Bodacious Paarl , Paarl
Its most outstanding geographical feature is a massive granite dome that glistens like a pearl when wet. as a wine region paarl is transforming itself. Philip van Zyl records the changes being made."We've been hidden behind this rock too long," declares Peggy Lannon, general manager of the winegrowers' association, Paarl Vintners, "It's time we stood up and showed the world how incredibly sexy we are."
Bodaciousness, it must be said, is not an attribute the public generally associates with Paarl, either as a tourism destination or a wine growing district. Stellenbosch or Franschhoek might be considered sexy. Paarl is, well … homely and charming. Pretty, even. But sexy, no.
Yet there is such enthusiasm, and such infectious passion about Peggy Lannon's assertion, you find yourself looking for reasons to believe. Could it be that Paarl is the victim of a general misperception, an unrecognised Jennifer Lopez unfairly chained to historical kappie and velskoen, upstaged by the higher profile neighbours?
Locals have no doubt this is so. "Paarl has absolutely everything going for it, including some seriously good wines," declares Tracey Thornycroft, whose family bought the Paarlberg estate Rhebokskloof in 1994 and was among the first to introduce visitor friendlier features such as year round dining and tasting.
Michaela Soule, sales & marketing manager for Grande Roche, five star flagship hotel & conference centre, adds: "Paarl has an amazing range of attractions, from vineyard rambles on horseback and sightseeing in vintage cars to 4x4 overland excursions, township experiences and gourmet evenings. The list goes on and on. And," Soule continues, "there is a wonderful lekkerte (warmth and hospitality) about the people."
"The Paarl wine route is largely undiscovered," believes Alan Nelson, Cape advocate and owner of Nelson's Creek. "As its name so aptly describes, in the years ahead consumers will discover it for what it really is: the hidden pearl of the SA wine industry."
"People must be made more aware of what Paarl has to offer," concurs Michaela Soule. "Perhaps we need to blow our own trumpet a bit harder." Tracey Thornycroft nods: "What we need is a new mindset."
In fact, glimmers of a fresh approach are already detectable. Along Paarl's picturesque High Street there is a frisson of energy - and it is not just because a local outlet of the ubiquitous brasserie chain, Dros, opened here not long ago. The old residences and commercial buildings are being refurbished, returning parts of the street to the state so admired by Archbishop Merriman, a peripatetic 19th century Cape chronicler. "Paarl," he wrote, "[is] one of the most beautiful spots that the Cape has to boast of. It is a foreign looking village, full of vineyards. The painted and tiled walks in front of the houses, which are all Dutch, the tall oak avenues and clipped hedges, the people seemingly living outside their houses, all conspired to remind me of a foreign town on the continent of Europe."
On today's Main Street interesting little shops are opening, including antiques and objets d'art, and the established chocolatier now rubs shoulders with a bevy of new businesses such as B&Bs, coffee bars and bistros. There is even a new winery on the main road, affirming a tradition that harks back to Paarl's inception in 1688. In that year the original quintet of farms, La Borie (also known as La Brie), Picardie, Goede Hoop, La Concordia and Nantes were deeded over to freshly landed Huguenot families by the commander of the Cape, Simon van der Stel.
These properties, some with footings in the Berg River, mountaineered up the steep slopes of Paarlberg so ruggedly, the original owners complained to the authorities that the "numerous rocks, boulders and hippo pools" rendered all but five of their 48 hectares non-arable. Permission was duly granted to spill over the river to the eastern part of the valley, and by 1699, when the controversial Willem Adriaan van der Stel stepped into his father's oenologically polished shoes, the pioneer farms formed part of a chain stretching from Boschendal in Groot Drakenstein northwards through Simondium, Paarl proper and Dal Josafat to Wagenmakersvallei, now Wellington.
