Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards

Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards

They're organic, they're audaciously expensive,and they've got the critics raving. Christian Eedes reports on the wines of Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards.

 

Still a young farm, with a cellar only five years old, Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards (TMV) has already grabbed the attention of wine cognoscenti both locally and overseas. Tim Atkin MW, one of the leading wine writers in the UK, wrote recently that this is one of the most exciting new wineries he's come across in the past decade. So what's all the fuss about? The realisation of a dream for two Londoners, biodynamics, and a passionate winemaking team.

TMV owners George Austin and Jason Scott first met in Frankfurt, Germany, where they were working as investment bankers. They were well positioned to explore the great wine regions of Europe and a mutual love of the product soon followed. When the dream of owning a winery took hold, they scoured the world for a suitable site and finally acquired the property that was to become Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards in December 1999.

The time came for a fulltime winemaker to be appointed and that's when the soft-spoken but ardent Chris Mullineux arrived on the scene. It's difficult to imagine him as a chartered accountant but that's nearly what happened before he "fell into wine", as he puts it. Upon finishing school in 1994 he studied business at the University of Stellenbosch, but though he completed a B.Com he realised that this was not a direction he wished to pursue any further. So in 1999 he began a degree in Viticulture and Oenology, and quickly warmed to the subject…

In 2001 Mullineux found himself helping out with the harvest at top Stellenbosch farm De Trafford. He was advised by David Trafford that his future would be best served if he could arrange to do his final-year practical at Charles Back's avant-garde Swartland operation, Spice Route, which at that point still had the exceptional Eben Sadie as winemaker. Though Mullineux subsequently did his final year training at another top Stellenbosch farm, namely Rustenberg, he and Sadie had become firm friends and when the new owners of TMV approached Sadie for advice on who best to head up their new project, he had no hesitation in recommending Mullineux, who took charge of the TMV cellar in November 2002.

Each bottle of TMV wine comes emblazoned with the motto "Sustainable viticulture, Traditional winemaking", and both owners and winemaker are adamant about upholding these values. The farm is certified organic by the Swiss company Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), which means no fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides are used - and Mullineux insists on being referred to as a "winegrower" rather than a "winemaker".

"Tulbagh is conducive to natural farming because we don't have any disease pressure from our neighbours," says Mullineux. "Actually, we don't have any neighbours." And the district is indeed secluded, with towering mountains to the north, east and west protecting the vineyards in the valley from outside pests and disease. TMV itself is positioned up against the Witzenberg, just off the R46 that connects the town of Tulbagh with Worcester some 45km away.

Another key reason that Tulbagh is suitable for the organic way of doing things is that its annual rainfall is low, between 400 and 450mm (compared to 700mm in Stellenbosch) and occurs mainly during winter, meaning that the vineyards usually stay disease-free in the growing season. Even so, Mullineux relates that farming organically cannot be applied in random fashion and requires a carefully thought out programme to be implemented.
The idea is to get the vineyards in balance and self-regulating. Poplar trees are planted between the vineyards and though they attract unwanted aphids, they are also home to plenty of wasps and ladybird beetles that prey on the aphids. Fennel planted between the rows of vines provides a convenient nesting place for the wasps, and cover crops including wheat and oats help keep vine vigour down and out-compete weeds that might otherwise choke the vine.

The property is 180ha in size with 16ha under vineyards, 4ha planted in 2000 and the rest in 2001. Varieties comprise 2ha of Mourvèdre, 6ha Cabernet Sauvignon and 8ha of Syrah. Soil on the farm is shale, which Mullineux says is better suited to the two Rhône varieties. He will be grafting 4ha of Cabernet Sauvignon over to Mourvèdre this winter.

The vines are irrigated at the moment, by virtue of being so young, but Mullineux would like to "wean them off" as soon as possible. "Irrigation negates terroir," he says simply.

One of the biggest problems that Mullineux faces is the amount of fruit that the baboons take. In 2005 the apes' haul amounted to 25% of the entire crop, and the best deterrent to date has proved to be the application of lion dung obtained from a nearby animal park! Unfortunately, as the dung dries, the smell dissipates and the baboons return. This means that somebody has the nasty job of re-hydrating or replacing the dung on a regular basis: "Lion poop soup," as Andrea Kozlowski, assistant winemaker and Mullineux's fiancée refers to it.

Not satisfied with merely being certified organic, Mullineux and Kozlowski are starting to investigate the even more extreme methods that biodynamic farming entails. For one thing, they now undertake pruning according to the cycles of the moon. If this satellite of the earth is capable of influencing the tides, then it will also affect humidity in the soil and the sap in the vine. For farmers in the southern hemisphere it is best then to prune around the new moon, as this is when the moon's pull is weakest, and the vine's sap is low. In this way the vine is not unnecessarily robbed of nutrients.

