Vertical tastings of the Cape’s oldest bordeaux blend producers have been both exciting and informative, reports Tim James

A remarkable opportunity for Dave Hughes and me was completed with the tastings of Welgemeend Estate Reserve and Overgaauw Tria Corda reported in this issue: sampling all the vintages to date of the Cape’s earliest bordeaux-style wines. In Grape 24 we looked at Meerlust Rubicon. The fourth of this pioneering group of wines – all still among the Cape’s best of their type – is perhaps the most famous of them: Kanonkop Paul Sauer. A vertical tasting of the Paul Sauer, in which we both took part, was reported on in Wine magazine (October 2004). In the enthusiasm engendered by that great experience, Dave and I agreed that Grape would arrange vertical tastings of the three other pioneers, with us taking part in all of them. An achievement now accomplished. So what impressions and conclusions are the result?

The first thing to point out is what a privilege the quadripartite experience has been – and one that will not be easy to repeat. Apart from the logistics involved, with a few more vintages, the oldest wines are going to fade (and get in shorter supply), and the number of wines involved will also make a complete vertical something more arduous.

The facts first (speaking through the rather unreliable medium of scores from different, though sometimes overlapping panels, tasting on different days in different circumstances). Paul Sauer easily scored highest – the most four-stars-and-above, and the fewest lower scores. Then came Rubicon, with three scores of four-and-a-half stars and nine of four; Welgemeend had, respectively, two and six; Tria Corda had eight four-star ratings.

Subjective impressions and memories tell a different story in some respects. For Dave, the surprise of the series was Welgemeend. The earlier wines were those, as he says, of an amateur, and ‘that they showed as well as they did is remarkable’. Equally so was the consistency of quality, and of style after the winemaker change in the early 1990s, though the later wines were richer and more fruit-filled. ‘And I was taken aback at how much fruit there was from so-called virus-affected vines.’

His disappointment was Meerlust. ‘I have tasted that line-up a couple of times and I have always been pretty pleased with the quality. This time round I found quality to be fine but not in the same bracket as the other three cellars. Individual wines certainly made the grade but not consistently through the range.’

‘Kanonop was for me the best quality line-up of the lot. I feel I could happily show those wines internationally without any apology. Overgaauw was another pleasant surprise and probably had the most distinctive ‘Cape’ character (whatever that is!) through the line. There was no doubt that they were Cape wines. Maybe the same for Welgemeend but some Meerlusts could have come from anywhere. A couple of the older Kanonkops were also distinctly Cape.’

My own views are broadly similar. For me Kanonkop Paul Sauer has been, consistently, the Cape’s finest red blend and remains so, despite some slightly worrying modernisation since the mid 1990s! I have also long greatly admired Welgemeend – and enjoy its fidelity to the perhaps slightly old-fashioned virtues it embodies (less wood, lower alcohol, modesty, elegance). These tastings confirmed my prejudices.

Overgaauw I knew least, and I was greatly impressed (and a little surprised) by its consistent high quality. As for Meerlust: I think it disappoints in memory partly because one feels (as often before) that its quality is not commensurate with its reputation. Although there are some excellent vintages, I felt it didn’t have the sheer superiority of Kanonkop, or the characterfulness of the other two wines.

But overall, the wines in all these tastings served to remind the tasters just how good some of the wines of the 1980s and early ’90s were: good Cape wine was not born in 1994, despite the impression one is sometimes given by local and international comment. The older wines were not ‘green’, or ‘hard’, or ‘dikvoet’; we must hope that modern wines (from these and other cellars) will age as gracefully as these have, to give the unparalelled pleasure of a mature wine.

Another chance

Dave Hughes tells of a further recent tasting experience of relevance here. An eccentric and rich friend of his, with a passion for old Cape wines, set up a blind tasting for a experienced group of tasters: six wines from 1982, five from 1989 and one from 1990. Only at the end of the tasting did he reveal that the cellars involved were Welgemeend, Meerlust, Zonnebloem, Kanonkop, Rustenberg and Overgaauw.

How did the wines perform? Dave Hughes relates:

‘On total scores, Kanonkop was an easy overall winner, with the two highest scores. And a couple of tasters recognised the cellar. Next was a close-as-dammit tie between Welgemeend and Zonnebloem. Welgemeend (1982, 1990) was recognised by some because of its “dryness” , and Zonnebloem (1982 Cabernet, 1989 Lauréat) was recognised by most.

Rustenberg came next, although its 1982 cabernet-cinsaut blend was third highest score of all the wines (the 1989 Gold was the other Rustenberg). Hardly anyone guessed the identity of the producer here – with cellars such as Groot Constantia and Bertrams being mentioned. Overgaauw (Tria Corda 1982, 1989) was a fraction behind Rustenberg, and quite a number of tasters identified the winery. Poor old Meerlust Rubicon was a good distance behind in the scores, however, and went unidentified, with numerous other cellars being guessed at. When it was asked why no-one mentioned Meerlust, everyone said that they’d thought that, if it was there, it would have had a much higher quality rating!

My friend then produced another decanter which was rated the top wine of all: good old 1974 Nederburg Auction Cab … in stunning condition.