The contemporary Paarl district, in terms of the official South African Wine of Origin (WO) scheme, embraces the abovementioned enclaves as well as the traditional afdelingsrade of Du Toitskloof, Klein Drakenstein and Klapmuts as well as portions of Muldersvlei and Perdeberg. Franschhoek is also included as a ward in the official Paarl district (though neither Franschhoek nor Wellington, also a ward of Paarl, forms part of the focus of this supplement; they are the subjects of past or future WINE features).
In fact, glimmers of a fresh approach are already detectable. Along Paarl's picturesque High Street there is a frisson of energy - and it is not just because a local outlet of the ubiquitous brasserie chain, Dros, opened here not long ago. The old residences and commercial buildings are being refurbished, returning parts of the street to the state so admired by Archbishop Merriman, a peripatetic 19th century Cape chronicler. "Paarl," he wrote, "[is] one of the most beautiful spots that the Cape has to boast of. It is a foreign looking village, full of vineyards. The painted and tiled walks in front of the houses, which are all Dutch, the tall oak avenues and clipped hedges, the people seemingly living outside their houses, all conspired to remind me of a foreign town on the continent of Europe."
On today's Main Street interesting little shops are opening, including antiques and objets d'art, and the established chocolatier now rubs shoulders with a bevy of new businesses such as B&Bs, coffee bars and bistros. There is even a new winery on the main road, affirming a tradition that harks back to Paarl's inception in 1688. In that year the original quintet of farms, La Borie (also known as La Brie), Picardie, Goede Hoop, La Concordia and Nantes were deeded over to freshly landed Huguenot families by the commander of the Cape, Simon van der Stel.
These properties, some with footings in the Berg River, mountaineered up the steep slopes of Paarlberg so ruggedly, the original owners complained to the authorities that the "numerous rocks, boulders and hippo pools" rendered all but five of their 48 hectares non-arable. Permission was duly granted to spill over the river to the eastern part of the valley, and by 1699, when the controversial Willem Adriaan van der Stel stepped into his father's oenologically polished shoes, the pioneer farms formed part of a chain stretching from Boschendal in Groot Drakenstein northwards through Simondium, Paarl proper and Dal Josafat to Wagenmakersvallei, now Wellington.
The contemporary Paarl district, in terms of the official South African Wine of Origin (WO) scheme, embraces the abovementioned enclaves as well as the traditional afdelingsrade of Du Toitskloof, Klein Drakenstein and Klapmuts as well as portions of Muldersvlei and Perdeberg. Franschhoek is also included as a ward in the official Paarl district (though neither Franschhoek nor Wellington, also a ward of Paarl, forms part of the focus of this supplement; they are the subjects of past or future WINE features).
The fresh spurt of energy that is reanimating wine and tourism on Paarl's High Street seems to be spilling into all corners of the larger viticultural patchwork, dominated by the sweep of the Berg River Valley and a large expanse of mixed farmland to its west, with the dramatic granite domes of Paarlberg more or less in the centre. Bringing extra enthusiasm into the landscape are people from outside the wine industry, such as Brahm and Gesie Lategan, a distinguished legal couple, with their about-to-be-unveiled boutique label, Domaine Brahms. And Pretoria civil engineer Francois Klomp, developing a hillside property, Klompzicht, in the Simondium area. Nearby are the Grieve family of Vital Health Products fame, ploughing their passion into their 18th century farm, Avondale.
Then there's Tymen Bouma, who retired from the optics industry to focus on his 240ha spread in the same neighbourhood as Glen Carlou, Backsberg and R&R. Bouma has named his winery Anura Vineyards, a froggy allusion to Paddabult, one of the area's outstanding geographical features. In the past Bouma delivered up to 500t of top fruit to some of the Cape's biggest names. But in 2001, with help from "a master winemaker" who must remain nameless, Bouma vinified 60t of his best Cabernet, Merlot, Pinotage and some Shiraz in his new cellar.
