Ripeness is all 6 August 2007

Are South African reds really 'green'? Aren't they, rather, over-ripe? (Could they be both?)

From Clive Sindelman:
Tim Atkin says SA reds are green, unbalanced and over-oaked. I tend to agree on the latter two, but instead of green I consider many to be over-ripe, fruity and syrupy. Comment?

Initial, tentative response from Tim James:
I asked a leading winegrower, whom I have heard once or twice criticising wines for being ‘green’, for some comments on this very important topic, but unfortunately he declined (on grounds of avoiding public controversy). So here are a few thoughts, and I hope others will step in more authoritatively. (Unfortunately, too, Tim Atkin himself has, as far as I am aware, merely made accusations, without trying to explore or account for the phenomenon, apart from blaming local winewriters for not pointing it out strongly enough.)

Firstly, Clive, there is no real contradiction between your observations and Tim Atkin’s – it’s an ‘as well as’ situation rather than an ‘instead’. (I’m pretty sure he would agree with you in finding a lot of local wines over-ripe, fruity and syrupy.) And, in fact, I have sampled more than  a few local wines that combined ultra-ripeness with a discernible, even strong, taste of leafiness, or other ‘green’ manifestations (often greenpepper in cabernet sauvignon).

What would have generaly happened in these cases is that the grower would have left the grapes on the vines waiting hopefully for them to start tasting ripe. (Let’s use simple concepts here.) They never did reach that stage – instead they remained unripe in one sense (one trendy description is ‘physiologically unripe’ – though what there is apart from physiology, I’m unsure; another refers to 'phenolic' ripeness, indicating that the pips, stalks etc are still 'green'). But all the time, their sugar levels were going up and up, hence the big alcohols.

This combo of greenness and ultra-ripeness is, I find, extremely unpleasing. Fortunately I don’t find it all that often. I also don’t find as much objectionable greenness as Tim Atkin does, whether through lack of competence or lack of sensitivity to the component, lack of acquaintance with the wines of Hawkes Bay, or just different tastes, I don’t know. I actually tend to sometimes like a bit of unagressive herbaceousness in some wines (certainly more than I like over-ripeness), and some of the best Bordeaux I’ve tasted from the pre-Parker past have had a delicious herbal tinge.

That said, I myself do sometimes find unattractive ‘greenness’ in even quite grand or expensive local wines – especially merlots, I think. It can give, apart from the flavour, a hard, unattractive bite to the wine. Sometimes it’s a vintage thing – which is an aspect that Tim Atkin could well consider.

It’s not always clear why Cape reds should have this greenness to the extent that it has bothered some British winewriters (even now that they are no longer quite as much in love with the sweet fruity simplicity of Australian wines that they did so much to bring into fashionability a decade or two ago). After all, we get enough sunshine to ripen things, surely. But the over-ripe/green combination suggests there is no obvious answer. Virus, which inhibits ripening, certainly plays a part sometimes, but not always. Same goes for over-cropping – it can inhibit ripening, but some fancy but accusable wines were certainly not overcropped.

Perhaps there’s something else significant in the climatic or geological or whatever conditions – perhaps the same sort of thing that seems to give Cape wines an enviable natural acidity that most ‘New World’ countries don’t seem to have. Whether or not one thinks that Tim Atkin is rather over-stating the case against Cape reds (and letting some others off the hook a little too easily), there is certainly some problem that needs to be resolved. And, to some extent, is being resolved.

From Carl van der Merwe, winemaker at Quoin Rock

Having read Tim Atkins’ article and the resultant back and forth comment in Grape and much heated debate amongst producers-I have to agree with both Tims on certain points.

I personally also find many SA wines green – by green I don’t necessarily mean overt and obvious pyrazine (green pepper) aromas but green for me is also immature fruit flavour –sour/tomato type red fruit rather than riper fragrance of red berries. This is often in combination with high alcohol levels and unnaturally high acidity levels. A riper fruit profile should be bright and clearly discernible when young and should age with a gain in depth and layers rather than being replaced by a insipid profile. Ripeness is also indicated by the balanced freshness of the wine – not overpoweringly alcoholic with bracing acidity. Acid should soften and marry with age in bottle not stand out once the fruit has faded.

