Melvyn Minnaar
While no local wine estate or winemaker has yet cracked true international vino stardom, there are a few on the outside looking in.
Perhaps not yet in the league of the famous French “First Growths”, or producers such as Germany’s Schloss Johannesberger, Italy’s Antinori, Australia’s Penfolds, the United States’s Joseph Phelps or even Chile’s Santa Carolina, a handful of South African top performers do stand us in good stead.
John Platter’s handy South African Wine Guide is perhaps the most accessible indicator of our best wines. Not only does he list all major awards such as the Veritas, the South African Airways (SAA) selection, Diner’s Club winners and Wine magazine ratings, he awards his own “two bunches of grapes” in dramatic red print to his best 140 wines.
Comparing his selection – and, of course, his manual’s incisive tasting comments – with winners of other competitions and selections such as Wine’s, one gets an inclination of the best around. (The true challenge is to discover and acquire the wine!)
Other than the informed personal selection of experts like Platter and David Hughes, Wine’s regular, carefully controlled blind- tasting results are probably the consumer’s most convenient guide.
Wine’s four-star ratings are a reliable measure of quality. At a mean score of 16 or 17 out of a possible 20 points, a wine is judged as in a class of its own.
The magazine’s top rating is five stars (18/20). Only three wines have scored those elusive full-house scores in the publication’s five-year history. Which wines they are is significant in terms of what top-class wines we can produce in South Africa.
* Klein Constantia’s 1986 Sauvignon Blanc by winemaker Ross Gower stunned many when it scored five stars, years after vintage, proving too that white wines can age. Last year’s vintage won a double-gold Veritas Award, an SAA selection, four Wine stars and two Platter bunches. The 1997 version has just won double gold as well!
* Anton Bredell’s Cape Vintage Port 1993 got its deserved five stars to general acclamation. All Bredell’s port efforts are finding high praise.
* At Grangehurst, Jeremy Walker produced the only other five-star wine with a 1993 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot. He continues to make brilliant reds – as is confirmed by recent releases.
For the best winemakers, the new vintages – in particular 1997, which was a magnificent year – offer the opportunity to polish the already shining vineyard stars.
But, as a final decision about the best, let’s take a cue from arguably the world’s top consumer wine guide. In his 1998 pocket book, the “world’s favourite wine adviser”, Hugh Johnson, makes a choice for the coming year.
Few would argue that he chose our best, if not giving proper due to maestros such as Beyers Truter (Kanonkop), Jeff Grier (Villiera), Neil Ellis, Kevin Arnold, Jean Daneel and Johan Malan (Simonsig).
See if you agree. Better still, look out if you can find these delights:
* Thelema Mountain Vineyards: sauvignon blanc 1996 and 1997, chardonnay 1995, cabernet sauvignon 1994; * Fairview Estate: Tower Reds 1995; * Meerlust Estate: chardonnay 1995; * Buitenverwachting: sauvignon blanc 1996, Christine 1992; * Warwick Estate: pinotage 1995; * Hamilton Russell Vineyards: pinot noir 1995, chardonnay 1996; * Jordan Vineyards: cabernet sauvignon 1993;
* Vergelegen: merlot 1995; * Backsberg Estate: chardonnay 1995.