Swartland wineries produce must-try wines

Swartland

Only two of the five wineries featured are open to the public and operate fully fledged tasting rooms - Lammershoek and Swartland Winery. In order to taste the produce of the others, you need to phone for an appointment - but, trust me, it's worth the effort.What you'll get in return for doing so is a very personal, hands-on visit, usually with the person who makes the wine - or his or her sister, mother, brother… Other than Swartland, which is an impressively large operation having formerly operated as a co-operative winery, all of the wineries are small with very focused, niche products that are true labours of love.

What sets Lammershoek, Sadie/Sequillo, The Observatory and Babylon's Peak apart is the passion that drives them - that and the belief in low-yielding, old bush vines as well as organic and even biodynamic production methods.

I visited this small part of the Swartland at the tail end of winter when the surrounding fields were bright green with newly sprouted wheat. The occasional startling yellow field of canola broke the lushness and standing pools of water all around served to illustrate the best winter rainfalls this decade.

Swartland is the most logical place to start since it's located just outside Malmesbury, the wheat-driven town that is just 50km north of Cape Town, so an easy 30 to 40 minute drive from the city.

Established as a co-operative cellar in 1948 Swartland is now a modern business-focused winery serving both the needs of its 60 member/owners and the local and international market. The range of wines on offer is huge - but then this is a winery which vinifies 21 000 tons of grapes annually! From jerepiko to Sauvignon Blanc and bubbly, there's a wine for every taste - and the tasting is free too. It's obvious that Swartland is trying hard to establish a reputation for both value and quality. As MD George Neveling says, it's difficult to offer something unique at the cellar since the wine retails for the same price as at the Pick 'n Pay in Brackenfell or Benoni.

Last year the 2004 vintage of Idelia - a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinotage and Merlot - rated 4 Stars with us. There's not a lot of it - only six barrels were picked for the blend (out of 700 in the winery) but its quality is excellent and at R120 a bottle, offers good value.
Leaving Swartland turn onto the R45 towards Wellington and Paarl. After 5km or so you'll see the signboards for Lammershoek. Instead of branching left to Lammershoek, head for The Observatory which is on this dirt road although the farm itself is called Boschgaasfontein. Originally established by Tom Lubbe (who worked with Charles Back and Eben Sadie at Spice Route), The Observatory is run on a day-to-day basis by his sister Catherine and mother Elizabeth.

"Tom is still very much involved - we're in constant phone and email contact - but he's based in France most of the year," Lubbe reveals.

The tasting takes place around an up-ended barrel in a cellar where the old cement kuipe are still visible. Some have been given over to storage, others knocked out to make space for barrels but there's obvious history to this building.

The Lubbes moved here after buying the farm in late 2003 and farm the property biodynamically, eschewing modern pesticides, fertilizers and the like. "We've got some wonderful old bush vines but the yields are naturally low. We still buy in some fruit." Shiraz is the mainstay of the range, appearing as a single varietal wine, a blend with Carignan as well as one with Pinotage. Very interesting, however, is a Chenin Blanc Chardonnay blend with Lubbe estimating the age of the Chenin vines at around 80 years old!

Perhaps this is what sets this area apart - the excitement offered by low-yielding old bush vines of Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc and others which are being used to make interesting white blends.

Back track almost to the R45 turnoff and head towards Lammershoek. It's the home of ex-Plascon paint supremo Paul Kretzel and winemaker Albert Ahrens. Ahrens admits that after working at both Cordoba and Rustenberg in Stellenbosch, it was during an 18-month stint living in London that his love of Rhône-style wines developed. He and Kretzel both revel in Lammershoek's venerable vines, pockets of different soils and the old cement tanks in the original winery. "There's just so much potential here," Ahrens enthuses.
That enthusiasm is almost overwhelming - he wants visitors to taste what Lammershoek is capable of, happily taking bungs off barrels of Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Chardonnay and even Clairette Blanche! Lammershoek has begun attracting a following for the Roulette Rouge, a blend of Shiraz, Carignan, Grenache and a touch of Viognier. It's an exciting, spicy, Shiraz-driven wine that is perfect for hearty meat dishes.

