Teddy Hall, Stellenbosch
"Extremely flattered" is how Teddy Hall feels on winning the WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Chenin Blanc Challenge for the fourth time. But the real winner is South African Chenin Blanc itself, as Joanne Simon discovers.
"If someone was to offer me a two-week holiday with a particular grape variety, I think I'd choose Chenin Blanc," writes UK wine buff Andrew Jefford in his delightful little book called 101 Things You Need To Know About Wine. "Back in its university days, Chenin was the student who stayed apart from the others, who disappeared from time to time, who kept an air of mystery wrapped about him or her like a cloak. There was huge talent there, everyone knew, but also a contrary spirit which meant that the promise didn't always emerge, and was sometimes thrown away completely, almost on a whim. Chenin, we all knew, would make a great success of its life, or it could all end in waste and disaster."
In South Africa, where there is more Chenin Blanc planted than in the rest of the world put together, it has all too often ended in waste and disaster. "It was traditionally the wine you sold for R2,99 a bottle or distilled into brandy," sums up Teddy Hall, winemaker and viticulturist at Rudera Wines in Stellenbosch.
If Chenin Blanc, this "wastrel genius" of a grape, has needed some sort of guidance or mentoring - the kind of supervision and inspiration that a brilliant and possibly slightly mad university professor might provide - then it couldn't ask for more than shorts-clad, chess-mad, piano-playing, plane-flying, cigar-puffing, Teddy Hall. Formerly a financial whiz kid and broker in Gauteng, he chucked it all in because of his love of wine in 1992. Within a decade, in 2001, while working for Kanu, he was named Diners Club Winemaker of the Year.
The wine category that year? Why, Chenin Blanc, of course. In fact, Hall's winemaking peers should count themselves lucky that Diners Club changes its category each year, given his track record at the annual WINE magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge, this year once again sponsored by Tops at Spar and once again won by ... you know who.
Almost unbelievably, Hall has now clinched victory four times in the nine years the Challenge has been running. What's more, he typically has three or four wines in the final line-up. "The only way I can explain it is that I make every one of my wines to the best of my ability," he says. "It's like having more than one child - you love them all the same but for different reasons! Thank goodness the panel chooses its favourite and I don't have to, because I honestly wouldn't be able to..."
This year top honours (and a 4½ Star rating) went to his Rudera Robusto Chenin Blanc 2002, while his Rudera Robusto 2003 and Rudera Chenin Blanc 2003 each scored 4 Stars. Proof that Hall loves them equally is that they all cost the same: R79 a bottle. But he can hardly contain his excitement when he reveals that he will shortly be launching a new Chenin Blanc - this time labelled under his own name: Teddy Hall.
In a world where trophies and 90-plus scores in US magazine Wine Spectator usually result in drastic price hikes, I expect to hear Hall tell me that this eponymous wine (initially just 1 000 cases) will be the super-duper-ultra-deluxe model in his range ... and priced accordingly. But quite the contrary: "It's a fresher, zingier, unwooded wine and it will cost half the price of Rudera and Robusto," he declares.
"Why make a cheaper wine? It's simple," he says. "When I go overseas, I always ask to taste the wines I'm competing against, and even at Rudera's price point (which is much higher than average) there are not many white wines that impress me. The only really good whites, from New Zealand or Sancerre, are prohibitively expensive. For this reason, I truly believe that South African Chenin Blanc will be the next big thing - and I don't mean just a fad like Pinot Grigio, which is frankly undrinkable at the lower price points. South Africa can do millions of cases of really good Chenin Blanc at price points that the world won't be able to believe, even with our strong rand."
It's refreshing to encounter Hall's deep-rooted faith in this traditionally underrated grape ... but not surprising. After all, he has been downplaying his own winemaking talents for years: "Making good wine is the easiest thing in the world. You just ferment the stuff and put it into a bottle. If the vineyards are OK, you're OK."
