Christian Eedes writes about Jane MacQuitty, wine writer for UK newspaper The Times
Author:
Christian Eedes
Published: 09 May 08
Writing shortly after last year's Rugby World Cup victory by the Springboks, MacQuitty commented that: "It's not just South Africa's prop forwards that are big, burly bruisers. Most South African red wines come out of the scrum smelling of something distinctly other than violets… South Africa has yet to tame its peculiar, savage, burnt rubber and dirt odour."
And then as if she hadn't made her point forcefully enough, she came up with the following in her column of 19 April this year: "A recent tasting of the five-star wines and runners-up in the 2008 John Platter Guide, widely regarded as the Cape's crème de la crème, proved to be a cruddy, stomach-heaving and palate-crippling disappointment. Where there should have been oodles of the less-is-more elegance to which most top-drawer New World wine producers aspire, there was a plethora of ugly, burnt, murderous 14.5 and 15 per cent brutes that were well nigh impossible to taste, let alone drink."
MacQuitty is not the only UK wine critic to find contemporary South African reds deeply problematic. Tim Atkin MW, for instance, proclaimed in the July 2007 issue of UK magazine Wine & Spirit that: "The basic problem is that too many of them achieve the unusual distinction of being both green and baked at the same time, with sugar ripeness out-pacing phenolic ripeness." That's how South Africa sometimes ends up with reds that have 14.5% alcohol or more, but still taste green and unripe. It is, however, MacQuitty's choice turn of phrase that has focussed attention on the issue like never before.
To date, I suspect local winemakers and critics have not faced up to the shortcomings of our reds due to a combination of honest lack of understanding and, more dangerous, denial in the sense of refusing to accept an uncomfortable reality.
Judging at the 2008 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show was concluded yesterday and the MacQuitty "burnt rubber" matter can no longer be ignored. "Green pickle" was a flavour descriptor Joël Payne, editor of German magazine Meininger's Wine Business International used often during discussion of Pinotage- and Shiraz-based red blends; "elephant soup" said Sam Harrop MW of many examples of Shiraz; and "brutish" was the frequent epithet for Merlot used by Anthony Rose, wine columnist for UK newspaper The Independent.
A particular strength of the Trophy Wine Show is that every year three of the nine judges officiating are leading international wine personalities who bring a fresh perspective and are able to place local wines in the broadest possible context. Judging becomes a vigorous exchange of ideas and I, for one, am a lot clearer about what organoleptic characters concern the UK opinion makers so much about our wines.
What is so insidious about the "burnt rubber" phenomenon is that it is easy to tolerate and hence get used to. This aroma seems to correlate to a "sun dried tomato" character - just as the flavour of tomatoes left in the sun becomes more intense and concentrated, so too with our wines. On the face of it, greater intensity of flavour is no bad thing, but examine such wines more closely and what you've got are wines that appear both extremely sweet and green simultaneously.
A multitude of theories were put forward as to what is causing our reds to present in this manner. Harrop, a chairman of the International Wine Challenge (UK) with the specific responsibility for the logging and analysis of faults, reckons that the simultaneously over-ripe/green character is essentially due to vineyard stress, with the vine shutting down in the late summer heat: the only ripening that occurs is through evaporation, with grapes achieving suitable sugars but ultimately not being totally physiologically ripe. As for the "burnt rubber" aroma in particular, he speculates that it might well be a sulphur-based compound arising out of stressed fermentation.
This is not to suggest that sorting out the problem is going to be simple. Other factors implicated include: still-prevalent leaf-roll virus that compromises flavour development; the switch from bush vines to trellised vines making for too vigorous growth; delayed picking in the pursuit of super-ripe grapes in order to make wines to impress critics; inappropriate fermentation regimes and so on and so on. Gary Jordan, of local winery Jordan and also a judge at the Trophy Wine Show, went so far as to suggest that creosoted vineyard poles and vineyards planted in the vicinity of pine trees could also be playing a role in these weird and not so wonderful flavours that are being detected…
However, no-one should conclude that the situation is all doom and gloom: of the 1 024 entries that this year's show attracted there were 24 gold medal winners, of which 10 were red, eight were white, two were Noble Late Harvest, one was a Muscadel and three were Port. Harrop, who chaired the Shiraz panel which awarded three gold medals, said he was impressed with the "complexity, elegance and finesse" that these wines showed.
South Africa's very best reds are world class, displaying a purity of fruit and generosity of flavour that I believe makes them unique in the world of wine, but equally it can no longer be refuted that many others do demonstrate the stressed, burnt-rubber character that concerns MacQuitty and co. so much. What is pleasing is that the best minds in the industry are already being deployed in efforts to solve the problem. As Cathy van Zyl MW and another of this year's Show judges said: "When it comes to those who criticise our wines, we can't simply kick them out of our sandbox and say we're not going to play with them."