I have given this aspect much thought and believe that many SA growers are using far too much nitrogen and water in their viticultural practices. We are taught to aspire to the rule of having optimal shoot lengths in vertically shoot positioned canopies, with beautifully lush green leaves that stay on the vines until 3 weeks after harvest. This method of viticulture often creates a vine which is dependant on large amounts of food and water (combined with conventional spacings of 2000-3000 vines per hectare) and a vine that requires a long extended hang time to ripen its (often over loaded )fruit load. In this scenario ripeness generally occurs later on when the late February heat waves are hitting the Cape but Ballings [measuring sugar ripeness] are rising at the same time, along with drop out of precious natural tartaric acid and a related increase in pH  -all in search of the holy grail of perfect physiological ripeness.

This is the reason why most producers (striving towards physiological ripeness) are harvesting at 25º Balling. Irrespective of whether you are using natural or inoculated yeasts you are the landing up with a 15% alcohol in bottle. In fact I know of a lot of producers stretching this to 27º+ Balling. We are then saying that de-alcoholising is a must if you wish to produce physiologically ripe SA wine? I beg to differ.

I would like to stick my neck out and say that physiological ripeness is not all about perfect anthocyanin and phenolic counts combined with brown pips and skins that release colour when macerated. Sure, these are indicators and only that. Winemakers/growers, not only SA but in general, should be gaining an intimate knowledge of the potential of their different blocks (not the different nitrogen and water additions) to produce flavour profiles that are unique and pleasing, expressive of that variety grown in SA.

In the search for physiological ripeness many SA reds have become overblown and the regional characters that define the good ripening of a certain variety are becoming lost. Perfect ripeness should be the expression of a certain property/estate’s vines to express a blend of characters that are balanced, elegant and pleasing when young and develop with charm and depth-perhaps a tall order but I believe perfectly attainable.

Regarding the fresh acidity of Cape reds, a comment made by Tim James. A lot, actually most, of the high alcohol conventionally cropped ( 6-8tons per hectare ) SA reds are acidified in the cellar by at least 0.5 grams per litre and often up to 2 grams per litre. Even when our wineries were harvesting at much “greener” ballings 2 decades ago, I am told, acid additions at the crusher were a given. Perhaps this is the reason why a lot of the older SA reds are so tight and almost acid aggressive?

In my experience at Quoin Rock and farming without nitrogen, vintage irrigation and the use of tartaric acid in the cellar, I have noticed that the reds that we work with, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon only express the “bloom” of varietal fruit character at between 23º and 24º Balling. We are then harvesting with pH and natural acidity that are perfectly in balance in the resultant wine ( even after Malolactic fermentation ). We are only cropping at 3.5-5.5 tons per hectare with 8 year old vines and one could argue that you cannot make money with such low cropping levels….but then with the current glut of bulk wine, overcrowded less expensive price points and the glut of “over ripe” sticky or green and herbaceous wines on the market can I afford not to?

Lastly, regarding vintage characters expressing greenness. I agree that herbal and pyrazine notes can be interesting in young wines and can lead to interesting characters when laid down for a while as is the case with many clarets from cooler vintages-and certain local wines eg. Thelema Cab 98 – but these wines need to have a fair dollop of ripe red fruit to combine with the hints of “greenness” and last through the ageing.

Green olive characters in Rhône Syrah, herbal notes in Piedmont are all quite acceptable and add to complexity but never when the dominant factor.

From Clive Sindelman:
On green red wines: In the past few days I tasted a few cab/merlot/cab-merlot blends from 1998 to 01 vintages, well-known names, all perfectly stored and all were disappointingly green. All also decayed quickly after opening into tartrate after-tastes. Virus effect? I haven't a clue, but I suspect that later cab and merlot vintages from 2002 onwards have become significantly riper on average.