Badsberg's award-winning sweet wines
Dream sweets
Breedekloof winery Badsberg has a whole range of very good sweet wines. By Christian Eedes.
Be honest, now. Could you place Badsberg on a blank map of the winelands? This winery won the General Smuts trophy for South Africa's overall champion young wine with its Badslese Natural Sweet as well as the Pietman Hugo trophy for what effectively amounts to most successful producer (highest score for five best wines) at last year's SA Young Wine Show, and yet it almost certainly remains unknown to most wine enthusiasts.
Badsberg is located in the Goudini ward of the Breedekloof district. Breedekloof producers often moan that they get overlooked relative to their counterparts in areas closer to Cape Town, but after Badsberg wines featured prominently in this year's review of sweet wines (see pp. 80-85), WINE magazine decided it was time once again to venture anderkant die berg.
The first thing that impresses about wineries in this part of the world is the scale of operation: Badsberg, a former co-op turned private company, has 16 shareholders farming some 1 100ha of vineyard. This year the winery processed 22 000 tons of grapes amounting to 15 million litres of wine. That's the equivalent of nearly 1.7 million cases, although most of this is sold off in bulk, with only 15 000 cases appearing under the Badsberg label.
Hanepoot (or Muscat d'Alexandrie) has been farmed in the area for decades. Originally used for the production of raisins, this market collapsed in the 1940s and local farmers were compelled to convert their grapes into wine which in turn led to the formation of Badsberg Co-operative Wine Cellar in 1951.
Hanepoot Jerepigo has always been a strong point of Badsberg, and the 2009 vintage doesn't disappoint, showing great intensity of flavour on the palate. Cellarmaster Willie Burger reveals that the secret to good Hanepoot Jerepigo is that the grapes must be sufficiently desiccated. "All Muscat aroma and flavour and no raisins and the wine is one-dimensional."
Badsberg releases slightly over 250 cases (despite processing some 1 200 tons of Hanepoot) and the wine sells for R34 a bottle from the cellar.
By the bye, Badsberg's emblem is the so-called March flower (Haemanthus coccineus). Traditionally, when this flower blooms in March, Hanepoot grapes are harvested. Badsberg cellar is situated at the foot of the mountain of the same name, and a mere 800m from the Goudini Spa, built around one of the hottest springs in Southern Africa.
On to the Red Muscadel 2009, which emerged as the best example of those reviewed in this issue with a rating of 4 Stars. This wine shows potpourri and red fruit on the nose while the palate is rich and concentrated but well balanced. Burger says a key requirement for achieving quality Muscadel is fruit from vineyards that are not over-cropped to ensure good fruit expression (yields at Badsberg vary between 10 to 12 tons a hectare).
In addition, when to harvest must be carefully judged: pick too early and the end-wine will lack fullness and sweetness; pick too late and only raisins are left, the attractive Muscat character lost. Total production under the Basdberg label is again about 250 cases and the wine sells for R38 a bottle.
Other fortified wines you may want to consider stocking up on for winter include a Red Jerepigo 2008 (R36 a bottle) made from Pinotage and showing plenty of juicy red fruit and bright acidity as well as a Vintage Port 2005 (R54 a bottle) from Cabernet Franc, Ruby Cabernet and Shiraz, relatively uncomplicated and reminiscent of Ruby Port.
Perhaps the biggest revelation in the Badsberg range is the Noble Late Harvest Limited Release 2005, which rated 4 Stars in this issue. Here, Burger gives particular credit to his colleague Henri Sweigers (unfortunately on leave at the time of the interview), who gained experience in making sweet wine during a stint in Hungary, the home of legendary Tokay. Nevertheless, Burger who has been incumbent at Badsberg since 1998, is more than qualified to talk about the wine.
Badsberg has made a Noble Late Harvest since 2003, typically consisting of 50% Chenin Blanc and 50% Hanepoot. In the case of the 2005, however, it consists of 90% Chenin Blanc and the rest Hanepoot. The vineyard that supplies the Chenin has been around for some 15 years, making it old by the standards of the district.
Burger says the occurrence of botrytis is variable - "some years more, some years less" - but that they are always very careful to select either botrytised grapes or healthy raisins and avoid those affected with malevolent grey rot. Since the grapes are intensely shrivelled by the time of harvest, yields are greatly reduced: down to around five tons a hectare compared to 15 tons a hectare under normal circumstances.
Whereas Badsberg Noble Late Harvest is usually unwooded, it was decided that the 2005 could bear some oak influence, the wine spending 24 months in American tight-grain oak. This has lent the finished product particular richness and texture and while there's an oak-derived spiciness on nose and palate, this character is not excessive. Burger says that the barrels were 300l in size as opposed to the 225l Bordeaux barrel, facilitating less aggressive extraction. The wine is packaged in a 750ml bottle (unusual for the category) and sells for R130.
The maiden-vintage Badslese Natural Sweet 2009, winner of the 2009 General Smuts trophy at last year's Young Wine Show as mentioned above, is something that Badsberg is justifiably proud of. The Young Wine Show is a by-the-industry, for-the-industry competition that judges wines within the year of production, often some time before they are finally blended and bottled.
