L’Avenir, Stellenbosch

L'Avenir Pinotage

Francois Naudé, winemaker at Stellenbosch farm L'Avenir, makes one of South Africa's best examples of Pinotage. Christian Eedes interviewed him.

In describing the difficulties in achieving top class Pinotage, Francois Naudé, winemaker at Stellenbosch farm L'Avenir, uses Grand Prix motoring racing as an analogy. "Winning a Formula 1 race requires first and foremost a good car. Then you also need experience, dedication and the ability to operate on the limits."

With Pinotage, quality grapes are the main thing, after which all those other factors come into play, he explains.

Among those lining up to be recognised as South Africa's champion Pinotage producer, Naudé is very much at the front of the grid. Since the Pinotage Association's Top 10 competition began in 1997, L'Avenir has featured seven times, more than any other winery in the country. In addition, L'Avenir Pinotage has thrice won the trophy for the best Pinotage at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London, the 1994 vintage winning in 1997, the 1996 vintage in 1999, and the 2000 vintage in 2003.

So what gives Naudé the edge when it comes to handling this perennially controversial variety?

Now 59, he began life as a pharmacist before starting at L'Avenir in 1992. Though he lacks any formal wine training, his scientific background informs his approach, which is one of fascination about the inherent chemistry of the grape. "Relative to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz, Pinotage is an unknown quantity. To get the best possible expression of a variety, you need to be able to refer to a bank of knowledge, and for many years there was not enough knowledge about Pinotage."

As understanding of the grape has grown in recent times, so has the quality of the resulting wine, reckons Naudé. The grape is certainly very different and hence "a nice challenge" to work with. Quality wine "doesn't come easy", but when it does, "it's a great thrill".

According to Naudé, Pinotage has plenty of quirks that winemakers are only now coming to terms with. In the past, it has often been criticised for being bitter and astringent on the palate. Naudé believes that this is not an inherent character of the variety, and suggests that previously it simply was not picked ripe enough: the greener the fruit, the more bitter the tannins in the resulting wine.

What has gradually become known is that Pinotage achieves full ripeness at higher sugar level than other red varieties. Naudé reckons that if he typically picks his Cabernet Sauvignon at 24° Balling then his Pinotage comes in at 26° Balling. Yeast often struggles to convert all this sugar into alcohol, leading to sluggish or stuck fermentations. The need to pick super-ripe also results in a pH level that is not as low as it might be, making the wine susceptible to bacteria. "When you're making Pinotage, you've got to be awake."

Those who disparage Pinotage contend that too many examples have an unappealing acetone character on the nose, often described as "nail polish remover", while tasting "chemical" on the palate. Naudé explains that this is due to a flavour compound called isoamylacetate or the pear-drop ester, an integral part of Pinotage just as pyrazines are to Sauvignon Blanc.
At various concentrations, this ester manifests itself differently. At high concentrations Pinotage shows unpleasant aromas and flavours, while at lower concentrations an appealing blackberry character is achieved. "You want some but not an excessive amount," he says. "It's like cooking with garlic. None is not right, but neither is too much."

In order to keep the acetate ester concentrations down and achieve the best flavour profile, Naudé believes a warmer fermentation temperature is required. Whereas he would normally ferment his Cabernet Sauvignon at 28°C, Pinotage is fermented at 32°C. But the higher the temperature, the more stressful for the yeast - and the more ideal conditions become for bacterial growth, so once again the winemaker must be alert to any potential problems to avoid the slightly funky character that Pinotage often displays.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for a winemaker seeking to make clean and unspoilt wine is the grape's unusually high levels of malic acid. According to Naudé, Pinotage has far higher proportion of malic to tartaric acid than other red varieties. During malolactic fermentation, an enormous pH shift occurs, with a greater than usual loss of total acidity.

At higher pH levels, sulphur (added as a preservative) is less effective... while bacteria grows better.

Previously winemakers were oblivious to this, but now that they are aware of the problem, it can be managed.

By undertaking malic acid analysis before fermentation, the potential for growth of lactic bacteria can be assessed and provision made to prevent it.

Pinotage is the most planted of any variety at L'Avenir, making up 13.5ha of the total 53ha under vineyard. The current release is the 2003 vintage, which picked up a respectable 3½ Stars elsewhere in this issue, and it carried a price tag of R89 a bottle from the farm, the 2 500 twelve-bottle cases made (out of a total production of around 20 000 cases) already sold out.

All Pinotage on L'Avenir is planted as bush vines. Naudé explains that the variety has a tendency to bear heavily, and opting for bush vines rather than trellising is the most natural way to keep yields down, improving flavour concentration.

As to the oak regime that Naudé applies, he feels that when made in a serious style, the variety has "such a huge, intense flavour, it's very difficult for wood to dominate it".

He asserts it is more difficult to over-wood Pinotage than Cabernet Sauvignon, while the maturation curve of the former in barrel is much steeper than that of the latter, so typically he uses more new oak on Pinotage than Cabernet Sauvignon but takes it out of barrel earlier. The 2003 vintage went into French oak, 55% new and 45% second fill, for a period of 14 months.

For all his insight into the intrinsics of Pinotage, it is perhaps Naudé's perpetually enthusiastic attitude towards the grape that has facilitated the success he has enjoyed with it. "Pinotage has only been taken seriously for a bit more than a decade. I believe it has a great future given the increase in quality we have seen recently." He reveals that his ultimate aim for the variety is to put "a magic wine in the bottle".

You feel he's been doing that for some time already.