Johannesburg - We have Jan van Riebeeck to thank for winemaking in the Cape.
In 1654, two years after he landed, cuttings from the vineyards of Rhineland, Spain and France were sent by his employer, the Dutch East India Company, for Van Riebeeck to plant. Besides building a fort, the surgeon was tasked with producing water, fresh produce and wine for passing trade vessels.
When he finally managed to produce wine – just 15 litres from muscadel grapes that in all likelihood were not particularly good – he wrote in his journal: “Today, praise be to God, wine was pressed for the first time from Cape grapes.”
Winemaking in the Cape was finally formalised in 1973 when legislation was passed to recognise areas, estates and grape varieties.
This was important because, as we all know, a wine from an estate will carry far more weight than a box wine from some unknown co-operative.
To define the wards (small homogeneous areas such as the Cederberg), districts (geographic demarcations such as Walker Bay), regions (a combination of districts, such as the coastal region), estate wines (where grapes are harvested, fermented, and bottled, such as Avondale), and single vineyard wines (grapes grown in vineyards not larger than 6ha, such as Guy Webber of Stellenzicht’s award-winning Plum Pudding Hill shiraz), areas had to be proclaimed.
Only in 1993 was the Wine of Origin system finally introduced to ensure accurate labelling and comply with legal requirements governing export.
For a wine deserving of the label, it must derive 100 percent from the area stated on the label (not, as is becoming increasingly common, sourced from vineyards all over the Western Cape); 85 percent of the wine must be harvested in the year indicated on the label and at least 85 percent of the wine must be of the variety indicated. This does not mean that it must be an estate wine.
Grande Provence, which is very much a Franschhoek property, has released its 2010 shiraz, which is 100 percent a Stellenbosch Wine of Origin.
Today, there are more than 60 appellations in the country. One of the newest is outside whale-watching heaven Hermanus. The Walker Bay district was carved up in 2006 into the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven on Earth) Valley, the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, and the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge wards.
Nearest the coast is the Hemel en Aarde Valley, where Walker Bay pioneers Hamilton Russell and Bouchard Finlayson are situated. Hamilton Russell planted the first vines in 1976 in the valley, now specialising in classically styled chardonnay and pinot noir.
Next is the more fertile Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, and then the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, which is the coolest and smallest of the three wards.
While Hemel-en-Aarde has established itself as one of the premier sites in the Cape for pinot noir and chardonnay, winemakers have also been making exceptional syrahs and sauvignon blancs.
Viewed as one of the coolest sites in South Africa, wines from the region are characterised by finesse, minerality and complexity.
In the early 1990s, the Newton Johnson estate in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde was founded by husband and wife Dave Johnson and Felicity Newton. Johnson was one of South Africa’s first Cape Wine Masters (1986).
After South Africa’s readmission to international markets, the Newton Johnsons began exporting estate wines to mainstream wine markets, such as the UK.
With their négociant wine brand, Cape Bay, growing rapidly, the Newton Johnsons needed a cellar of their own (Négociants are merchants who assemble the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sell wine under their own name).
The quest for a cellar took the couple to Hermanus, where they bought a property in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde.
By the mid-1990s, their sons, Bevan and Gordon, joined them and they started to produce their own Wine of Origin wines.
Today, Gordon is the winemaker and Bevan the managing director in charge of marketing.
Announced as the Cape Winemakers’ Guild’s 46th member, Gordon Newton Johnson has extensive international experience, having worked at wineries in France, New Zealand and California. He has a particular passion for pinot noir, chardonnay, shiraz and mourvèdre.
Last year, his pinot noirs achieved two five-star ratings, three 4½ stars, and six four stars in the Platter’s guide. Platter’s has given Gordon’s quality pinot noirs seven five-star ratings and the elegant chardonnay one.
Internationally, Gordon’s wines have broken the 90/100 barrier in reviews by respected commentators in the UK and US, including Neal Martin, Jamie Goode and Tim Atkin.
The Newton Johnson Windansea pinot noir was Platter’s Red Wine of 2014, lauded as a rich, fragrant wine with impressive structure and liveliness.
The Newtown Johnsons have two farms in the district: the south-facing Sanford property, and the northern Newton Johnson Vineyards. On the south-facing farm, they grow pinot noir and chardonnay, while on the north-facing farm they specialise in mourvèdre, syrah, grenache, semillon and sauvignon blanc, for varietal wines and blends.
They harvest in the region of 250 tons of grapes, which are produced, bottled and stored on the domaine or vineyard. Most of these are sold as Wines of Origin, hand-harvested and sorted, and naturally and sustainably produced.
* Established in 1982, the guild comprises 46 of the most respected winemakers. The aim is to elevate the standing of the South African wine industry by producing world-class, quality wines. The guild’s next auction takes place at the beginning of October.
Saturday Star