Issue 15 July – September 2002
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Nomenclature might still be a problem for Cape 'ports', but quality is ever on the rise. How well, though, do these wines age and develop? Leading producer Tony Mossop CWM discusses the results of a tasting designed to monitor precisely this. Big Bruce Guimaraens stood in the Calitzdorp cellar surrounded by barrels of port. In the hand of the huge man, legend of the Douro port trade, was a tasting glass containing plum-black wine. He swirled it, gave it a sniff followed by a noisy slurp. ‘Quite remarkable’, he muttered. ‘If I were to be offered this from any of my Fonseca suppliers up the Douro, I’d buy the lot!’ And Bruce had not only sampled Calitzdorp’s finest: he’d wended his way to the local Port Festival, where he was the guest of honour a few years ago, via top port cellars Overgaauw and Bredell … the man was Impressed. ‘What I like is how the young wines here express their fruit – correct renditions of touriga nacional, of tinta barroca. Very similar profiles to Portugal. Not like the Australians. Their touriga bears absolutely no resemblance to the real thing.’ Cut to the year 2002 – harvest time, to be exact – again in a Calitzdorp cellar. Johnny Graham, scion of the famous port family of that name, and now proprietor of the youngest premium port brand, Churchill, is leaning over a gently bubbling tank of touriga. ‘Unmistakable – just like the Douro. That’s the genuine stuff, all right.’ No wonder the European Union has become so defensive over the last few years over words and descriptions (see box below). Cape ports are getting pretty good – in fact, better than anything outside the Douro, and pretty hard to spot in blind tastings, too. But do they age like the genuine stuff? That’s what this tasting was all about. The concise answer: too early to say, as the most promising ones are still babies, while the more senior wines on show were starting to fade a bit, and were examples of the ‘old Cape style’ – lower alcohol wines with higher sugar levels. We included one good Portuguese example as a benchmark: somewhere in the two flights, tasted blind from oldest to youngest, was a ‘ringer’, a Grahams 1997. Assembled for the tasting were three port winemakers, two Grape referees and sixteen vintage ports spanning twenty years, from 1980 to 2000. Getting to grips What does one look for when judging a vintage port? Words like ‘grip’, ‘spirity’, ‘plums/prunes/figs/raisins’, all figure in the notes, depending on the age of the wine. Expressions like ‘obvious oak’, ‘oxidation’ and ‘foreign varieties’, along with ‘over-ripe’, ‘too sweet’ and ‘volatile’ are not signals of approval. And all the time, one must consider the age – a younger port showing excessive development is just as frowned upon as with any other wine. The three winemakers all had their own take on what makes a fine Cape port. Anton Bredell, whose huge Firgrove farm produces more port wine than most properties up the Douro, picks up excessive oak, sweetness, and non-port grape varieties like a finely tuned radar. He is openly critical of some elements of the ‘Calitzdorp style’ – one can sympathise when one recalls the tale of the prospective customer who called him in desperation on a cell-phone: ‘Mr Bredell, I’m looking all over for your cellar, and I can’t find it. Where the hell are you?’ Anton had to explain to the traveller that JP Bredell wasn’t actually in Calitzdorp, where the chappie was searching, convinced by the hype that all good ports came from the Klein Karoo. Chris Joubert makes the wines at Overgaauw, the pioneers of genuine Portuguese grape varieties for Cape port, with a wider range in the cocktail than any other cellar (most ports are blends of at least two varieties). He also feels that the Calitzdorp ports have definite hallmarks – a plummy openness and generosity of fruit which makes them very commercially acceptable. This contrasts with the Bredell style, which is more ‘grippy’ and forceful, particularly when young. ‘Except now the Axe Hill model has broken that Calitzdorp mould,’ noted Anton. ‘I have a problem distinguishing that wine from mine on blind tastings. Must have something to do with the terroir, or the grape mix…or the cellar handling.’ This writer (and Axe Hill foot-stomper/winemaker), can attest that it’s all of those: dry, stony hillside vineyard, a higher proportion of touriga nacional than most, as well as plenty of foot action and extraction in the cellar – and a 20 percent-plus alcohol level. Represented on the table were the following cellars: KWV, Overgaauw, Landskroon, Die Krans, Boplaas, Bredell, Villiera and Axe Hill. All were Vintage or Vintage Reserve wines, and all but one were represented by two vintages. The single Villiera was chosen as a port made from non-traditional varieties (mostly shiraz). Sadly, the oldest port on the tasting, the KWV Diaz Reserve 1980, was a bit past it – a truffley number, rather sweet, herbal, spirity, showing a meaty, Bovril character. By comparison, the 1981 Overgaauw, a definite ‘drink now’ wine, could still last a few years, with its core of fruit and persistent finish. Moving into the nineties, a 1991 Landskroon was described by Anton as a bit ‘dun-en-min’ (thin and weak); a typical example of a well-made Cape port in the ‘old style’, with sugar a bit high and, more significantly, alcohol a bit low. But in those days the ‘port revolution’ had not yet taken hold – the SA Port Producers’ Association was still to be founded a couple of years down the track. Still a nice drop – but enjoy it now. On to the first of the Bredells – a 1993 which is one of only a couple of handsful of Wine magazine five star achievers. ‘The dark, mysterious fruit in this wine draws me,’ muttered Joubert. Very ripe fruit, with sugar and tannins in fine harmony, with plenty of years left. ‘A bit one-dimensional, though,’ noted Bredell, self-critically. By 1995 the ‘new wave’ of Cape Ports had broken: the Calitzdorp pair, Die Krans and the Boplaas single variety Touriga 1995s both showed harmony and fine prune