Etienne le Riche, Stellenbosch

In the South African context it is unusual to find a producer focusing his attention almost solely on one grape. For Stellenbosch's Etienne le Riche that grape is Cabernet Sauvignon. Fiona McDonald finds out why.

 

I'm reminded of the old (English) school sports song when interviewing Etienne le Riche. "Do what you do do well boys, do what you do do well. Do your best and forget the rest, just do what you do do well!"

When he parted ways with Rustenberg in 1996, after all, Le Riche decided the best thing to do was stick to his strengths - or, in sporting parlance, to play to his strength. "The only way to do anything properly is to specialise. Most people try to make everything - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz... I stick to what I do best."

It's a move that has paid off, with consistently good recognition for his wines from both WINE magazine and the annual Platter guide. His best rating in WINE to date was a 4½ Star rating for the 1998 Reserve (January 2000), while Platter gives 4½ Stars to the 2002 current release of both the Reserve and standard Cabernet Sauvignon. The 1997, 1999 and 2000 Reserve were awarded Platter 5 Stars.

Le Riche's wines are modern in their lush fruit and accessibility when young but they also have wonderful elegance, finesse and harmony. Great balance and structure contribute to the ageing potential - everything you want in a Cab.

Low-key and quiet, Le Riche believes in Cabernet Sauvignon's intrinsic class. "If times are tough I'd far rather rely on Cab to carry me through than on some other varietals. It's a wine people always want to drink."

Le Riche thinks there's a danger in being perceived as purely a classicist. "People think you're not keeping up with modern technology or new practices. But I look with some glee and no little satisfaction at the way modern producers are going back to traditional methods - open tank fermentation in barrels, punchdowns of the cap of skins and so forth."

Don't be fooled into thinking that because he admires the classic way of doing things he makes his wine by the same formula, year in and year out. This is a man who obtained his MSc in viticulture in 1981 while still working full-time at Rustenberg so his approach is scientific and methodical.

"Because I specialise in one variety, I think I can learn more from the experiments that I do year after year than a guy doing something with Chardonnay this year, Sauvignon Blanc the next, Chenin Blanc after that. You can't get an empirical result on just one year's experience. You need to replicate it. So, yes, I experiment every year and see how certain things work out. I'm a scientist and take a long-term view."

Last year four 600-litre barrels lurked in a corner of the cellar. The idea was to evaluate fermentation in open topped barrels, along with extended maceration and cold soaking.

But there's a catch: "One of the problems with me doing these experiments is that I'm so small and don't have enough containers, so ultimately I have to put the resultant wine back into the main Cabernet Sauvignon blend."

He talks about his Cabernet Sauvignon being a "blend" because of the variety of grapes he sources, with some grown on gravelly soils at Firgrove, which ripen early and offer high sugars, some mint and lower acidity, and others grown in the Jonkershoek and Muldersvlei on red granitic soils, which ripen later with lower sugar, more structure and acidity.

"My wines are still in the classic style - they're not blockbusters," says Le Riche - the sad truth being that blockbusters often seduce judging panels and thus win awards. Not that he's complaining since he has a loyal following who appreciate the elegance and finesse that both the standard Cabernet Sauvignon and the Reserve offer in abundance.

"That's my reward - the people who come to the cellar, year after year, and buy my top wine. They're not buying on price but on quality."

How does he do it? "It's not dissimilar to most other people - I pick ripe, ferment in open concrete tanks using selected commercial yeasts for four to five days on the skins, with manual punchdowns or pigeage a few times a day."

The wines spend a further two weeks in tank, macerating on the skins before being racked into barrel - for between a year and 18 months, depending on both the wine and the barrel. Le Riche favours three permanent coopers and experiments with a new barrel supplier every year.

His best barrels then go into the Reserve selection with the standard Cab and Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend following on. He likes to give his wines a light filtration before bottling - and to give them a bit of time in bottle (at least two to three months) before releasing them.

"I think we're more in line with what the rest of the world is doing with regard to Cab nowadays - fuller flavours and a more rounded mouthfeel. That's a result of better plant material and site selection. But I still feel we shouldn't be trying to make Aussie-style wines. The world recognises that our winemaking tradition is somewhere between New and Old World. That's what we should be doing - making the best South African wines possible."

Le Riche Fact File
Grapes sourced from the Jonkershoek, Firgrove and Muldersvlei areas of Stellenbosch.
60 tons of grapes crushed in 2004.
Total production in 2004: +/- 4 500 twelve-bottle cases
Total production of Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2004: 1 125 twelve-bottle cases
Total production of Cabernet Sauvignon: 2 250 twelve-bottle cases