There's enough sauvignon – but should we really be ripping out the reds?  29 June 2007

After a digression on braaing for Canadians, Martin Moore wonders about vineyard-planting strategies in the Cape

I have just come back from Canada again, and on the return flight started working on the newsletter before the memories should fade. As you might recall - if you are a regular reader of this newsletter - I went back to do a food and wine pairing live on one of the country’s national TV channels. (Click here for that story.) The brief was to prepare a typical South African braai and match our wines to the dishes I selected. So, what’s a typical South African braai? I lost a few of my remaining hairs trying to work that one out. In the end I decided to do sosaties followed by beef kebabs accompanied by “potbrood” (bread baked on the fire in a flat-bottomed cast-iron pot) as well as “sousboontjies” (an untranslatable name for a traditional dish made from dried beans). To this I added as a starter, bananas wrapped in bacon as something a little exotic.

Someone claiming to be a friend asked what happened to the traditional lamb chops and the “boerewors”, and accused me of lacking imagination by offering both sosaties and kebabs which, he claimed, were, after all, one and the same thing. Apart from the fact that one can easily do without friends like that, I had to point out to him that “sosaties” are prepared in a curry sauce and came to us centuries ago from Malaysia while kebabs, arriving from a very different direction – the Middle East, in fact – also form an integral part of today’s braai culture. In any case, I served the kebabs with a monkey gland sauce which is a uniquely South African concoction (you didn’t know that, did you?).

Despite the criticism at home, the broadcast went extremely well and was a lot of fun, especially having to explain to environmentally-conscious Canadians that no monkeys or their glands had been inconvenienced in the making of the sauce. While in Toronto, we also did a quick promotion with the Hugo Boss yacht skippered by international yachtsman Alex Thomson, an event at which our wines went down very nicely.

No, we will have enough Sauvignon
A few issues ago I wrote that I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a shortage of Sauvignon blanc later in the year due to the fact that in certain areas of the Winelands the harvest was so much smaller this vintage. Despite the fact that I said at Durbanville Hills we had sufficient stocks, some readers in a hurry nevertheless understood me to say we were going to run short at the winery. No, we won’t or, at least, I don’t expect us to. It was the national supply of Sauvignon blanc I was worried about.

This cultivar has really had an incredibly successful run in this country, reflecting to a superlative degree its popularity in so many Old and New World countries. The last time I looked, it still ranked fourth after Chenin blanc, Colombard and Chardonnay in terms of hectares planted, but when you count the number of Sauvignon blancs on wine store shelves, it must be about the most popular wine with local consumers.

It is that very popularity that concerns me. Although there is a growing move to match location to cultivar it still happens far too often that because of the demand, a cultivar gets planted in areas totally unsuited to its nature. That’s happening in a big way in the case of Sauvignon blanc. It is understandable that producers will want to ride the wave and so boost their income, and I am the last to deny them that, but it is also shortsighted, for poor quality Sauvignons are sure to turn consumers away from this cultivar to something else taking their fancy at that moment.

From this cool-area grape some of the world’s greatest white wines are crafted in addition to a great many second-tier ones of the highest quality. It is not a cultivar whose wines are known for their longevity, although all the ones we have made at Durbanville Hills since 1999 still drink beautifully. But on average they should at least last a good three to four years. However, some of the wines from grapes grown where it is too hot for this cultivar, once they are a year old become thin and watery, losing all those wonderful aromas so typical of Sauvignon blanc.

Following a short-term strategy in a long-term industry
I’m afraid the attitude of following a short-term strategy in a long-term industry is still all too prevalent amongst some of our wine growers. I take small comfort from the fact that we are not alone in this but that it probably happens in most wine-producing countries.

I have referred to the tendency of planting what is popular whether the area is suitable or not. Another example of this short-term approach is the tendency to uproot vineyards the moment their grapes are no longer in demand. Look at what is presently happening in the case of our red-wine cultivars. Hundreds of hectares are being uprooted. I understand only too well that the world-wide oversupply of red wine has put an enormous strain on the cash flow of a great many farmers. However, because of the cyclical nature of our industry I have no doubt that in two years or so that oversupply will be turned into a shortage with prices back at premium levels. And where will that leave those now uprooting what will again be highly profitable vineyards?

• This contribution is extracted, with permision, from the Durbanville Hills June newsletter. It may be read in full on the Durbanville Hills website.