trends in consumer preferences.

A quick aside: some 26 years ago while I was doing military service on the border between Namibia and Angola, several of our units were encamped together for a while. To pass the time, I borrowed from another 'troepie' one of those scary Stephen King novels. Halfway through a nail-biting read in the veld he left with his unit and with him went Mr King. Over the years I often mulled over how that story would have panned out. Imagine my delight when at Heathrow, waiting to board my return flight, I found the book under a new title in the book store. The flight back home was just too short!

Living with methoxypyrazines
Overseas critics such as Tim Atkin have said on more than one occasion how they find South Africa’s red wines not to be on the same level as our whites. They complain especially of the high acidity in our reds which gives a green, unripe character.

A key factor in this is the methoxypyrazines which we want in the whites but not in the reds. They impart those dusty, herbaceous flavours to the Sauvignon blanc, but in the case of red wine create an unpleasant green-pepper taste. Methoxypyrazines don’t like sunlight or heat, so we manage the leaf canopies in such a way that in the case of the reds we let the sunlight in – the black berries can absorb much higher heat – while in the case of the whites we keep the bunches covered and rely on filtered sunlight to ripen the fruit.

To try and determine how we could reduce possible acidity I undertook, in between the harvest, a quite extensive study, analysing grape and wine phenolics in the Durbanville area. I worked through the latest specialist research and at the end of it came to the conclusion that we do everything right in the vineyards to produce red wine of good colour without bitterness and excessive astringency. However, we could benefit by applying in the cellar some of the new findings and we have started experimenting with some new techniques.


’Old people’s little faces’
Much of the new research is fascinating. One aspect in particular interested me. We are very fortunate at Durbanville Hills that we are so close to the sea and that we therefore can derive the full benefit of cooling maritime breezes on hot summer days. However, the research emphasized for me that wind is a mixed blessing unless managed correctly. One study described the mechanism grapes themselves use for cooling down. It works like this: the berries release some of their juices through the skin that then evaporate, forming a thin little cocoon of moist, cool air around the fruit. The lost liquid is replaced by moisture sucked up by the berries from the roots.

When the wind blows away that thin layer of cool air the berry keeps on giving off liquid to replace it, and if there then is not enough water in the soil to replenish that loss, the skin starts shrivelling. In Afrikaans we call berries so affected ‘oumensgesiggies’ (‘old people’s little faces’). Once it happens, it is irreversible – no amount of subsequent irrigation will have the berries swell out again. So we have become even more aware of the need to monitor ground water levels all the time but especially during ripening, to ensure our vineyards derive the maximum benefit from our cooling breezes.


 

’Ice in wine: a South African thing’?
Surfing the Internet – with the young wines safely in the tanks there is time now even for that – I came across a British wine site where the following headline caught my eye: ‘Ice in wine: A South African thing’. Of course I had to read it. The writer tells about a lunch with a friend where the wine just wasn’t cold enough and then adds: ‘We had two options – be like a South African or be like a Brit. That is, add ice to the wine, or wait politely for it to turn cold in the bucket, then whine about the experience for days.’

I have never thought of ice in wine being such a widespread and typically South African habit, but then it makes perfect sense in our summer heat. I can’t see anything wrong with adding a few ice cubes – to white wine in particular – if the occasion calls for it. In fact, I discovered a few days ago that by doing so we are in very good company. The ancient Greeks, living in an equally hot climate, also cooled down their wine – with snow. But unlike today with a fridge in almost every home, only the rich could afford to do so in classical times – imagine the effort (and cost) of bringing snow at high speed from the mountain tops to Athens on a hot day!

The Greeks always diluted their wine believing only barbarians drank it undiluted. No one today dilutes his or her wine to show their level of sophistication. You either do so to cool it down or to lower the calories if you are following a healthy lifestyle. (Of course, not all diluted wine supports a weight-loss programme: that famous drink from neighbouring Mozambique called a Katembe consists of half a tumbler of red wine and half of cola, and contains enough sugar to send your blood racing!)

If you do want to dilute the wine, add about 10% water to a glass (150 ml of wine – that’s quite a large glass – contains 110 to 120 calories, depending on the wine’s alcohol content). But make sure the wine you choose is well balanced, with concentrated flavours otherwise the end product will be rather thin, providing correspondingly little joy.

COMMENT

From Stan Slogrove:
I use the small plastic shapes containing some sort of gel that one puts in the freezer (just like an ice brick for a cooler box, but much smaller). The wine is cooled quickly without dilution. Voila!