And then as if she hadn't made her point forcefully enough, she came up with the following in her column of 19 April this year: "A recent tasting of the five-star wines and runners-up in the 2008 John Platter Guide, widely regarded as the Cape's crème de la crème, proved to be a cruddy, stomach-heaving and palate-crippling disappointment. Where there should have been oodles of the less-is-more elegance to which most top-drawer New World wine producers aspire, there was a plethora of ugly, burnt, murderous 14.5 and 15 per cent brutes that were well nigh impossible to taste, let alone drink."
MacQuitty is not the only UK wine critic to find contemporary South African reds deeply problematic. Tim Atkin MW, for instance, proclaimed in the July 2007 issue of UK magazine Wine & Spirit that: "The basic problem is that too many of them achieve the unusual distinction of being both green and baked at the same time, with sugar ripeness out-pacing phenolic ripeness." That's how South Africa sometimes ends up with reds that have 14.5% alcohol or more, but still taste green and unripe. It is, however, MacQuitty's choice turn of phrase that has focussed attention on the issue like never before.
To date, I suspect local winemakers and critics have not faced up to the shortcomings of our reds due to a combination of honest lack of understanding and, more dangerous, denial in the sense of refusing to accept an uncomfortable reality.
Judging at the 2008 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show was concluded yesterday and the MacQuitty "burnt rubber" matter can no longer be ignored. "Green pickle" was a flavour descriptor Joël Payne, editor of German magazine Meininger's Wine Business International used often during discussion of Pinotage- and Shiraz-based red blends; "elephant soup" said Sam Harrop MW of many examples of Shiraz; and "brutish" was the frequent epithet for Merlot used by Anthony Rose, wine columnist for UK newspaper The Independent.
A particular strength of the Trophy Wine Show is that every year three of the nine judges officiating are leading international wine personalities who bring a fresh perspective and are able to place local wines in the broadest possible context. Judging becomes a vigorous exchange of ideas and I, for one, am a lot clearer about what organoleptic characters concern the UK opinion makers so much about our wines.
What is so insidious about the "burnt rubber" phenomenon is that it is easy to tolerate and hence get used to. This aroma seems to correlate to a "sun dried tomato" character - just as the flavour of tomatoes left in the sun becomes more intense and concentrated, so too with our wines. On the face of it, greater intensity of flavour is no bad thing, but examine such wines more closely and what you've got are wines that appear both extremely sweet and green simultaneously.
A multitude of theories were put forward as to what is causing our reds to present in this manner. Harrop, a chairman of the International Wine Challenge (UK) with the specific responsibility for the logging and analysis of faults, reckons that the simultaneously over-ripe/green character is essentially due to vineyard stress, with the vine shutting down in the late summer heat: the only ripening that occurs is through evaporation, with grapes achieving suitable sugars but ultimately not being totally physiologically ripe. As for the "burnt rubber" aroma in particular, he speculates that it might well be a sulphur-based compound arising out of stressed fermentation.
This is not to suggest that sorting out the problem is going to be simple. Other factors implicated include: still-prevalent leaf-roll virus that compromises flavour development; the switch from bush vines to trellised vines making for too vigorous growth; delayed picking in the pursuit of super-ripe grapes in order to make wines to impress critics; inappropriate fermentation regimes and so on and so on. Gary Jordan, of local winery Jordan and also a judge at the Trophy Wine Show, went so far as to suggest that creosoted vineyard poles and vineyards planted in the vicinity of pine trees could also be playing a role in these weird and not so wonderful flavours that are being detected…
However, no-one should conclude that the situation is all doom and gloom: of the 1 024 entries that this year's show attracted there were 24 gold medal winners, of which 10 were red, eight were white, two were Noble Late Harvest, one was a Muscadel and three were Port. Harrop, who chaired the Shiraz panel which awarded three gold medals, said he was impressed with the "complexity, elegance and finesse" that these wines showed.
South Africa's very best reds are world class, displaying a purity of fruit and generosity of flavour that I believe makes them unique in the world of wine, but equally it can no longer be refuted that many others do demonstrate the stressed, burnt-rubber character that concerns MacQuitty and co. so much. What is pleasing is that the best minds in the industry are already being deployed in efforts to solve the problem. As Cathy van Zyl MW and another of this year's Show judges said: "When it comes to those who criticise our wines, we can't simply kick them out of our sandbox and say we're not going to play with them."