Specialising in reds, Bouma aims to unveil first a Bordeaux-style flagship and then a second cuvée under an alternative label. With Sangiovese, Mourvèdre and Grenache planted, he has his sights on a spicy Italian style red. "We're terribly excited," says Bouma, planning a wine and own-branded cheese tasting centre by the end of the year.
Further jabs of adrenalin are being administered by foreign investors like Hamburg born Roland Seidel, reanimating the originally German owned Seidelberg property between Fairview and Landskroon, previously known as De Leuwen Jagt. And Manfred Schoeni, international art dealer and restaurateur who fronts the syndicate owning Ashanti, now glowing with extra wattage supplied by new winemaker Sydney Burke, ex-Steenberg, and marketing manager Krige Visser, formerly at Durbanville Hills.
Already flying high is the Franco-SA venture between Baron Benjamin de Rothschild and Anthonij Rupert in the R&R winery near Simondium.
Not only the new kids, but also the established gentry are being swept up in the new-broomish atmosphere. Simonsvlei International, forged in the World War II co-operative boom and more recently one of the first Cape combines to transform into a market focused business, is shifting its ongoing viticultural transformation into a higher gear. "In the past several vintages," explains MD Kobus Louw, "our team has tasted through the 65 members' vineyards with a view to assigning each block to one of the three tiers within the Simonsvlei range. This year, for the first time, the lots were vinified separately and the farmers invited to come to the cellar and gauge the correlation for themselves. They were amazed. Now they're more aware of the relative strengths - and weaknesses - of their holdings. Which is good for the growers, obviously, but also good for the Simonsvlei brand."
Even Nederburg, paragon of constancy, is going up-tempo under the energetic baton of new cellarmaster Razvan Macici. Raised in a vineyard near Bucharest, Macici most recently was in charge of white wine production at Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery (SFW, now Distell) before being tapped to "produce wines of world quality that will maintain and strengthen Nederburg's leading position internationally".
Breezes of change are stirring among Paarl contract growers, too. Some are stepping right out of their historical comfort zones and going solo, while others are dipping their toes into the commercial arena with smallish lots of in-house branded products, whilst continuing to sell the bulk of production to steady customers. Clive Kerr of boutique Coleraine Wines is one of the rising-star soloists. His family has been growing wine and table grapes on the south Paarlberg farm, Montana, since 1974. Over the years they have scaled down the table grape proportion while upping the ratio of Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz (they also have parcels of Sauvignon Blanc, which does well in these high, cooler soils, as well as Chardonnay and Viognier). His maiden Shiraz 1999, vinified in his own no-frills cellar, won a Young Wine Show gold medal and 4¡ star rave in WINE.
In 2000, some distance away in Muldersvlei, fifth generation Myburgh brothers Tyrrel and Philip Jnr made wine on their charming family farm and guest house, Joostenberg, for the first time since 1947. During the hiatus the entire crop disappeared into co-operative bottles, but now Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and a Chenin Blanc Natural Sweet appear under the farm's name. Looking into the future, the Myburghs say they will continue with these enduringly popular varieties. But they have also established Shiraz and Viognier, which they plan to incorporate into a red and a white Mediterranean style blend.
The climate of this more exposed western corner of Paarl is cooler (which many believe should be redesignated Stellenbosch). So aromatic grapes like Sauvignon, Rhine Riesling and Gewürztraminer are more at home here than elsewhere in Paarl. Chenin, too, rises to considerable heights, as nearby Villiera demonstrates with its string of top awards. Quality factors here are the soils - deep clays overlain by gravels and shallowish topsoils - plus cooling afternoon breezes off Table and occasionally False Bays. Joostenberg gets a further boost from its position on a rise, which creates cooler and warmer aspects and allows the Myburghs to crop both whites and reds. Even so, the brothers believe their farm, and Paarl generally, is "basically red wine territory".
