WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Shiraz Challenge 2006

Saxenburg Private Collection Shiraz 2003 is the winner of the third annual WINE magazine TOPS at SPAR Shiraz Challenge. Fiona McDonald reports. "There are two reasons I'm really pleased about this award," says winemaker Nico van der Merwe, the straight-talking Saxenburg winemaker. "Firstly the 2003 was the first from 100% Saxenburg fruit - no more bought-in grapes - and secondly because Shiraz is the big wine from this farm."

An outspoken if modest soul is Nico van der Merwe. He admits to "feeling really bakgat" about the award and recognition. "Now we'll see if what the marketing guys have been saying is true - that you need some or other award to help sell the wine." 4 000 cases (36 000 litres) of this wine were made, so there's enough of it to go around.

This recognition could not have come at a better time for Saxenburg. The Stellenbosch farm owned by Swiss Adrian Bührer burst onto the scene in a blaze of glory in the early '90s, distinguishing itself by winning no fewer than five Veritas double gold medals in 1993. And in 1999 it achieved WINE magazine's ultimate accolade - a 5 Star rating for the 1994 Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon. Yet it could be argued that with the profusion of new producers on the South African wine scene, Saxenburg was subsequently in danger of becoming an "also ran".

Valid criticism, accepts Van der Merwe, admitting that perhaps Saxenburg lost its way a little. "Originally, in the early '90s, Saxenburg had a definite style which wasn't necessarily what we wanted it to be. It was merely a reflection of us doing the best that we could with what we had at the time."

By that Van der Merwe is referring to the cellar, which hadn't kept pace with modern trends, and to the fruit being sourced from a variety of vineyards in different areas. Now, as illustrated by the 2003 Private Collection, it's all Saxenburg fruit, the cellar has been upgraded and expanded - and Van der Merwe's ideas have changed during his 16-year tenure at Saxenburg. "You learn a lot of lessons in that time, and perhaps there were times when my head wasn't all here," he admits, referring to a period when he was conducting two harvests every year - one in Stellenbosch and one at Chateau Capion, Bührer's other wine property near Montpellier in France's Languedoc.

He is frank about his French sojourns, saying that when you have to do all the work yourself you learn to simplify things. And spending two to three months at a time in France, eating their food and drinking the local wines, had an influence. "I'd come back and South African wines would just taste so different to me! I'd find them sweeter, or more acidic, or the tannins would feel grainy."

With Shiraz, says Van der Merwe, the grape size and natural flavour concentration is so important - along with the ripeness. "If it's left to ripen too long then it becomes too sweet and the ripeness and alcohol can be a problem.

"Also, in the South of France they are quite anti-wood. 'Why do you want to use wood?' they'd say to me. 'Our fruit is good enough - it doesn't need wood.' So that definitely dampened or checked my need to use new wood - not that we've ever over-wooded at Saxenburg.

"The other thing is that we have spent a helluva lot of time and effort on the vineyards." Of the 90 hectares under vine, 30ha is planted to Shiraz - five vineyards of Shiraz vines, the oldest of which is now between 10 and 12 years old - and Van der Merwe feels that his choice of quality grapes is now so much better than it was previously, with the best of the best used for the 200 cases of Saxenburg SSS.

Warm versus cool climate Shiraz? Van der Merwe believes the best Shiraz fruit comes from Stellenbosch's Bottelary and Kuils River areas, then the Swartland - not cooler areas like Bot River or Constantia. "Buying in fruit for Saxenburg in the early years allowed me to see and test which areas were best suited to the grape. I believe it needs an open canopy, mustn't be planted on sandy soil, and be on a westerly slope in warmer areas. I've even made wine from fruit in the Olifants River area of Trawal… In cooler areas there's often more fertile soils and the grapes don't get fully ripe, so don't have a good mouthfeel, and in these areas the acids are higher - you get a 'cool' mouthfeel, and the tannins are harsher. In warmer areas the tannin structure is better…"

An awareness of Brettanomyces is something else that "rang a bell" with Van der Merwe after "the whole French experience". So the past few years have seen the team at Saxenburg working as clean and as sterile as possible.

