The vagaries of vintage 23 July 2007

Angela Lloyd draws some tentative general conclusions about the quality offered
over recent years

Old salts may well remark that the Cape is currently enjoying a winter like those of yesteryear.  Certainly, the storms and cold weather that rolled in mid-May and regularly since remind me of the early 1970s. It’s good news for the municipal dams, currently tipping 80 percent full - an unheard of level for mid-July for the past few winters.

 It’s good news too for the vines, which are doubtless enjoying a deep, restorative sleep before they face the rigours of the next growing season: the uncertainties of spring and, probably, a hot, windy summer. For the quality of the vintage it isn't made on summer alone: a real winter - actually two prior to the vintage - is just as essential. But as no two winters or summers are identical, neither are any two vintages. For some reason, common wisdom used to have it that the Cape doesn't experience vintage variations; a belief that only started to crumble after Thelema’s Gyles Webb had cried ‘balderdash'’

Attitudes have changed but the sceptics, if there are any left, need only come and join me in my Platter tastings to discover the truth for themselves.

There’s no better opportunity to learn firsthand  - er, first-taste - just how one year does differ from another, not only in style but in quality. Given the obviously limited number of wines I’ve been tasting, my opinions must be general (though supplemented by other tastings in competitions and other line-ups) but I feel confident in the overall pointers.

Vintages most commonly turning up in the Platter wines this year range from 2003 up to the current 2007. No guesses that the youngest vintage has been represented mainly by sauvignon blanc, sauvignon blanc and yet more sauvignon blanc. Many impressive ones too, with tremendous concentration and backbone yet also welcomingly moderate alcohol. Some are monsters that will need taming. Chenins have been less ubiquitous but similar in composition. Remembering all too clearly last summer's extreme heat, I don't expect the same level of enjoyment will be experienced by all my Platter colleagues, so I count myself lucky. Obviously it will be a few years before the serious reds are offered for assessment.

Going back a year, 2006 is represented by a wider spread of both whites and reds, though again, we won’t see the big numbers just yet. It’s a lovely year for earlier-drinking reds: lots of pure, juicy fruit with non-restrictive tannins. Both reds and whites have a purity and lightness of feel, with good concentration and some with lower alcohols. They might deceive in their maturation potential.

2005 - now here’s a controversial year if ever there was one; some careful cherry-picking is necessary. This and 2004 provide the majority of reds on offer, with the first flagships arriving too. While there are flashes of brilliance, there are also big disappointments. Impressive so far are alcohol levels; I’ve just survived a 16 percenter (perhaps I should add it was unfortified) but also found a double whammy of unripe fruit. High alcohols and unripe fruit? The sort of combination that makes tasting seem like work and a cup of hot chocolate to restore the taste buds a necessity! Wines with cabernet sauvignon and/or merlot seem the worst affected by the high alcohol/unripeness dichotomy, which surprised Tim James when I told him. He had a much better impression of 2005s on this year’s Calyon Trophy for Bordeaux blends, which shows, I guess, that yet again it’s often a much safer bet to follow producers rather than areas, varieties, styles or even vintages. But then the 2005 vintage has been described as the ‘driest, wettest, earliest and hottest – depending on exactly where you are’.

2004 was also a hot, dry year (a longer, hotter spell than even this year according to viticulture wizard Eben Archer) and there's a robustness about the reds that reflects this. Some have gone overboard with tannins and oak, especially where the fruit doesn't have sufficient weight – and in many cases it is, in fact, light. The jury (ie me in this case!) is out on whether 2004 or 2005 will mature better.

2003 – ah how I wish there were more of these to write up, but the one or two reds still being released are a joy; ‘complete’ sums up the best of this lovely vintage. And that applies to both whites and reds. A Platter review is a pleasure, not like work at all!