Many, if not most, Paarlites share their opinion. There's a strong view that, because of the warm climate (the mean summer temperature is 28°C), the potential for more evanescent white varieties and styles is limited to the scattered cooler spots - southerly aspects, elevated slopes and mountaintops or draughty corridors. However, a bigger future is foreseen for the more heat resistant cépages such as Chardonnay, at 584ha (out of total white hectareage of ±4 570) the second most populous white, as well as for Sémillon and sought after Viognier, which ramped from less than 1 hectare in 1995 to between 15 and 17ha in 2000. Chenin, traditionally the district's white packhorse, needs focus to carry it into the future, suggests Vernon Davis, head of KWV International, which sources 20% of its total grape crop from Paarl. Davis believes the fruity, effortless style of the KWV range Chenin Blanc is the way to go. "It's a major success internationally and I see no reason why local consumers won't readily embrace it," says Davis, who also sees a role for a more serious style of Chenin.
Airconditioned pockets around Groot Drakenstein, Simondium, Klapmuts and Agter-Paarl are probably best suited to the zingy-fruity Chenin style. The warmer majority of areas, which struggle to attain natural bouncy freshness, might be better off focusing on styles with more gravitas (barrel fermented/aged, botrytised or desiccated for vins de paille or straw wines).
In the red wine arena, Paarl's loudest buzz and, some say, brightest hope is Shiraz (Syrah). It's the grape identified through intensive research, under the guidance of Paarl Vintners, as preternaturally suited to Paarl's climate and soils. Paarl Vintners, coupling this insight with its objective of establishing a long term focus for not just the association but Paarl as a whole, is actively implementing a programme to establish the district as 'kwaSyrah' - the home of Shiraz in South Africa. Elements of Vintners' strategy include viticultural workshops, benchmark tastings, a winemaker of the year challenge and an upcoming public jamboree, The Paarl Shiraz Discovery, scheduled for October.
"The potential for Shiraz is mind-boggling," says Avondale winemaker Dewaldt Heyns. The Avondale, introduced with the four-star 1999, amply reflects the promise of the variety in the district. And there are many more brilliant examples, including early luminaries like Fairview and Backsberg, as well as Boschendal, Plaisir de Merle, Glen Carlou, Villiera, Coleraine, Landskroon, Linton Park (situated in Wellington, but a member of Paarl Vintners) and, judging from pre-release samples, Domaine Brahms.
Whilst many Paarlites relish the prospect of their district becoming "Shiraz bedondered", to quote a local wag, some are eager not to loose focus on the other red varietal wines and blends which have helped bolster Paarl's reputation. "Certainly the Shiraz from our region is good," argues Alan Nelson, "but we also produce some stunning Merlots [and] Cabernet Sauvignons … that are on a par with the best in the world." Some would want to add to Nelson's list SA's homespun druif, Pinotage. "It's our heritage," reminds Vernon Davis, "and it would be a tragedy to squander the opportunity to really run with it."
Based on track record, there is every reason to believe that red blends - modelled on Bordeaux or the Rhône or home-grown Cape cuvées with Pinotage, Zinfandel and other seasonings - could also enhance the district's future reputation. Exceptional fusions already emanate from Welgemeend, Veenwouden, Fairview, Glen Carlou, Villiera and KWV/Cathedral Cellar, to mention a few, whilst future champs could emerge from the ranks of freshman wineries like Ashanti (which is moving towards a goal of a single cuvée, to be labelled Dôme, as its flagship range) or Avondale, with its critically acclaimed prestige cuvée, Julia.
Port is a further style worth pursuing, if the success of Landskroon, winner of the prestigious 2000 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year trophy for port, is anything to go by. Also acknowledged for port around Paarl are Glen Carlou, KWV, Villiera and Monis, the Italian-founded house whose distinguished fortifieds have helped underpin Paarl's 'other' reputation for sweeter styles. Relatively small in volume, but stylistically significant into the future would be Méthode Cap Classique. Boschendal and Villiera are the leaders here, with Backsberg and Nederburg also noteworthy.