With regard to the winning wine, the fruit essentially comes from two vineyards. One is located on the top of the Stellenbosch property, at about 300m above sea level, and has weathered, granite-derived soils. The other is a mid-slope vineyard with a high proportion of clay soil - Van der Merwe believes that westerly facing slopes are ideal since they have long gentle exposure to afternoon sun rather than to the morning sun. "I've found that the fruit has really good, inky black colour with ripe, sweet fruit, and that our acids are naturally quite high.

"The highest vineyard delivers small berries which have a nice mid-palate structure, while grapes from the bottom slopes have higher sugars and more 'voema'. On their own they're both good, but together they're great - and exactly what we want for Saxenburg."

 

So what exactly is the Saxenburg style?

"We want wine with a minimum alcohol of around 14% - it must have a warm mouthfeel and texture and be almost Mediterranean in feel, with very little bitterness on the aftertaste. Good fruit but not a high acid. Deep, dark colour. The wood must be there to enrich the wine but not to dominate. There's got to be a balance between elegance and guts," says Van der Merwe.

He concedes that in years gone by the Shiraz went into 100% American oak, whereas nowadays it's 70% American and 30% French (Burgundian). "There's a bit more tannin on the wine but we believe that the Private Collection should happily be able to age 10 years.

"100% Shiraz, and we do one blending and bottling," says Van der Merwe, so that there are not multiple versions of wine under the same label that could be different in character - something certain award-winning cellars have been guilty of, much to the frustration of the wine-buying public.

Although Bührer asked why the judges preferred the Private Collection to the SSS at the pinnacle of the range, Van der Merwe feels "it's lekker the Private Collection won, because there's lots of it available. People can get to drink it and enjoy it." And the plan is to ultimately increase production to 7 000 cases (of 12×750ml) a year.

Nevertheless, the "Triple S" is Van der Merwe's personal favourite. In his opinion, the SSS is 5 Star wine and the Private Collection 4 to 4½ Star wine. The PC is really good value and selling for less money than customers would expect to pay for a wine of this quality, he says. The SSS costs more, but with only 200 cases to sell it's not difficult to do.

According to Van der Merwe: "It could be said that in the first 10 years we were building up everything, and now, in our second 10 years, is when we start to produce the results." And he's quick to pay tribute to his team, especially assistant winemaker Edwin Grace and viticulturist Len Coetzee. "We all talk about what we want to achieve, and everyone pitches in and helps - even Coetzee gets involved in punchdowns during the harvest."

Plans for the future include a Rhône-style blend. "We mustn't stagnate or get stuck in a 100% Shiraz rut. Things change - food styles change and wine styles must change with them." In two to three years' time Van der Merwe will be able to experiment with grapes from new plantings, notably Malbec and Cabernet Franc.

"I've said to Mr Bührer it's unrealistic to expect to make the best wine every single year, but you can make it a bit different. Father Christmas has promised that the cellar will be expanded and we might even get a brag-value wood maturation cellar…

Saxenburg track record

How Saxenburg Private Collection 2003 has performed over the years

* Where a particular vintage has been rated more than once, the highest rating obtained is reflected

Shiraz Winemaking at Saxenburg:

It all starts in the vineyard with two prunings before harvest to drop crop, lower yields and concentrate fruit.
The grapes are de-stemmed and go into open-topped tanks accommodating five tons each.
No sulphur is added. The wine is fermented at between 28º and 30º C for five days.
There are four pump-overs per day with punch-downs taking 20 minutes each.
When the wine has fermented dry the lids are placed on the tanks and the wine has four weeks of skin contact.
The free-run juice is drawn off and the remaining skins lightly pressed, with two-thirds of the wine going to old, open concrete tanks to undergo malolactic fermentation.
After that it's off to barrel, 70% American oak and 30% French oak (Alliers), with a third of all the barrels comprising new wood.
A small percentage of the Private Collection undergoes malolactic fermentation in barrel, after which it is sulphured-up and left to mature in wood for 12 to 14 months.
The wine is lightly filtered before bottling.