LETTER FROM A WINE ENGINEER

Not all winelovers are aware of what is emerging from subterranean hydroponic vineyards in Johannesburg.  So it seemed useful to publish this letter in full, despite its length and self-congratulation. (Please note, however, that this is not an advertorial for the winery involved.

Dear Sir,

I have been delighted with your magazine and its discussion of the many issues that face us producers and the discerning consumer of fine wine, to wit your readership. Those of us with an eye on the international market and a keen interest in new technology (I like to call it a grip on reality) have been blown away with the exciting developments we have been able to apply in the cellar and vineyard in recent years. Our achievements at Clear Stream Wines will be known to many, but I thought your clearly intelligent readership might like to know a little more of the secrets behind our success. As you know, we now enjoy a large export market and proudly carry the Veritas South African double terroir seal on many of our products.

First, we know of a fear that an international style has been creeping into South African wine that may lead to anonymity on the international market. Let me assure you, this fear is unfounded. Also those who find little definitive difference between, say, top flight pinotage and other generously wooded and powerfully fruity red varietals are probably unaware of the measures currently under development to guarantee faithfulness.

Forgive a little self-assurance here, but the technologies of the future take care of this. Let me explain by way of example. The reason many readers have seen Clear Stream on the shelves but not located us in Platter is that we are situated in Johannesburg – not just the winery, but the vineyard too. Agriculturally aware readers are probably familiar with the use of old mine-workings in mushroom cultivation. We have capitalised on this idea, and on the exciting swing to locating wineries underground and in major tourist attractions, by installing our hydroponic systems in the tunnels here at Gold Reef City.

As in all interior orchards, controlling the physical parameters is trivial and I shall not waste time on the simple issues of temperature, rainfall, and light control. That technology has been in place for some time and there are in fact many software packages that simulate local micro-environments. We usually run the standard ‘Muldersvlei Bowl®’ package from the folks at Nietvoorbij, updated with the annual upgrade on global warming trends from UCT Enviro.

Maintaining a pest-free environment was admittedly a bit of a learning curve, as we struggled initially with Fanagamyces, but the mushroom guys over at shaft 14 had a pretty good jump on the local errant fungi and tourist-introduced microflora. All our fermentations are now tightly controlled with dedicated yeast strains, and when our wine speaks to you, it won’t be in Fanagalo. So, we’re happy to report that, as of last year both vineyard and cellar have been as free of the nasty vagaries of nature as any of the enviably consistent world-leading Australian brands.

What’s really exciting is new developments in flavour profiles. Of course, there’s no need to use grapes as a medium for generating the primary fermentant, but we pride ourselves on using actual grape vines. We go so far as to being varietal-specific (though it turns out that has a small effect in the long run). It does help us with some labelling laws that have yet to catch up with a fast-moving industry. We are also especially happy with the connection the varietally-authentic vines provide to past traditions, and without which our industry could be seen as just another soulless commercial enterprise.

Our dedication to South Africa means pinotage is of course number one priority and our flagship red. We find the Muldersvlei Bowl® package does a good job with the basic structure – a silky entry that says ‘drink me now!’ and some firmness that gives the impression of age-worthiness (which does seem to reassure some consumers, whether or not they have any intention of ageing the wine). We take care of the wine’s finish as a standard component in the Palate Palette® flavour spectrum compiler. This is an awesome new product from a joint venture between a major paint manufacturer and Synbouquet Systems, the commercial arm of UC Davis Oenology. (There is a competing product – the ‘Noseworthy’ from Australia, but we have found it a little less versatile; for example, it requires an alcohol level over 14.5% to activate the mixing catalysts; and Clear Stream avoids this on some wines).

The finish was at first a bit of a trade secret for us, but others are catching on now. It turns out that the best-known brands of soft-drinks have many of the important qualities required in a premium wine finish. Most of your readers will know the importance of sugar in premium reds, and the tongue-binding qualities of the glycols. But an important component is the phosphoric acid that etches a minute degree of roughness on the teeth of the consumer, so that flavour molecules can be adsorbed and released slowly for that lengthy finish. The element of spritz is a nice nod to the growing swing to sparkling reds, and of course that little acid bite at the finish tells the purist it’s a well-balanced wine.

