Cobaw Ridge

Alan and Nelly Cooper set up Cobaw Ridge in 1985, having bought the land in 1981 as a place from where they could commute (quite lengthily) to Melbourne.  Their original plan had been to sell the grapes, but they were smitten and decided to make wine before the first crop was off the vine, which was in 1989.

They are high up in the Macedon Ranges, with their 5 hectares of vineyards ranging from 610 to 635m above sea level. Shiraz was planted in 1985 and 1985 on granitic sandy soils.

The vineyards are also planted to chardonnay, pinot noir and lagrein, that little known red Italian grape variety from Alto Adige.  Indeed the Coopers were there first people outside of Italy to commercially produce lagrein. They had planted a little cabernet sauvignon but it only ripened one year in three so they grafted it over to lagrein.  “The site and soil match Bolzano” Alan said, so he had to give it a go.  The first vintage was in 1997, with the first commercial vintage one year later.

Elevation gives a good degree of cooling and Alan, a fifth generation farmer, said “shiraz can ripen 7-8 weeks behind central Heathcote, yet you can drive there in 25 minutes.” And there’s not so much disease pressure because it’s a windy place, and it dries out quickly, he added “the predominant winds are from the south east, and they can up to 65km/hour.” This has no doubt helped with the conversion firstly to certified organic, in 2009, and more recently, in 2011, to certified biodynamic farming.

Cooler climate shiraz is a very different beast to classic Barossa shiraz, and Alan calls his syrah, as though to distinguish the cooler from the warmer. He said cool climate shiraz is “spicy, savoury, minerally, earthy.  It could be spicy on the nose and peppery on the palate, or the other way round – black pepper and graphite.” His is attractively redolent with piquant black pepper spiciness.

The Coopers have also been working on a couple of so-called natural wines, where, effectively, additions in both the vineyard and the winery are kept to a minimum, though a strict definition is hard to come by. Alan said “The move to being ‘natural’ to us really is a natural progression from chemical farming to organic then to biodynamic. I guess all about letting ‘here’ speak a bit clearer,” allowing the place to have first voice in the expression of the wine.

Tasting notes, in situ, October 2010

Cobaw Ridge, Chardonnay 2008
14% 100% barrel, 20% new barrel fermentation.
Creamy vanilla nose and very smooth texture. Rich, sweet creamy, nougat, Good sweet spot, nicely balanced, alcohol seamless.
Alan: “it’s richer than we’d like to see – 2008 was warm”

Cobaw Ridge, Pinot Noir 2008
Aromatic smoky tar nose; sweet palate attack, cherry and soft berries. Gaining suppleness amid sweet fruit and fleshy body, auguring well for a bit more bottle age.

Cobaw Ridge, Syrah 2007
Cooler vintage than 2008
Medium deep, bright ruby colour. Spicy, black pepper, rich intensity, with freshness, and depth of flavour, nice concentration, big intensity, layered flavours. Vg.

Cobaw Ridge, Syrah 2008
Medium deep ruby colour; warm cherry pie nose, fruit taking on rich and sweet notes, ripe and supple, and still with attractive freshness. Supple and mouth-filling wine. Good.

Cobaw Ridge, Lagrein 2006
13%. Dark cherry nose, smooth attack, dark and ripe, chewy tannins. Fine-grained dark, brooding sort of wine.

Cobaw Ridge, Lagrein 2007
Sweet, dark cherry fruits, sweet core, plum and cherry, good and chunky, with juicy core of fruit.

Cobaw Ridge, Lagrein 2008
Juicy plum and dark cherry fruit nose and attack. Fine bit of grip is just softening into the fruit nicely.

My research visit to Australia in October 2010 was sponsored by Wine Australia.

Waiheke Island

And mostly it’s being called syrah, rather than shiraz.  Maybe this is to banter with the neighbours, though some think it’s more do to with the style of syrah/shiraz being made – erring towards elegant, perfumed and linear rather than the big, occasionally bruising, but nonetheless brilliant, behemoths that the world is used to seeing from warmer climate Aussie regions.

David Cox, Director for Europe at New Zealand Winegrowers said “the syrah now being produced has a classic New Zealand cooler climate identity but with a true northern Rhône style.  We are one of only a very few new world countries capable of producing this grape with the intense blueberries and ripe, dark plums with gamey flavours but with the fragrant pepper which is so often the trademark of wines such as Côte-Rôtie.”   

He added “this combination, together with terrific value for money when compared to some of the French vintages is giving NZ syrah the ‘hot ticket’ tag.”  

Given that there are around 32,000 hectares of vineyard in NZ, more than 50% of which are sauvignon blanc, syrah makes a pretty puny contribution with 300 hectares, less than 1% of the vineyard area, and with no great expansion forecast.  Maybe that will change after the positive noises on the international stage.  

Syrah plantings by region

Source:  New Zealand Statistical Annual, 2009
NB. 2009 is actual; 2010 to 2012 are forecasts

Hawke's Bay

Hawke’s Bay is clearly the place to be and Waiheke Island, part of the Auckland region, is also showing real promise.  Both regions are already well regarded for their cabernet sauvignon and merlots, usually blended in ‘Bordeaux style’ wines.

