Theuniskraal Riesling
Theuniskraal Riesling is for many the first rung on the ladder of SA wine brands. Neil Pendock comes over all nostalgic for the wines of braais past."Rijk Tulbagh and het land van waveren.” Now there’s a phrase to play with. It’s like a lyric by Jacques Brel, an atmospheric painting by Walter Meyer out of Edward Hopper or an Afrikaans punk band playing at Muratie on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Tulbagh has been on something of a roll recently. Back in 1969, the rolls were physical, with the town all but razed to the ground by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale. Thirty-eight years later and the tremors are vinous ones with the Swiss International Airlines Wine Awards throwing medals at operations you’ve never heard of: Blue Crane, Bianco, Jagger’s Peak, Saronsberg…
First lady of UK wine Jancis Robinson hailed Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards “a new SA star” last November and with Armajaro winemaker Callie Louw seduced from the Voor Paardeberg (or Poor Vaardeberg as the Wine Spectator hack hilariously malapropriated it earlier this year) the medals may be expected to continue.
Tulbagh is full of surprises. Even how to pronounce it is debatable: TILL-Bach, as in the German composer, according to the website www.theuniskraal.co.za. Although TUL-Bach also seems to work, as that’s how Theuniskraal winemaker Andries Jordaan pronounces it in the funky Theuniskraal podcast on www.winefilms.co.za.
But perhaps the biggest trick Jordaan pulls is pronouncing “Crouchen” as “Riesling”. For Crouchen Blanc is the grape used to make this enduring and endearing branded white, the first estate white wine in SA. It was singled out for praise from an unlikely quarter at the judges’ feedback session of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show two years ago.
Trophy judge and UK wine educator Michael Schuster called it “an ordinary but pleasant, light and dry lunchtime quaffer” and contrasted it to a moron-strength De Trafford Merlot that won a trophy in a previous Trophy Show but which is now “tasting too high in alcohol to enjoy much of”. While bowties quiver and anoraks bristle at the mention of Theuniskraal and Riesling in the same breath, the misnomer is the SA equivalent of Chileans calling Carmènëre “Merlot”. As they did for 150 years…
When the grape genetics were pointed out to them, the Chileans said “Hola!” and seized on it eagerly, making it a USP for Chilean Wine; their Pinotage equivalent, if you will. By embracing Carmènëre, the Chileans simultaneously did the right thing and started minting serious marketing capital. The Aussies made a similar mistake – they thought Crouchen was Sèmillon and so bizarrely decided to call it “Clare Riesling”. At least in SA, the mistake was singular, with Crouchen dubbed “Cape Riesling”. Then again, SA shop shelves are full of imposters: crab sticks made from monkfish and even caviar fashioned from seaweed. But in these days of disclosure and level playing fields, persisting with the fiction that Theuniskraal is made from Riesling is clearly doomed.
Quite how the mistake was made is clear from the first edition of John Platter’s Book of SA Wines, published in 1980, which went on to become the telephone directory of SA wines.
The entry for Riesling notes “different to the more recently imported Weisser Riesling of Germany, the SA Riesling nonetheless is closely related to its German namesake. It is a shy bearer, classified therefore as a ‘noble’ variety and at its best produces wines of tantalising subtlety, altogether more delicate and refined than the Steen”.
Platter liked the vintages from the late ’70s, scoring them three out of a possible maximum (but rarely awarded) four stars, with a tasting note: “fine, very light, distinguished dry white with good keeping qualities. ’78, ’79, ’80 all uniformly excellent years.”
The rating has slipped somewhat over the years (down to 2_ Stars in 2008) but whether this is because of a slip in quality, the rest of the pack catching up, or the unfashionable nature of Crouchen in anorak circles, is debatable. After all, wines tasted for Platter are evaluated sighted and light, dry whites that have been around so long that they have become part of the bar furniture are as popular in wine circles as they are in SA politics.
The end result is that there is understandably less enthusiasm for rebranding Theuniskraal Riesling as Theuniskraal Crouchen than there was for relabelling Conchay Toro Merlot. While Carmènëre is one of the six noble varietals of Bordeaux, Crouchen aka Cruchen Blanc aka Navarre Blanc comes from the wrong side of the tracks.
From the Landes region of southwest France, to be precise, where it is today perversely almost extinct. Platter again: “Weisser Riesling is everything that is the SA Riesling except more so; more aromatic, spicier, more complex, more subtle, more scented.”
So any suggestions for a new brand name? Theunis-kraal Cruchen Blanc won’t work, as the abbreviation TCB sounds like a close relation of TCA, the noxious corking agent and bane of every wine lover’s life.
My solution is Theuniskraal Navarre, a suitably nautical moniker in what is a coastal appellation, even if Tulbagh and its vineyards are some distance from the sea. Quite why Tulbagh should be deemed “coastal” is another piece of bureaucratic fiction beyond the scope of this article. Navarre adds a bit of geographic confusion with Rioja and the Basques that will more than make up for the loss of the German connection.
Exactly when Theuniskraal Riesling was born is a source of confusion nearly as convoluted as the name. The 2006 edition of Platter avers that Theuniskraal are “famous for their (Cape) Riesling, which has been around since 1950” and further down the page calls it “an enduring brand, launched 1947”. The estate website itself supplies a third date of 1948.
The fact that it is still around after 57, 60 or 59 years, speaks volumes for the winning stylistic recipe of a ripe floral nose leading to a crisp and fresh palate with flavours of peach and apple and a dry (2.9 g/l residual sugar in 2006) finish. Two features in particular stand out: reasonable price (restaurants typically list it between R50 and R70 a bottle) and moderate alcohol levels. The 2006 vintage clocks in at a roadblock-friendly 12.36%, a huge bonus in these days of global warming and Jimmy Abbott alcohols.
But perhaps the most unusual characteristic of this wine is its track record. Back in 1950 the duffle coats (precursors of anoraks) of the Commonwealth Wine Show gave it gold in the days before show medal coinage was devalued by inflation and inconsistency. A pedigree of seven decades is especially to be treasured in a valley bristling with producers you’ve never heard of like Manley, Oude Compagnies Post, Schalkenbosch and Waverly Hills.
For historical context there is aplenty. The Theunis in the name was one Theunis Bevernagie, who established the farm in the early 18th century. Bevernagie is a most appropriate name for someone in the beverage business, but it had to wait until 1927, when the farm was bought by a Jordaan, for the first vineyards to be established. This required serious earthmoving and rock breaking activities to establish appropriate terroir.
The big break came when the Jordaans decided to hitch their wagon to another enterprise starting out in the wine business, the Distillers Corporation of Anton Rupert. As one of 19 independent estates in a “family of partners”, Theuniskraal benefited tremendously from the marketing prowess and distribution ability of a hungry corporate. When Distillers introduced cold fermentation into SA from California in the early ’50s, the quality of wines made in warmer climate regions like Tulbagh improved immensely.
Today the wines of Theuniskraal are part of the Cape Legends portfolio along with the Lusan stable and such stalwart independents as Jacobsdal and Allesverloren. With distribution and marketing sorted, moderate alcohols and an attractive price, Theuniskraal is set fair for another 60 years at least.
