Red wine prices stabilising

It is easily forgotten that the Cape wine industry spent the better part of the 1994-2004 era grubbing out its white vineyards and replanting with red varieties in anticipation of a sales curve which had already passed its sell-by date.

There is an old adage — from the early days of the wine surpluses that were managed by the KWV — which, freely translated, says that farmers always plant (erroneously) in the slipstream of the price.

Many who replaced their white wine vineyards have had cause to regret the decision to do so. For the past four years or so the prices of red grapes have fallen as a result of the glut of fruit from the new plantings. White varieties, on the other hand, have been less readily available, so even the less fashionable cultivars are still much in demand.

To compound the problems of the grape-growing (and wine-making) fraternity, Cape whites have been enjoying a very positive press. Prices of bottled wines have also begun to strengthen, so producers are now more willing to invest greater effort (and money) in making (and packaging) special cuvees.

Not all the red wine producers are behaving as if they are operating in an overtraded market.

Many of them are still being dangerously upbeat in their pricing strategies. Generally though, there is a sense that the game has turned in favour of buyers. It's too soon to talk of bargains, but at least the red wine cellars are skirting the cheekier levels of a few years ago. It's certainly not as hard as it used to be to find bottles worth their asking price.

The Nederburg Winemaster's Reserve Merlot 2006 won't punish the wallet and it certainly delivers ample drinking pleasure. Unlike the overripe/underripe porty/green Merlots the industry struggled with a few years ago, this is elegant, savoury and pleasingly succulent. It lacks mid-palate weight (so the 14% alcohol appears more evident in the mouth than on the label). But it makes a great everyday drinking red and should be easily obtainable.

The Seidelberg Roland's Reserve 2006 Merlot tasted recently was certainly fuller, weightier and more complex.

It won't be as easy to find but if you're a fan of Merlot, it's worth the effort of tracking it down.

Don't, however, succumb to the temptation to add the Seidelberg Un Deux Trois 2005 to your shopping list. The earlier vintage did well in several tastings and competitions but this latest release is overworked, clumsy and dull.

Malbec is making a big comeback — its cause well supported by the renaissance at the top end of the Argentinian wine industry. The Blaauwklippen Malbec 2006 is more than a curiosity — it has some of the typically tobacco-like whiffs I associate with the cultivar, and the tannins, while quite full, have been well handled. If it has a fault, it is in the lack of complexity on the palate — though, that said, it's a classical and stylish bottle of wine.

Giorgio Dalla Cia — former winemaker at Meerlust and now in semiretirement — produces a couple of wines under his own Dalla Cia label. His Sauvignon Blanc is worth seeking out, while his Cabernet is also pretty good. The latest release has ample spice and flavour, as well as food-friendly drinkability. It's not as big or as intense as those with a palate for show wines might expect, but it does what it was designed to achieve: provide an honest accompaniment to a meal.

Finally, I really liked a quite old-fashioned bottle of Allesverloren Shiraz. It has none of the pepperiness of the Northern Rhone, or opulent raspberry of South Australia. Instead it offers smoky, slightly leathery notes, chunky but well integrated textures and a low enough alcohol level (13%) to suggest that the fashion for super-ripe fruit has (happily) not reached the Malans in the Swartland.