Not only stylistic, but also viticultural renewal is underway in Paarl, and it is set to continue into the future. Worth watching, according to Charles Back, prescient owner of Fairview and arguably the district's most effective innovator, is the splodge of viticulturally underexploited farmland spilling west from Paarlberg towards Durbanville. Exposure to cooling currents and good, medium-potential soils make this Agter-Paarl area something of a vinous Shangri-la. "It's going to become one of SA's primary wine growing areas," Back predicts. Perdeberg Co-op's manager/winemaker, Kobus de Kock, who knows the area well, estimates there are now some 1 400ha under vine. Current large scale planting could swell the vignoble to some 2 000ha in the next five years. De Kock's money is on Shiraz, Pinotage and Chenin, all producing long, deep flavoured wines in this promising dryland terroir.
Whether Paarl's future benchmarks will originate from here or some other, yet undiscovered pockets, is of course unknowable. Nor can it be foretold whether Paarl will attain pre-eminence with Shiraz, or Cabernet or any particular variety or style. What is certain is that a process of discovery is underway. The boerewors veil is parting, and the Jennifer Lopez within - albeit still gauzily - sashaying into focus. Which is, of course, incredibly sexy.
High Street Homecoming
The de Villiers family has a history of making and selling wine on Paarl's High Street. Abraham Pieter de Villiers and his brothers opened their widely respected Paarl Wine & Brandy Company there in 1856. So it's appropriate that a descendant of Huguenot Pierre de Villiers, a winegrower at Picardie and La Brie (1690-1720), Marais de Villiers, should return to the grand old boulevard with an exciting, new, small scale winemaking venture, proudly named Main Street Winery.
It's owned and run by de Villiers and six wine buddies: Lieb Loots, a Prieska farmer, Anthony Smook, refrigeration engineer, 'Jorries' Jordaan, Paarl general practitioner, Wally Everson, businessman, André Collins, supplier of consumables to the wine industry and Derek Clift, grape grower whose family also owns the old Schoongezicht cellar where Main Street Winery is now ensconced. In good garagiste tradition, the partners vinify the wines themselves, using a de Villiers' vinification system that allows for small quantities yet delivers impressive results. "It's proven suitable for a start-up winery pressing just 10 tons, but will also serve a more ambitious operation crushing 30 tons or more, as we now do," de Villiers says.
The first wines were made at Villiera, where Marais de Villiers had been harvest cellar-ratting since 1995 (between crushes he runs a business refurbishing wine tanks and winery floors). It was during these stints in the Grier family cellar that de Villiers contracted "parskoors", as he puts it, which led him to become increasingly immersed in the technical aspects of winemaking. His mates soon caught the bug and naturally looked to the more experienced de Villiers for guidance. "That's when the idea began to gel," he says.
The partnership allows the members freedom of choice when making and marketing their product. Some have opted to go to market under the Main Street label, whilst others have decided to develop their own brands. The wines sold under the Main Street banner will be soft, drinkable wines with healthily low levels of preservatives.
With the 2001 crush completed at the midtown Paarl address, priorities for Main Street Winery are to release the first wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, from the 1999 vintage, and to convert a portion of the cellar into a point of sale. This will be open to the public on Saturday mornings. "Being incidental winemakers, we simply don't have the luxury of a full-blown tasting centre," Marais de Villiers laments, "but customers will be welcome to buy our wines and view the winery with whoever's around."
The viability of the Main Street Winery is playing a role in the move by individuals to produce handcrafted wines. De Villiers reports that three small wineries have been established in other areas. As a service, he has written a step-by-step winemaking guide, available on request. In the preamble he notes: "There is absolutely nothing to stop your wines competing with the established players in the wine industry as we know it. I wonder which of you will produce the first award winning wine?"
Anyone up to the challenge?
