Are the good Cape reds of 1994 still on their way up, or already in decline?  We tasted a dozen – with mixed results, says Ingrid Motteux

Grape decided to subject a dozen top Cape wines  from the 1994 vintage (at nearly nine years old) to the test. The majority of wines chosen were from Stellenbosch and cabernet-based, but a few other varieties were thrown in for good measure. Most had done well on release, harvesting scads of stars and medals between them – the sort of wines that many South Africans (with, arguably, a general predilection for rather over-mature wines) would still be treasuring in their cellars, intending to start broaching them at the 10-year mark.

The 1994 vintage was one of the hottest in recent decades, and is generally considered average in terms of quality – certainly not on a par with the one that followed it. Winemaking and viticulture in the Cape were in a state of some flux at the time. The benefits of new clones and healthy plant material, as well as more diligent viticultural practices, were becoming evident in the wines. As South Africa  re-entered the world, a new flow of information and experience gave winemakers an opportunity to improve and develop their skills, resulting in a move towards a more modern, fresh, less ‘dikvoet’ (heavy) style of red wine. When this new style began to emerge in the early 1990s, there were fears that approachability would be at the expense of longevity. A pioneer of this genre, Thelema, in fact was the top scorer in this tasting, still showing substantial power, well-developed complexity, and generally felt to have potential for further improvement.

How well had the rest of these wines weathered their eight years? Scores can be pretty boring. There was no doubt that these had all been fine wines in their time – what we really wanted to know was where they were on the development curve: were they fully mature, perhaps even with further potential for development, or had they already slipped down the slope towards decay and senility? Would any of these wines be taking up valuable cellar space when they should be, or should already have been, consumed? Had they held their fruit while the tannins softened? How appropriate are the typical longevity models for prime Cape reds from average vintages? Have we based these too much on the ageing potential of European wines?

For each wine the tasters were asked to mark a position on a maturation curve (a standard rise, plateau and fall graph). Those wines which most of the panel deemed to be on the descent were the Saxenburg Cabernet, Buitenverwachting Christine and Overgaauw Merlot, all of which showed signs of tiredness and loss of fruit. (The shorter life of the Christine had been predicted in Wine magazine’s 1998 rating and comments.)

Although the Delheim Cabernet, Beyerskloof, Hartenberg Cabernet-Merlot and Meerlust Rubicon were still holding their own, they need to be drunk soon. Whilst Delheim’s back label sets a drinking window af an ‘optimum 5-8 years after vintage’, the timeworn Beyerskloof had been awarded no less than five stars in the British magazine Decanter – presumably a firm pledge of reasonable longevity. The Bouchard Finlayson Pinot Noir was also creeping past its prime, having had a good innings.The winekmaker, Peter Finlayson, had hoped for a wine that would survive the 10-12 year mark, but given that some of the pinot vines used for this wine were only in their second year of production at the time, and that the preserving acidity was lower in this warm vintage, it is no surprise that the fruit had begun to fade.

Rust en Vrede, Welgemeend and Grangehurst were still comfortably on the development plateau, happily holding their own. All were generally thought to have reached their prime and, although capable of keeping another few years, not likely to further improve. The three top-scoring wines – Stellenzicht Syrah, Thelema Cabernet and the Kanonkop CWG Cabernet  – were safely mid-plateau, showing firm structure and vigorous fruit, with potential to improve over the next three to four years. These wines have track-records which make the result no surprise, as far as they are concerned. The much-bemedalled Stellenzicht beat Grange in the famous SAA 1995 Australia vs South Africa showdown. The 1994 Thelema Cabernet won its maker, Gyles Webb, the 1996 Diner’s Club Winemaker of the Year award. And Kanonkop is ... well, Kanonkop.

Although overall comments on the state of maturity of the wines were similar, this tasting highlighted the differences in appreciation between tasters: one taster might have rated a wine generously for its mature, developed character and complexity, whilst another marked it down for its lack of freshness and vigour. Angela Lloyd thought that these wines were mostly in keeping with what she expected from the 1994 vintage: block-ish wines, lacking charm and dimension, with clear old- and new-school styles. She likened them to some of the older Californian cabernets, in that they had aged rather than matured.

Richard Kelley pointed out that we were witnessing the industry transition in these wines, and agreed that many of thesm were on hold: whilst they might age, they would not evolve. His top-scoring wine was the Stellenzicht Syrah, a wine in which he found the variety was no longer as easily discernable as in the rest – ‘It is just a very good wine.’ (Tim James recalled disliking this wine on release, but was obliged to agree that it had developed well.) Sommelier Arnold Vorster, though not a fan of older South African wines in general, was surprised by the unexpected youth he found in some of the wines, though he felt they lacked subtlety. Jenny Ratcliffe found lots of herbaceous, minty, green pepper and wet hay character, which in some cases was pleasant, but in others demonstrated a lack of ripeness typical of virus-infected ‘old’ clone cabernet. Heidi Kritzinger, on the other hand, had an overall impression of hot, alcoholic wines, a few of which had the baked character of a rather too-warm vintage. Tim James, having consumed a fair bit of older Bordeaux in his time, thought that these wines were at about the stage of development that a good Médoc, would be at about double the age. The panel agreed that they were generally disappointed in the early maturation evident in the tasting. James also dissented from a simple new/old-school distinction: Some he found were good old-school, and others bad new-school.

Storage conditions are, of course, a vital factor in ageing wines. With the exception of two (well-stored) wines in this tasting, all came directly from the producers’ cellars, and were unlikely to have been damaged by poor keeping.

It seems our dominant ageing-potential models are not really appropriate for our hotter vintages where ripening is too swift and pH too high, leaving the wine more susceptible to harmful bacteria, oxidation and loss of colour. Perhaps we have tended towards European standards of longevity for our noble red (French) varieties in the past because of lack of understanding of the constraints imposed on potential maturation by our much warmer climate. Many of our older-style wines, with hard tannins and meagre fruit, might have been capable of lengthy ageing, but were unlikely to ever reach that ideal, complex stage called maturity. And whilst there may be plenty of extracted juicy fruit, colour and ripe tannins in our modern vinified wines, the preserving benefits of natural acid, coupled with the intense concentration imparted by slow ripening are attainable only in exceptional (long and cool) vintages.

While we may strive to achieve the greater endurance of good classic European fine wines, we should perhaps accept the limitations of a warm climate on potential longevity, and establish a different and more realistic ageing model, reserving the prediction of ten to twelve years (and occasionally longer) for excellent wines of outstanding vintages. Certainly, a shorter forecast of five to seven years would, on the evidence of this tasting, be more suitable for most of the good wines of this, and other hot vintages.