A Bordeaux state of mind

Philip van Zyl reports on Overgaauw Tria Corda: 1979 – 2003

Red bordeaux, opines Paul Pontallier, is not so much a formula based on varying proportions of particular grapes as a winemaking philosophy – one which seeks to produce the finest wine possible from the varieties best suited to the site, and to create a whole which is better than the sum of the parts. It so happens, the Château Margaux directeur continues, that the red-wine grapes that do best in Bordeaux are chiefly cabernets sauvignon and franc, merlot and petit verdot, which is why they are the principal constituents of so many reds from that region. South Africa’s climate is different, of course, so it may be that different varieties perform better in specific areas. Yet, Pontallier holds, there is no reason why blends containing ‘other’ grapes should not be designated bordeaux if the winemaking impulse is apropos and the resulting wines display the requisite qualities – finesse, complexity, balance.

The Van Velden family of Overgaauw Estate would have been comfortable with such an elastic and inclusive view of ‘bordeauxness’. The first three vintages of their Tria Corda (‘Three Hearts’), though conceived as a claret-style red and launched with the 1979, were actually ‘bordeaux’ more in spirit than substance: all contained about 30% of cinsaut, a grape more readily associated with the southern Rhône than the Médoc. The sweet mellowness imparted by cinsaut is clearly evident in these early wines, especially the 1979 and 1981. But also apparent, as our vertical tasting of all 20 vintages to date revealed, are some of the quintessential qualities of bordeaux – a fine, cabernet-driven structure, elegance and longevity. In fact the 1979, twenty-five years old, shows a remarkable freshness and vivacity. The 1980 and 1981, though more tartly acidic, are also still very much alive.

The blend becomes classical in composition only from the 1982 vintage, when cinsaut is omitted. In the process, the varietal trio which inspired the name (coined by Afrikaans poet WEG Louw) contracts to a duet of cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The effect of cinsaut’s excision is immediate and striking: the structure is firmer and, in better years, the nose/palate is more intricately layered. This cab-merlot format continues with the difficult-vintage 1983, joining 1985 as the lowest scoring wine in the line-up, and the brilliant, muscular 1984, tying with 1997 and 2001 as the top-ranked wines in the tasting.

Cabernet franc enters the blend for the first time in the 1985, via the first crop from a virus-free vineyard. Never more than ten per cent of the assemblage, cabernet franc contributes a subtle yet distinct perfume which, in lighter vintages like 1985, shows as greenly herbaceous but in auspicious years such as 1986 and the excellent 1987, ranked seventh in the tasting, lends a cool spiciness to the wine’s signature notes of tobacco, earth and attractive sherry-like nuttiness. Since 1985 the blend make-up has remained unaltered at roughly 60 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 30 per cent merlot and about ten per cent cabernet franc.

Small-barrel ageing, introduced to the estate as early as 1969/70 by David van Velden, father of current owner Braam, was a feature from the outset. Van Velden elected to mature the Overgaauw reds, including the cinsaut, for about nine months in second-fill barrels. These, interestingly, were sourced from Château Latour, which David van Velden, Simonsig’s Frans Malan and a few colleagues visited in 1973 as guests of bordelais cooper Demptos. The party also toured châteaux Lafite and Mouton Rothschild, among others.

Demand for red wine in South Africa picked up around that time, and this development coincided with something of a paradigm shift in Cape wine circles from the traditional, monotone dikvoet styles to more elegant and interesting alternatives. Pioneers such as Billy Hofmeyr, founder of Welgemeend, Nico Myburgh and Giorgio dalla Cia of Meerlust, the Van Veldens and others championed the claret style as the model for the new generation of wines. Their choice was fired by both passion and pragmatism, the latter in the form of the availability – or rather non-availability – of vine material for planting locally.

In the mid 1970s, Braam van Velden recalls, red-wine makers really had only four grapes from which to choose: cabernet sauvignon, cinsaut (then known as ‘hermitage’; Overgaauw’s 1971 was the first in the Cape labelled ‘Cinsaut’), and to a much lesser extent pinotage and shiraz. Other varieties, including cabernet franc, were available but, Van Velden says, the material was severely virused and hence unattractive to aspirant fine-wine makers. To realise their ambitions the Van Veldens, with help from the Meerlust team, established a vineyard of merlot in 1975 and, four years later, planted a second block featuring a new and improved Italian clone. Cabernet franc followed in the early 1980s, by which time cleaner material had become available through the nursery system.

A constant throughout this period is the vineyard block supplying the cabernet sauvignon. Approaching ten years old when the first blend was made, its ability to deliver quality fruit year after year must go some way to explain the consistency of Tria Corda over the four decades spanned by the tasting, which is quite staggering: average scores for the 1970s (represented by a single vintage, the 1979), ’80s (ten vintages), ’90s (six vintages), and 2000s (three vintages to date) vary by as little 0.5 points. The average rating overall is 15.7 out of 20. The lowest average, for the ’70s, is 15.4 and the highest, for the ’00s, 15.9. Bolstering the wine’s consistency is the Van Velden’s stringent selection policy, which saw vintages, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002 declassified.

Sustained performance of their cabernet sauvignon (planted, incidentally, in comparatively uniform Clovelly soils on mainly south-facing slopes) prompted the Van Veldens to gradually increase the proportion of new oak for raising the blend. As winemaker Chris Joubert, who joined the team in 1991, correctly remarks, new-oak influence and wood tannins come into play with the 1988 vintage, and grow steadily more perceptible up to the meaty, rich, still tightly wound 1995, matured entirely in new casks.

This full-blown wood regime continues, and gains another dimension with the 2001, the most show-awarded Tria Corda of all and a favourite of our own panel, with a high average score of 16.5. The 2001 is the first to show the hallmark ‘gunflint’ tones of Vicard barrels (about 15% of the blend was aged in medium-plus-toast vessels). The as yet unreleased 2003, which carries the Overgaauw team’s unanimous vote for the finest Tria Corda to date, reflects a slightly downscaled but still overt Vicard influence, which will probably continue to be a feature in the future.

Looking at the results of the current tasting, one can’t help but wonder how a follow-up vertical, ten or 20 years hence, would play out. Would one again see such a balanced decade-representation in the top three scores as the current line-up of 2001, 1997 and 1984? And, indeed, in the following set of three rankings – 2003, 1995, 1989? If so, Tria Corda will again have demonstrated its admirable breed, and shown that it possesses perhaps the most elusive ‘bordeaux’ quality of all – constancy.

• Availability: The latest release of Tria Corda, 2001, is out of stock from the farm. The next vintage, 2003, should be available aound the end of January 2005, at an approximate ex-cellar price of R120 per bottle. (About 5000 standard bottles and 150 magnums were produced