And South Africa's Chenin Blanc vineyards, he hastens to add, are better than OK. "In general, the best vineyards we have are Chenin Blanc vineyards - old vines planted in some of the best terroir. That's why I decided to concentrate on Chenin Blanc in the early stages of my career - firstly knowing there was so much good Chenin Blanc about, and also knowing there were so many styles in which Chenin Blanc excelled."
When his new wine is launched, Hall will have Chenin Blanc fully covered - right through from fresh and fruity to Noble Late Harvest. "One of the big advantages Chenin Blanc has over other varieties is its versatility," he says. "And not only does it make many different styles but just one style is versatile enough to go with many different foods. Chenin Blanc is the food wine."
I ask him for some recommendations: "Whereas a creamy base kills most wines, Chenin with a little residual sugar stands up to it. It also goes with fusion food - anything that is a little spicy - and I can't imagine any other wine with Cape Malay cuisine. I am so blessed!" he suddenly interjects. "I love wine, I love food, and above all I love wine and food in good company!"
I can't resist asking him if that's when the cigars come out. "People always associate me with cigars because my wine is called Robusto and I've been photographed on WINE magazine's cover smoking one," he laughs. "But in fact I probably smoke less than a box of cigars a year, firstly because I only smoke good cigars and they're expensive, and secondly because my tastebuds are just not what they're supposed to be for a day or even two days after I smoke. I'm convinced that smoking has a huge impact on how I perceive the wine."
One myth thus dispelled, it's perhaps worth noting that Hall doesn't only make Chenin Blanc - in fact, his range includes a Cabernet Sauvignon (200-300 cases), a Syrah (1 000 cases) and some Methode Cap Classique for home consumption ("It's fun to make!"). What's more, he insists Chenin Blanc isn't his favourite: "If you want to make wine that rivals or is better than the best wines in the world, you've got to specialise, and therefore Chenin Blanc is my speciality. But making wine is like having children: one might be brilliant at the piano, another might be an athlete, and a third might not appear to have any particular talent whatsoever. But you love them all just the same!"
Which probably explains why Chenin Blanc, this "wastrel genius" of a grape, keeps living up to its promise, making a success of its life, and winning trophies for Teddy Hall.
TEDDY HALL'S RECIPE FOR AWARD-WINNING CHENIN BLANC
"I wait for the grapes to ripen fully before I pick them, and then I use only the free-run juice, which I put into stainless steel tanks to settle overnight. Next day, when the juice is still quite murky, I run it off into barrels and leave it to ferment. The Robusto is inoculated with yeast, whereas the Rudera undergoes natural fermentation.
"Many months later - eight or nine - I use a "flycatcher" to filter the wine, literally to catch any goggatjies that might have fallen into the barrel, and then I bottle it without cold stabilisation or sterile filtration. Yes, of course this means the wine is not 100% so-called 'safe' and will spoil if it is mistreated. But hopefully the people who buy this sort of wine will understand that they need to treat it with respect, just like they wouldn't buy fresh fruit and leave it in the boot of their car for four days!"
TEDDY HALLISMS
ON THE BIRTHPLACE OF CHENIN BLANC...
"The Loire might claim ownership of Chenin Blanc but there are only a handful of wines at the top-end, anyway, and even they only get it right once every six years when the weather is OK. In South Africa we get it right every year!"
ON THE NAME OF HIS COMPANY...
"Our understanding was that rudera was the Latin plural for 'broken stone', which we thought would be a clever way of referring to terroir. But we recently met a Polish guy who said it actually means 'derelict house'. Oh well, we'd rather have a derelict house than a derelict wine!"
ON RESTAURANT MARK-UPS...
"The prices that restaurants ask for wine are valid, providing they deliver some value-added: good recommendations and wine that is served at the correct service, in good glasses, filled to the correct level."
ON WINEMAKERS WHO ADD ILLEGAL FLAVOURANTS...
"I'm glad there is finally a serious attempt to weed out the people cheating, and to enforce the laws better. You can't just cheat a little bit - it's like being a little bit pregnant!"
