Race against time

Race against time: SA reds used to be made to age but not any more.hen a friend read Austen for the first time, he tackled all her books in order of publication but stopped before Persuasion. Why? "Because once I've read it, I would have 'done' Austen, and that would just be unacceptable." Delayed gratification defines being adult, and nowhere has it been better rewarded than in wine.

 

Until now. In these days of Miley Cyrus winelists, an all-pervasive obsession with youth plus a mad dash to realise profit, wine is made for the moment. A point brought home at a recent tasting where I was buttonholed by financial whizz Clive Sindelman. The last time I'd seen Clive, he'd bought several thousand bottles of post-1997 SA icon reds. Stored in optimal conditions, he was offering them to restaurateurs who wanted more depth than a current release list. But now he wanted out.

Flagging huge bottle variation, a general disappointment in the way the wines are developing plus hopeless financial appreciation, Clive now believes that SA reds don't age. He admits most of his current purchases are imports from Wayne Visser's Great Domaines. In fact, he reckons even SA's top-end whites have greater ageing potential.

Those perspicacious enough to have laid in cases of early '80s Stellenbosch Cab in their cellars will confirm it was not always thus. So when did it all go pearshaped? A vertical tasting of 30 vintages of Nederburg Auction Cabernet back in 2004 flagged 1996 as the tipping point.

The previous November had seen the ill-fated SAA wine test match against Australia, where the naïve and bashful poppies from the Boland were trashed by a bevy of low-cut Kylies from Down Under; examples of US critic Matt Kramer's "low-cut dress syndrome" where the 'darkest, biggest, richest good wine with the greater accessibility always score highest' among 'mega-validators'.

Nederburg, for one, decided to start showing more cleavage in 1996. The median alcohol level for the 25 vintages from 1971 to 1995 was 12.28%. Then came the SAA test match and it took off like a rocket: 12.84, 12.85, 12.97, 13.83, 14.44...

And this trend to showier wines hasn't stopped yet. For years Meerlust displayed a 'first growth' hauteur towards wine shows until goaded into participation by others entering Meerlust wines. When the 2001 Rubicon, the last vintage made by Giorgio Dalla Cia, won the Pichon Laland trophy at the International Wine & Spirit Competition, it seemed like playing ball was a good call.
But with Chris Williams' more flamboyant 2004 recently released, is Meerlust becoming more showy or is it a vintage issue?

The most obvious difference is an extra 1% alcohol in 2004 and a change of recipe, from a 70:15:15 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc in 2001 to 63:27:12. By almost doubling the Merlot, the volume knob on approachability has been cranked up. A more subtle change is in mouthfeel, with Platter's describing Giorgio's tannins as 'vibrant, grainy' while Chris's are 'linear, satin'. But perhaps the biggest difference is a more than 10% increase in pH from 3.4 in 2001 to 3.8 in 2004, which translates as a tasteable difference of increased 'tightness' in the 2001.

Higher levels of total acidity (6.1g/§¤ as opposed to 5.6 g/l) indicate that Giorgio's ultimate will likely outlast Chris's maiden. Something that Clive will miss, as the 2001 goes up for sale while he gives 2004 the flick in favour of Burgundy from Wayne.

Neil Pendock writes for the Sunday Times and Financial Mail. He judged at Concours Mondial this year.