Wines are first judged according to region, and the best-performing are then put up against each other for national honours. That the Badslese 2009 triumphed as best overall against over 2 000 other entries is no mean achievement. As Burger says with some understatement, "We entered the wine on a trial basis. Only if it performed were we going to release it commercially."
The wine came about when 2009 provided poor conditions for the occurrence of botrytis. One particular picking of the same Chenin vineyard that usually provides grapes for the Noble Late Harvest was carried out to harvest a batch of healthy raisins and the Badslese ensued. It rated 3½ Stars in this issue (placing it joint-best in class alongside the 2005 vintage of iconic Klein Constantia Vin de Constance!). Total production was 3 200 500ml bottles and the wine costs R130.
The Badsberg sweet wines are of undoubted quality, but are they really worth the effort to make? "It's one of our passions," says Burger. "It provides a challenge and keeps us motivated. It's easy to make five million litres of Chenin Blanc."
Burger's motivations are not entirely sentimental, however. Highly rated wines are good for business in the long term. "Margins are tight at the bulk-wine end of the market. You can try to operate more cost effectively which basically means higher production per hectare. That's not good for quality, however, so your only alternative is to add value."
According to him, there's no reason why a big set-up can't produce quality wines aimed at the top of the market, the biggest obstacle being that they will be a difficult sell because of a perceived lack of exclusivity.
In recent times, Breedekloof as an area certainly hasn't enjoyed the same cachet and related media exposure as areas like Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Constantia, but this is a situation that the locals no longer intend to tolerate.
The Breedekloof Wine and Tourism initiative was begun in 2003 and the area has been positioned with some success as a getaway for adventureseeking nature lovers. "It took a lot of convincing, but it's one of the best things we've ever done," says Burger. "Of course, the results are difficult to measure but you have to take the long view. It will take 10 years and more before we see the benefits."
The major annual event is the Outdoor & Wine Festival, this year set to take place over the weekend of 8 to 10 October, while those with a fondness for sweet wines should also not miss Soetes and Soup occurring on 23 and 24 July (Badsberg will be off ering 10% off all sweet wines for the duration).
Clever marketing can only raise the profile of Breedekloof, but this must go hand in hand with what's in the bottle. Burger, for one, realises this. "We've greatly increased our range and we're committed to not compromising on quality. The consumer is starting to take notice and we're growing slowly but steadily."
NOBLE LATE HARVEST EXPLAINED
Noble Late Harvest wines are so called because they are made from grapes infected by 'noble rot' or the fungal growth Botrytis cinerea. Spores of the fungus remain dormant in the vineyard soil and on vine bark until they are activated by suitable atmospheric conditions, namely alternate moisture and heat.
The initial sign of infection is that the berry becomes discoloured. If the weather stays wet, grey rot will ensue and the whole crop could be lost. Rain washes the botrytis spores off and allows other fungi to grow. It also dilutes the sugar in the berry, which is precisely the opposite of what the winemaker wants noble rot to achieve.
If, however, the weather turns dry, this facilitates noble rot. Spores latch on to the skin of the grape and feed on moisture from within. The effect is to concentrate the juice into a sticky, sugar-rich pulp.
BADSBERG WINE CELLAR
Estate: Rawsonville, Breedekloof
GPS co-ordinates: S 33°39.668'
E 019°16.173'
Tel: 023 344 3021
Email: enquiries@badsberg.co.za
Website: www.badsberg.co.za
Cellarmaster: Willie Burger (Since 1998)
Winemaker: Henri Swiegers (since 2002)
Viticulturalist: De Wet Hugo (since 2006)
Sales: Monday to Friday 08:00-17:00,
Saturday 10:00-13:00
Tastings: No fee
Tours: By appointment only, during harvesting, for fee of R15 pp
Established: 1951 (bottling own wine since 1976)
Under vine: 1 200ha (74% white, 20% red, 2% rosé, 4% fortified)
Production: 15 million litres pa
WINE PORTFOLIO
Semi-sweet sparkling: Vin Doux
(Hanepoot)
Dry white: Chardonnay Sur Lie, Chenin
Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc
Rosé: Rosé (Merlot, off-dry)
Red wine: Belladonna (Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Petit Verdot),Merlot
Dessert: Natural Sweet (Chenin Blanc,
Hanepoot), Noble Late Harvest (Chenin
Blanc, Hanepoot), Special Late Harvest
(Chenin Blanc, Hanepoot)
Fortified: Hanepoot Jerepigo, Red Jerepigo
(Pinotage), Red Muscadel (Muscat
de Frontignan), Vintage Port (Cabernet
Franc, Ruby Cabernet, Shiraz);
3-l bag-in-box: White (Sauvignon Blanc),
Red (Cinsaut, Merlot, Pinotage,
Ruby Cabernet)
WHERE TO EAT IN RAWSONVILLE
Melanie Blom, in charge of marketing and sales for Badsberg, recommends the following as being the best in the area:
Bistro at Jason's Hill, tel 023 3443 256, bistro@jasonshill.co.za
The Tin House Restaurant, tel 023 349 1719