fruit, with the former offering a touch more grip and a smooth cocktail of port grape varieties. The Boplaas seemed sweeter, with lower alcohol and a more developed feel about it – ready to drink, while the Krans wine can handle a few more years in the cellar. The first of the ’97s, the maiden vintage, Platter five star Axe Hill, was sadly, corked – Portuguese vengeance, no doubt, for both Bredell and Joubert noted its fine concentration of still-young fruit under the unwanted layer of TCA. Then came the Villiera, a ringer of a sort, being made from shiraz. ‘The American oak is a real teaser,’ noted Chris, who also picked up the lack of typicity due to the grape used. Still in youthful shape, though, garnering a fair average score. Lovely monsters Flight two got off to a spectacular start with a 1997 Grahams. My notes began with the word ‘typical’, which is a fair assessment as well as being an understatement of some magnitude. The sheer power, ripe tannin grip and core of black, plummy, yet understated fruit promises years of pleasure – because this monster is actually lovely to drink right now! Not obviously Portuguese, lined up with a couple of the locals to follow, though most suspected its origins when comparing notes at the end of the tasting. The 1997 Landskroon has achieved much in its short life – a Diners Winemaker accolade for Paul de Villiers (who broke the record for the shortest acceptance speech in the twenty years of the competition – a two syllable expletive, ‘bliksem!’), and trophies from SAA and Air France, and the Peter Schulz award. ‘An old, slightly jammy style,’ thought Bredell, while Lloyd noted that it was ‘falling apart a bit in the glass’. Definitely at its peak now, it might have benefited from higher fortification. But the 1997 KWV had a problem: more like a tawny in appearance, with a murky, mahogany hue, it showed oxidized, smoked meat, Bovril aromas and coffee/eucalyptus herbal flavours. The ’98 Overgaauw broke the estate’s mould when launched as a comparative youngster a couple of years ago: Overgaauws are normally bottle-aged for a good few years before release. Dry from the outset (under 80 gm/l sugar), this is a controversial port – loads of punchy fruit still there, with lovely touriga perfume, yet lacking a touch of substance to back the solid alcohol. Probably not yet at its peak. The new release of a Bredell Reserve always excites – and this ’98 is a whopper. ‘Enough of everything,’ noted Joubert. Spice, black port grape fruit, a whiff of typical Firgrove eucalyptus: this one scored up there with the Grahams. Youthful yet succulent, this must be Anton’s best so far – and there’s plenty to go round too. And it outscored the Portuguese on the day. Die Krans ’99 Reserve may have suffered a touch after the solid Bredell, but this wine has acquitted itself well to date. Picked up by the two Western Cape port makers as a Calitzdorp representative, with supple fruit and fine balance, this will mature sooner than the older Bredell. Boplaas ’99, showing alluring touriga notes, lacked richness compared with the previous wine – a touch more alcohol might have helped, as the feeling was that it would reach maturity fairly soon. The 2000 vintage was represented by the second Axe Hill: the obvious touriga component adding gutsy, earthy fruit and great complexity. ‘Tight, dry, grippy – great alcohol and fruit,’ noted Bredell. ‘This reminds me of one of my wines – not typical Calitzdorp. Should age for years.’ So – how do our Cape ports stack up? Some of the top few younger ones do quite well, actually, compared with the fine Grahams in the flight. Not too far off the mark, at a fifth of the price. Whether they will age as well as the genuine article is moot, however. Until 19.5 to 20.5 percent alcohols become the norm, together with more touriga fruit and more tannic grip, I have my doubts that ours will look as youthful as most Portuguese ports after a decade or so. But there is no doubt that the top handful are getting there.. Tony Mossop is a winewriter and judge, and the producer of Axe Hill Cape Vintage Port.
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The results
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Axe Hill 1997 was corked. The wines were tasted blind. The producers' scores for their own wines were not excluded. Prices shown for current releases are those charged at one retail outlet in Cape Town
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The ‘p’ word Until the SA Port Producers’ Association comes up with a new word for us to use, and thus avoid the vague embarrassment and questionability involved in talking about ‘port’, Grape will almost happily continue to write about port, generally avoiding quotation marks. It seems, however, that even such locutions as ‘Cape Vintage’ are not going to placate Europe, as Tony and Lyn Mossop explained in their release note for their Axe Hill 2000: Now that the agricultural agreement has finally been signed between South Africa and the EU, people ask us all the time about the name ‘port’. Well, acccording to the authorities we still have five years’ grace on export markets, and twelve years’ here (‘export’ means outside of the EU, where we have been prohibited from using it for ages). Our American agent, on the other hand, feels we should just continue with the ‘p’ word in that market for ever, as they have no truck with the EU rules (as we know – look at their cavalier use of the word Champagne). Some SA port exporters seem to be having a bit of trouble in the UK, however, with the word ‘Cape’ (as in “Cape Vintage’ or ‘Cape Ruby’). Apparently Brussels does not recognise ‘Cape’ as a specific South African wine region – ‘Cape Point’, yes, but just ‘Cape’, no. Seems we still have some unravelling to do. Not to mention the on-going arguments with the Brusselscrats (read: Portuguese) about the use of ‘their traditional terms’, vintage, tawny and ruby. Oh well, never a dull moment. Perhaps we should just be grateful that we’re still allowed to call anything ‘wine’.
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