Wine terroir

The concept of terroir holds that the finest wines are those that are truest to their roots. One particular grape variety will necessarily be more compatible with a particular environment than another and therefore it is beholden on the wine producer to use his land so that each vineyard is able to realise maximum potential in terms of the calibre of wine it produces.

Terroir demands that the winemaker display a reverence for the soil and the seasons, and in turn, downplay his own involvement in what ultimately determines the quality of what ends up in the bottle.

Most winemakers will claim that the connection between wine and land is paramount. Discussing the notion of terroir, Neil Ellis, who has been making wines under his own label since 1986, is on record as saying that great wine is a factor of time.

There are "no five minute wonders", he states, dismissing those wines that come from nowhere, the maiden release impressing all and sundry, but subsequent vintages not amounting to much. "Ten vintages (from the same vineyard) is the minimum time frame to establish a winemaking philosophy," he reckons. "There are so many factors (concerning terroir) to take into consideration. Gut-feel is not sufficient on its own."

If a winemaker's length of tenure at a particular property is crucial in attaining a true expression of terroir, then a lot of prominent South African properties will be in limbo for a while. Last year, Giorgio Dalla Cia left Meerlust after 25 years, Beyers Truter left Kanonkop after 22 years, Jacques Borman left La Motte after 19 years, Ross Gower left Klein Constantia after 19 years, and Teddy Hall left Kanu after just 4 years.

At the end of 2001, we saw Eben Sadie leave Spice Route to go it alone, which led owner Charles Back to poach Charl du Plessis from Neville Dorrington's Rijk's Private Cellar in Tulbagh. Dorrington, in turn, grabbed Pierre Wahl from Môreson, allowing Christo Versfeld, ex Winecorp to move to the Franschhoek farm. In another high-profile move, Lizelle Gerber deserted Avontuur for Eikendal mid 2002, despite the fact that her 3-year stint at the former farm had earned her a slew of awards.

Property owners react to the departure of a prized winemaker by insisting that it was always terroir that made their wines great; newly moved winemakers that face the challenge of having to re-establish themselves tend to argue that they work with terroir even better than before.

With the coming and going that currently characterises the South African wine scene, it would be easy to dismiss the notion of terroir altogether. After all, André van Rensburg has been at Vergelegen only since 1998, and yet he is responsible for some of the most exciting wines around at the moment.

However, the Hartenberg Shiraz 2000 is one wine that staves off the arguments of those modernists who suggest terroir is merely sentimental nonsense. Winemaker Carl Schultz has been at this farm, situated in the Bottelary ward of the greater Stellenbosch region, since 1993 so has had a fair amount of time to familiarise himself with the idiosyncrasies of the particular piece of land he is working with.

The farm has nine different soil types, something that demands site specific planting be fully researched to determine the suitability of the match between the respective variety and its planting site.

Perhaps more detail than the average wine drinker wants to know, so Schultz presents a simpler explanation of the soils of Hartenberg. He explains that there are essentially two basic types: very deep, high potential, red soils on the south of the farm as well as very shallow, gravel-based soils towards the north of the farm.

While the red soils, which retain water well, are good for more sensitive varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the gravel-based or koffiekip soils are ideal for Shiraz, offering excellent drainage and containing the variety's natural vigour. These gravel-based soils cause Schultz to remark "our best soils are our worst soils". He goes on to explain that Shiraz is a variety that "can take a beating" and so it has intentionally been planted on "not very friendly sites".

Hartenberg currently has some 15ha of Shiraz planted and produces around 3000 12-bottle cases a year, the rest going into the farm's entry level Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz blend. "The other varieties play a neat supporting role at Hartenberg, but Shiraz will always be the dominant character," says Schultz. He sees Shiraz as Hartenberg's trump card thanks to the koffieklip vineyards that are unique to the Bottelary ward, if not Hartenberg specifically. "Those soils don't occur anywhere else, at least not in the Boland." For those who want to believe in terroir, Hartenberg Shiraz would seem to be a suitable talisman.