So much for the structure and balance, but what about flavour authenticity in the sea of international wines, you ask? Well, Palate Palette® is extremely versatile and can generate an essentially infinite combination of flavours (think paint shop times a few million). The use of any one combination in quantities greater than 100 hectolitres wine equivalent (about 50 cc) automatically registers the combination over the internet with the company’s central website and blocks it to other users. Furthermore, it calculates the 10 000 closest combinations and blocks them to any user outside South Africa. So, vive la différence! terroir is guaranteed!

As for varietal character, let’s use pinotage again as an example. Though I must say we’ve had tremendous success with the sauvignon blancs: the pyrazines on this baby are probably its highpoint, though the Noseworthy ‘citrusimulator’ add-in – that has, get this, twenty varieties of Kiwi fruit as a bonus – gives it a good run. Check out our 2002 Skagenberg – its so explosive we’ve planted a few camphor trees next to the headgear!

With Palate Palette® we’ve been able to generate not only a great basic pinotage, but a specific character that we got by maximizing the banana esters and simply running a linear inversion of Kanonkop, Diemersfontein and L’Avenir simulants (all Platter 4½ and 5 star wines, and the winners of the most important trophies, gold-medals, etc, are in the annually updated database). The wine even has that hint of burned rubber that the fundis talk about in classic pinotage.

All in all it gives us a brand-new premium virtual terroir in the heart of premium Stellenbosch wine country; we’ve called it R44 (patents pending). In fact, the dinosaurs out there who stick to soil-based wines had better get their necks out of the sand and deal with this virtual terroir thing, because its going to get big pretty quickly. Why pay R5000 for a bottle of Romanée-Conti, when you can get Romanée-St-Musigny made by some knock-off guy operating from a basement in Lyon? Look, I won’t claim this thing does everything, and the UC Davis people still haven’t managed to simulate the International Rugby Player character that’s a pretty big quality factor locally (though they say they’re making progress with the Movie Producer and Failed Academic that are sought after by the big money in Napa Valley).

So, we’ve got our structure, our finish, our organoleptic flavour spectrum on the grape side, and with our major paint manufacturer in on the act, colour is a no-brainer. In the heat of the trade show, these wines call the tune. We’ve already moved well ahead of the grape color additives the boys in the Cape are making such a big thing of. And opaque like you’ve never seen! Like our vineyard, these colours are deep, announcing to the customer he’s looking at serious quality he can invest in.

Last, and most important of course, the wood. While it is comforting to know we have genuine terroir and varietal character in there underneath somewhere, in terms of taste it’s all in the wood, isn’t it? Once again, the Palate Palette® comes up with any combination of flavour: Taransaud, Canton, heavy toast, light toast, toast with marmite, Limousin southwest, American Overdone, Algerian-felled, second fill, sherry overlay – whatever you want sister, you’re the artiste. On the barrel-fermentation and malo side there’s a good selection of butter overlays, though our own commitment to local terroir means we’ve tended to stick with the traditional ‘Plaasbotter’ option. You won’t find things like goat butter roaming into our wines just yet! We even bought the ‘Developing Countries’ add-in that handles the barrel-quality reduction quotient to keep us nicely distinct from the French. Although the soil vineyard guys have been using essences for years, the range has expanded a lot, and now includes a standard feature that accurately simulates the effects of a reverse osmosis machine – so essential in maintaining a true connection with traditional winemaking practices.

One really fine feature is that, similar to the terroir lock, the oak spectrum has a ‘winemaker signature’ lock that works in much the same way, allowing the winemaker to put his or her (let’s not be sexist!) unique stamp on the oak combination and any others that are similar. Since this is the most prominent factor in consumer approval (and second only to residual sugar to most competition judges), it’s one good way to guarantee the artist remains recognised and gets the credit he deserves in this impersonal world in which we live.

I hope I’ve allayed fears in your readership that individuality of wines is not only guaranteed, but will be greatly expanded in the future. At Clear Stream we’re proud to be part of the new international wine scene and you can be sure we’ll be flying the South African flag high, with pride in our noble traditions of the Fairest Cape.

Cheers,

Will Oakemded, Wine engineer