Take this thinking even further and working according to cosmic cycles starts to make sense: as the planets orbit the sun, their varying alignments lead to changes in activity in different parts of the plant, so some days are better for harvesting, and other days better for planting, grafting and so on "At the very least, biodynamics brings the people involved in winemaking back into the vineyard, which means more attention to detail," says Kozlowski.

Mullineux relates that they are also attempting to "Africanise" biodynamics, explaining that the thinking originated in Europe where one of the key challenges has always been getting the grapes to ripen sufficiently, and part of biodynamics was thus focused on bringing light and heat into the vineyard. In South Africa the opposite applies, and what's required is to slow down the ripening process so that we have lower sugar and therefore alcohol levels. "Our vines need sunblock," he says.

In this regard the TMV team are experimenting with preparations derived from various indigenous plants. Aloes grow naturally on the farm, and Mullineux believes that this succulent might be helpful because it is naturally resistant to the sun. Rooibos (best known for the herbal tea that it produces) is an antioxidant and has potential as an antifungal agent.

As a result of being organic, yields from TMV's vineyards are extremely low - Mullineux reports that he got just over 30 tons of grapes in 2006, the equivalent of a paltry two tons a hectare. "If we eventually get to four tons a hectare, I'll be stoked and my bosses even more so."

The cellar has a capacity of 160 tons, far greater than what the property currently produces. This prompted them to produce two ranges, the "TMV" range that utilises fruit acquired wholly or partly elsewhere, and the ultra premium "Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards" range from own-grown fruit.

In terms of his commitment to "traditional winemaking", Mullineux is proud of the fact that all TMV wines undergo a natural ferment. "I've never brought a single commercial yeast into the cellar," he states. He also doesn't tolerate the addition of acids, enzymes or tannins.

Under the TMV label, termed the "negociant range" by Mullineux, are four wines. There's the Swartland Syrah 2005 at R180 a bottle, made from grapes selected from four separate vineyards in the Swartland and more "rich and velvety" than the wines made from Tulbagh grapes. Then there is the Viktoria 2004, a blend of 82% Syrah, 11% Cinsaut and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, named after George Austin and his wife Vanessa's daughter and selling for R125 a bottle. The White 2005 costing R125 a bottle is a blend of 90% Chenin Blanc, 6% Clairette Blanche and 4% Viognier - the Clairette Blanche ripens at super-low alcohol and counter-balances the often quite heady Viognier, and the wine spent 11 months in used barrels.

The Chenin Blanc used in 2005 TMV White comes in part from 60-year-old vineyards on Swartland farm Lammers-hoek and 25-year-old vineyards on other Tulbagh farms. "Why are there no white varieties on our own vineyards?" asks Mullineux rhetorically. "Because I'd have to wait until I was 60 to get the same quality of fruit I can get right now from elsewhere."

Lastly in the TMV range there is the Vin Pi One, a straw wine with a twist - a blend of barrels from three consecutive vintages - and selling for R250 a bottle.

In the ultra premium range there are two wines currently available: the maiden vintage, all-Syrah Theta 2003, and the Syrah Mourvèdre 2004. The original idea was to make only a single wine at this tier, but once the 2003 vintage was completed it was clear that one block of Syrah had performed significantly better than the rest and this was set aside as Theta. It received 24 months in French oak, of which 50% was new. Total production was just 430 cases and the wine sells for R350 from the farm. "Some might think it's expensive, but they need to take our yields into account," says Mullineux, advising that for Theta to be bottled it must be "truly exceptional". Consequently, there will not be a 2004 or 2005 version of this wine, and even the 2006 is in doubt at this stage.

The Syrah Mourvèdre 2004 is a blend of 85% Syrah and 15% Mourvèdre. It spent 22 months in French oak, of which 20% was new and 80% second-fill. Production amounted to 1000 cases, up from 400 in 2003 and the wine sells for R220 a bottle. Mullineux feels that the blend is "bigger, more wild and more instantly appealing" than the single variety wine. Conversely, the latter is more "elegant and structured" and has more "soul".

Mourvèdre is best known as a component of the blends originating in southern France, and because it is well suited to warm growing conditions there are many who feel it will fare well locally. Mullineux especially likes it for the perfume that it can lend a wine, but warns that it is even more reductive than Shiraz and can become "very stinky" if not racked regularly during the winemaking process. "It can lend a wine a wild character," he says. "Leave it out of the blend, and you end up with a 'cleaner' but less interesting wine." He also says Mouvédre "hates new or small wood", in the sense that barrel-derived tannins tend not to integrate, which is why he puts his into large format 500l barrels.

Though Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards has not been around for very long, you get the sense that this is a winery capable of something special. Mullineux seems to have apprehended immediately what constitutes great wine but is sufficiently modest not to make any outrageous claims just yet as to what the property is capable of.
"There was pressure to make world-beating wines from year one but we need to be patient. I expect there will be huge improvements in wine quality as we fine-tune our practices and the vines become happier with their site," he says. It should prove pleasing to watch this fantasy project become ever more real.