An impressive wine: Laibach Merlot

Laibach Winery, Stellenbosch

For much of this decade, WINE magazine's tasting panels have consistently bemoaned the overall quality of Merlot produced in South Africa.Yet there are a few cellars that defy this generalization, scoring high ratings in recent years, and one in particular is currently in top form. Fiona McDonald reviews Laibach.

 

It's been 25 years since the first single-varietal South African Merlot hit the shelves, with Overgaauw the pioneers in 1982. There are now close to 100 wines in the category and in the past three years Stellenbosch winery Laibach has been vying with cellars including Thelema, Spier, Hartenberg, Post House and Steenberg for the mantle of top gun. While Thelema Reserve is the best performer on the basis of its track record in WINE's blind-tastings over the past five years, Laibach's Merlot has emerged as another front-runner with excellent reviews for its 2003 and 2004 vintages, the latter having been selected by South African Airways for service in Business and First Class.

Laibach winemaker Francois van Zyl loves Merlot - especially those from Pomerol, the spiritual home of the grape - and he speaks fondly of having worked at Clos de Clocher on the St-Émilion plateau near Pomerol in 2002. "I learned more in two hours there than I could have in 20 years elsewhere!" His deal with the owner was that he'd work for free but that he required good food and even better wine!

"We drank some fantastic wines together. It was such a privilege - this old Frenchman, who could hardly speak a word of English, and a South African who sometimes struggles to speak English." And the focus wasn't always only on French wine…

Van Zyl recounts the anecdote of his last night in Pomerol at the end of his stint at Clos de Clocher, when his host invited a group of winemaking friends around and organised a blind tasting. "He was a bit insulted when I asked if I could put a bottle of South African wine in the tasting alongside the 1985 Leoville Las Cases and Château Figeac - but did it anyway." The result was that the South African wine (a Kanonkop Paul Sauer 1995) was voted tops. "It was very quiet and a bit awkward for a while," Van Zyl admits.

When it comes to Merlot he has very definite ideas about the variety and agrees with WINE's panel that few wine-makers set out to make great versions of it in South Africa. Merlot is seldom the main focus and not many producers give it proper attention. "People think Merlot is an easy-drinking wine, but that would be like going out with a brainless blonde - fine for a short while but ultimately you have to have something to talk about. It's important that a wine has personality too."

Good Merlot for Van Zyl is one which doesn't have any mintiness or display an overt green character, all too often a description of South African examples. It should be rich and creamy in texture and not too acidic, "because then the wine tastes lean and out of balance". Black berry fruit character is vital - that lovely cherry, plum, mulberry flavour. "Wood must be there but not too much and definitely not too dry."

Going through WINE magazine's tasting reports on this category since 2001 paints a rather sad picture. The overviews frequently state that the panel expects more, that the producers could try harder, that there is a lack of focus. Yet many wine drinkers state that Merlot is their favourite red wine, preferred over Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon or even blends. The perception is that Merlot is soft and fruity, easy drinking and an entry-level or beginner's red wine.

In 2003 there were just three wines from the 2000 vintage rated 4 Stars; in 2004 five 2001s rated as well; in 2005 there was just a single 2002 considered "excellent, suitable for special occasions" last year there seemed to be some improvement with a 2003 rated 4½ Stars (from Laibach) and another five scored 4 Stars; and this year it was back to familiar territory with just two of the 2004s getting the nod for 16 out of 20 according the WINE rating system - Laibach being one of them.

So how is it that Laibach has performed so well of late?

It's a tired cliché to state that wine is made in the vineyards, but at Laibach it holds true. "(Viticulturist) Michael (Malherbe) is fanatical… He doesn't take more than two weeks leave at a time because he starts getting so twitchy about how his vines are doing," jokes Van Zyl. This from a man who took no holiday whatsoever for five years because he was getting to know Laibach… The first time he took leave was for his honeymoon two years ago!

"Merlot is a tricky grape - and if it's not right to start with, it's a disaster. Merlot's got to have a bit of clay, and we've got that here at Laibach," says Van Zyl. "Our soils are deep and cool with good root development. But you mustn't make it too easy for Merlot - it must stress a bit, just not too much!"

Both Malherbe and Van Zyl acknowledge that Laibach is better suited to reds and that its location on the Simonsberg makes it generally too warm for whites.

Since Friedrich Laibach bought the 41ha Muldersvlei property in 1994 it has been almost totally replanted, as virus and grape selection were problems. Malherbe says there are only a few more hectares of vines still to be replaced, after the 2007 harvest, "and then that's it! We should be OK for the next 10 to 15 years - we hope..."

On the technical side, the Laibach team thin the crop by cutting off excess bunches of grapes before harvest. "It's important not to do it too early or else the berries get too big," says Malherbe, who also points out the thinning of the leaf canopy in the fruit zone to give the grapes more sunlight. Not only that but they apply a technique Van Zyl picked up when in Rioja, Spain: "We cut the shoulders off the bunches of grapes to ensure the berries get enough light and air."

That same attention to detail is shown in the cellar. A sorting table was installed in 2005 and Van Zyl was amazed to find that more than 150kg of stems were removed by this method. "Those green stems would have gone into the tank with the grapes. And people wonder where green flavours and hard tannins come from...."

The winemaking itself is kept as simple as possible, something else he's learned from stints in Spain and France. A few days cold soaking before fermenting the Merlot warm (around 30 to 33° Celsius) to get the right amount of extract. It spends about 30 to 35 days on the skins in open-top fermenters and he ensures it undergoes malolactic fermentation.
With better recognition and sales now climbing, things are going well at Laibach. In 2000, the year Van Zyl was appointed to run the cellar, around 95% of the farm's production was exported. Nowadays 30% of all sales are local, much of it from the cellar door.

People are happy to stop at the vaulted cellar with its unusual "jetty" sticking out over the vineyards. Van Zyl, a mean golfer, quips that the island in the middle of the dam below the cellar is just a 7 iron away… and that the dam is littered with golf balls that didn't make the distance!

Unfortunately Mr Laibach, now in his 90's, had a stroke in 1996 and has not been back since. He handed ownership to his daughter, Petra Laibach-Kuehner, and she and her husband are regular visitors.

Records of the property's history stretch back to 1818 and detail that it was originally named Good Success, once comprising what are now Warwick, De Goede Sukses (Marklew Family Wines) and Laibach. The cellar was built in 1996 and has a capacity to handle 300 tons of fruit, much of which is farmed organically. What many don't realise is that most of the vineyards are on the opposite side of the R44 to the cellar. They rise quite steeply to an altitude of 350m above sea level.

Immediately noticeable in the vineyards are the large fennel plants at the end of each row. "That's for the goggas," points out Malherbe, a fan of organic viticulture. "The ladybirds love fennel and breed in it." Which also explains the name chosen for their first organic wine - Stellenbosch's first officially certified organic wine, released in 2004. The Ladybird red blend of Merlot and Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc has been joined by a white, a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Chenin Blanc, first released in 2006. It was experimental, Van Zyl admits. "We wanted to see how these varietals complemented each other."

As much as Merlot occupies a special place in his heart, the Laibach winemaker loves Bordeaux-style blends and believes the flagship Friedrich Laibach (Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot) is his top wine. But then the Pinotage has a good pedigree too… as does the Widow's Block Cabernet Sauvignon.

Reflecting on the last 10 years at Laibach, Malherbe and Van Zyl believe that: "Initially it was about setting everything up and getting it right, and now we're moving forward and settling down, knowing what works for us and what doesn't."

And one thing that definitely works is Merlot.

Track record

How Laibach Merlot has performed over the years: