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COPYRIGHT 2001 Hiaring Company
Winemakers--the good ones, that is--are a bit like mountain climbers. It's all about meeting challenges. Ask why a certain winemaker does something the hard way and you're met with an incredulous stare that suggests an answer like "because it's there" is too obvious. And, when it comes to challenges, South Africa's winemakers have certainly had their fair share. If decades of economic isolation during the apartheid years and the stultifying bureaucracy of the KWV didn't pose enough challenges, there were others, too.
Virused vines, for instance, continue to plague producers. Newly planted parcels can sicken and die within six or seven years, and getting hold of new, unvirused vine material is no easy task. Meanwhile, the country's economy continues to falter, making much-needed foreign investment a commod-ity that's all too rare. Yet without chal-lenges of some sort, wine would be boring to make--and boring to drink, a criticism that is leveled at much "industrially" made wine worldwide.
Currently, some of South Africa's best winemakers are setting themselves another challenge: producing consistently good Sauvignon blanc. South Africa, after all, is a warm-climate country. While varieties like Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay can do very well here, good examples of cool-climate varieties like Pinot noir are the exception rather than the rule. Getting bright, crisp flavors into Sauvignon blanc can be tricky. As one winemaker said, "we have to accept that South Africa is a warm-climate growing area. We have to identify the pockets where the interaction of factors will work for the variety. You could say the cooler the better."
There is a sense of excitement about the search for new, cool-climate areas in which Sauvignon blanc will thrive. One industry observer described the move to cooler climates as another "great trek", recalling the history of the Cape's settlement. So, while traditional Sauvignon blanc regions such as Constantia continue to produce good wines, a host of new areas are being explored and brought into production.
Bartho Eksteen, who consults for a number of Cape producers, as well as producing his own wine, is a leading advocate of Sauvignon blanc. He is recognized within the industry as an authority on the variety, and has spent a great deal of time researching cool climate viticulture in...
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