Winter, wine, corks and food 31 July 2007

Martin Moore's thoughts in a Durbanville midwinter

We are experiencing an old-fashioned Cape winter, with cold and wet days calling for log fires, soft music and good company. With the northwester chasing in the heavy rain clouds I have been spending some time with two old friends, Caapmans and Luipaardsberg, our two top-end reds. And I found it fascinating how, as the temperature in the room changed, the flavours in these wines followed suit. It was so intriguing I had to repeat the experiment a number of times. It is a lovely time of winter, this last lap before the sap in the roots starts the journey back up through the wet darkness to the light. All the leaves have finally dropped. The farmers can start pruning and I lay down my rake and turn to a few good books. In between I had news from a French friend that while I am hibernating he is preparing for harvest in a month’s time, dreading the mildew that is sure to follow the humid weather they’ve had. Well, it could have been worse…It could have been me!

Cape cuisine
I’m reading a new book on the history of Boerekos, the traditional South African cuisine, covering the period from the arrival of the first white settlers in 1652 to the end of the “Dutch period” in 1806. Based on thorough research, the author provides a very different perspective on the influence of Malay slaves on early Cape cooking. Over the years, as fiction replaced fact, a popular belief grew that Malay slaves brought with them an array of spices, recipes and cooking methods then still unknown at the Cape and transformed the local cuisine. Respectable food writers such as C Louis Leipoldt gave credence to this belief by uncritically accepting it as fact and promoting it in their writings.

This popular belief completely ignored the fact that the lucrative and centuries-old spice trade was the very reason why Jan van Riebeeck was sent here to establish a victualling station halfway between Europe and the East. Already at that stage spices and certain Eastern influences formed an integral part of European cuisine. And that was the cuisine Dutch settlers brought with them to the Cape. In interviews with early travellers local Malay cooks in fact confirmed that they were preparing “old Dutch recipes”. It was left to present-day research to put into perspective the sometimes overstated claims for Malay cooking and its influence.

The breathing cork
The distortion over the years of the origins of Cape cuisine is not in any way unique. It also happened frequently especially in the wine industry, and it is particularly our friends in the Old World who have been guilty of this, passing down myths from one generation to the next, mystifying and confusing consumers in the process. One of these concerns the importance of oxygen in the maturation of wine after bottling and thus the importance of breathing corks. Fortunately the whole cork vs. screwcap debate sparked a lot of research on the role of oxygen in wine. Much of this proved to be groundbreaking as most of the crucial compounds concerned can only be studied since the recent development of highly sophisticated equipment. In the past, assumptions were made solely on colour changes as these could be measured spectrophotometrically, with other components simply ignored.

The latest research makes it clear that the role of oxygen has been totally overstated and therefore, by implication, also the importance of the cork as the only closure offering “breathability”. Screwcaps and alternative closures are now proven to offer attractive options. (As always, before accepting the conclusions, it is important to check who sponsored the research. When I see either cork suppliers or screwcap manufacturers picked up the tab, I wonder whether the researchers did not work backwards from the conclusions, having been asked to prove a particular point.)

Much more clear-cut
On the viticultural side, research findings seem much more clear-cut and easier to measure. Ever since our first vintage back in 1999, I have found that the flavour characteristics I desire for our top-of-the-range Biesjes Craal Sauvignon blanc have been consistently the most prominent in the grapes from our five bush-vine vineyards. Discussions with two viticulturists confirmed my suspicions. Bush vines are naturally denser on top thus keeping away more sunlight from the berries than trellised ones, so you get better protection of the green-pepper flavours. Furthermore, on a bush vine the bunches hang only a few centimetres above the ground compared to half a metre on a trellis. The reflection of heat from the soil causes the grapes to ripen earlier, providing the added benefit of lower alcohol levels.

On reflection, by starting with the flavour of the wine to get to the cause, I guess we were guilty of exactly the same unscientific approach of which I accused other researchers!

Too green for your taste?
As winemakers I think we sometimes fixate on green pepper flavours in our Sauvignon blanc and protect them at all costs as wines in which they dominate do tend to perform well on wine shows. However, I have often found that consumers themselves prefer the more tropical flavours, so I was not surprised to read that, according to a recent survey, British consumers find the New Zealand style too “green”.

For this reason we try to cater to all tastes in our five Sauvignon blancs just bottled. There is the grassy Biesjes Craal, the intense food-style Rhinofields, and the crowd- pleasing Hills Sauvignon blanc. In the Rhinofields Reserve range we have also bottled an Inner Valley and an Outer Valley Sauvignon blanc as we did last year. As in the past, the latter two are available at the cellar only.

Drinking your way to good health…
I had one of those all too infrequent visits from my friend from one of the more remote parts of the Winelands, a man steeped in the wisdom of his forebears. Over a glass or two while the meat was sizzling on the braai – always a time of deep thought and intense discussion – he shared with me his conviction that if you have access to wine and other alcoholic beverages you have no need of medicine. He offered as irrefutable proof the fact that in their little village there are three liquor stores and not a single pharmacy.

I was in no condition to gainsay him, so let us therefore lift a glass to the wonderfully recuperative qualities of the fruit of the vine. 

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