One of the reasons Ahrens is so enthusiastic about Lammershoek and what can be achieved by these Swartland wineries is because rock-star winemaker Eben Sadie's Sequillo cellar is just a few hundred metres away.

A small shed used to be Sadie's turf, rented from Kretzel, but with the injection of capital provided by Cape Wine Master and now business partner Cornel Spies, a new building was erected over the past year which has seen production of Sequillo wines increase.

In keeping with his Sadie Family Wines tag, Sadie has drafted his sister Delana in to assist with managing the business since a portion of his time is spent tending his Spanish property in Priorat.

Some of the best news received by the South African wine fraternity this year was that Sadie's 2005 Columella, a blend of Shiraz with Mourvèdre, achieved the highest ever rating for a South African wine in the massively influential American magazine Wine Spectator. It scored 95 points out of a possible 100 and has been hailed as a breakthrough for local producers.

The white partner of Columella is Palladius, a blend of Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and old Grenache Blanc. Unfortunately production of both of these wines is small - just a few hundred cases - and the prices (around R450-plus for Columella and R330-plus for Palladius) are commensurate with both quality and rarity value.
Sequillo is also a Rhône blend of Shiraz and Mourvèdre but with a bit of Grenache added too - and the production is around 4 000 cases.

A few kilometres further up the Aprilskloof dirt road is Babylon's Peak winery on the Nieuwefontein farm of the Basson family. Stephan Basson studied at Elsenburg and worked at Seidelberg before being hailed back to the family farm. His father granted him a bit of leeway and seed capital and the first harvest was very "boer-maak-'n-plan". Basson is a little surprised at how rapidly things have progressed since that first 2003 vintage - and is also appreciative of his father's foresight in insisting that a larger winery be built to accommodate increased production. But then that first wine was crowned with a double gold Veritas medal and also won honours at the Michelangelo awards.
With 200 hectares under vine and only 80 tons of fruit going to his own label, Basson is able to pick and choose the best parcels. Canny buyers for other high profile labels also source top quality bush vine fruit from this farm.

"Something about this area is that all the old farms have their own cellars because they used to make their own wine years ago before the Swartland co-op was established," Basson reveals while hosting a one-on-one tasting in one such old winery.

The Babylon's Peak Chenin - off 40-year-old vines (he thinks…) - sells for R30 off the farm while his premium red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Pinotage, the Babylon, sells for R65.

He plans to do something with the old cellar but his focus remains on the wine. "If people take the trouble to phone for an appointment and then brave our dirt roads to get here, I make sure that I take the trouble to show them the vineyards, taste out of barrel and offer them the final wine."

And the proof of the success of this philosophy is in repeat visits, with fans returning with friends in tow and spreading the word of this exquisitely personal and increasingly critically acclaimed pocket of the Swartland.

 

"must try" wines

- Babylon's Peak - I picked the Stephan's Blend as an Editor's Choice a year ago and would happily still do so. It's Carignan driven (40%) with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinotage. Spicy, earthy and gutsy. The Chenin Blanc is also good.

- Lammershoek Roulette Rouge, a blend of Shiraz, Carignan, Grenache and Viognier, as well as the Chenin Blanc from venerable bush vines. Wonderful fruit and complexity on both.

- Observatory Syrah - rich, ripe, meaty, spicy and full of black fruit.

- Sadie - Columella (Shiraz/Mourvèdre) and Palladius (Viognier, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Grenache Blanc) with the latter being my preference.

- Sequillo - blend of Shiraz with Mourvèdre and a splash of Grenache Noir. A lovely spicy black fruit wine with silky texture.

- Swartland - Idelia red is a blend of Shiraz, Cab, Merlot and Pinotage with the latter adding a fruity lift to the other dark, earthy flavours. Great value at R120 a bottle.