It might all have been so different, as there was so nearly no syrah in New Zealand at all. Serendipitously, it was Alan Limmer who rescued syrah from oblivion. Early in his viticultural career, in 1984, Limmer (who sold his Hawke’s Bay Stonecroft property in 2010) was both working a vintage at the Te Kauwhata research centre which housed NZ’s remaining syrah vines in its research vine collection, and planting his own vineyard.

He said in that year, the research centre “decided to rip up the vine collection. So, it seemed a logical thing to give [syrah] a chance.”  The complete syrah collection was transplanted to Stonecroft.

Cabernet sauvignon had been his original plan, and even that, then, was giving “mediocre results”.  So perhaps it was it was not such a weird decision, as Limmer added “syrah was seen as truly left field as it was an ‘Australian’ grape and would not ripen in NZ … but the naivety and enthusiasm of youth knows no bounds.” 

Limmer released the first syrah wine in NZ’s modern era in 1989. The rest will be history.

Tasting Notes, Annual Trade Tasting, London, January 2011

Craggy Range, Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2008, Hawke’s Bay, £18.99, Oddbins
Bright red plums, youthful, crunchy tannin in a medium body.  Has already entered a smooth spectrum, with seductive proportion, elegance and fruit concentration. Energetic wine. Vg.

Elephant Hill, Syrah 2009, Hawke’s Bay, £14.99, Taurus Wines
Spice and liquorice piquancy. Supple attack, with spicy new oak integrating well. supple with attractively pure focus, and good balance.

Forrest Estate, John Forrest Collection Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2006, Hawkes Bay, £16.99, Adnams
Red berry, almost cherry and raspberry compote. Elegant with medium-full body. Rich fruit concentration, with nicely integrated tannin support. Warm, fresh compost finish.  Good.

Man O’War, Dreadnought Syrah 2008, Waiheke Island, £ 26.99, Noel Young Wines
Smoke and tar nose, strong and concentrated. Firm line of savoury graphite in the core, with complexity of tar and roses developing.

Passage Rock, Reserve Syrah 2008, Waiheke Island, £29.99, Taurus Wines
Tar and liquorice nose, sweet toast and dark plum and bramble fruit. Oak integrating nicely in this concentrated and elegantly proportioned wine of good balance. Good.

Te Mata Estate, Bullnose Syrah 2009, Hawke’s Bay, £22.15, New Zealand House of Wine
Aromatic, smoke and tar nose, supple backbone, amply framed, with soft plums an damsons in a silky texture.  Elegantly proportioned and deceptively gentle with long finish. Good.

Trinity Hill, Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2008, Hawke’s Bay, £14.95, Wine Society 
Dark floral perfume. Smooth attack of supple, soft-berried fruit with a sweet density. Nicely balanced and gently proportioned in a medium weighted body.  Revels in a juicy gentleness with depth of fruit rather than big complexity, which makes it ever so easy to appreciate.  Everything is nicely in the right place. 

Trinity Hill, Homage Syrah 2007, Hawke’s Bay, £70.00, New Zealand House of Wine
Red plum and cherry fruit perfume. Smooth and textured with a rich and dense concentration.  Dark plums and black cherries on the palate, with freshness and sweet density.  Understated. Vg.

For the unloved years of decline following the second world war, Auguste Clape was a lone pioneer, benchmark and flag-carrier for the small appellation of Cornas, at the southern end of the northern Rhône, the best of which wines are said to rival those of Hermitage.

Family Clape

It wasn’t until the 1990s that the Cornas star started rising again, with the likes of Jean-Luc Colombo and Thiérry Allemand helping to put the cor back in Cornas. But Domaine Clape remains the appellation’s flag bearer. Having steadfastly held true to the family’s traditional way of making this 100% syrah wine, the reputation of this estate remains impeccable.

Auguste Clape became a grower in Cornas when he married, as his wife’s family owned five hectares in the appellation. Their first vintage was 1949. Forty years later their son Pierre-Marie, then 40 years old, joined Auguste. Now, third generation Olivier, 31 years old, has been ensconced in the family business since 2003, working with his father, while his grandfather, now 85, has at least ostensibly retired.

Nothing is big scale in Cornas, the only one of the northern Rhône appellations to stipulate it must be made solely from syrah. With 116 hectares planted in total, and 40 to 45 wine businesses – negociants, domaines, winemakers – operating, the average plot size is not great. Part of this is because vines are planted on steep, east, south and south-west facing granite slopes and terraces, so everything pretty much needs to be done by hand.

The Clapes own 5.5 hectares, which Olivier said is big enough for a small family “I like to be in and work in the vineyard, and we don’t want to lose the contact with the ground. If you grow too much you have to delegate and then you stay at the office and do a lot of papers, you lose a bit of the real job of winegrowing and making.”

Unusually for Cornas, Olivier’s grandfather started ageing his syrah in foudres. These are 1,200 litre, oval casks, more commonly found in Alsace. Olivier explained “there is a bit less oxygenation in the foudre. It’s maybe more true to the wine, it doesn’t touch the wine too much. My grandfather liked them, so he kept them. They’re probably 50 years old now.”

After this length of time, big old casks can start leaking a bit, so the Clapes have started to replace some of the casks, but still with the foudres. Olivier said “we bought four new foudres in 2004 and 2006.”

But the family does not want the flavour of new oak in their wines, so they send their new foudres to be ‘broken in’ by Domaine Ott in Bandol, southern France. Ott are happy to make a white fermentation in the new foudres. Olivier said “After a year they come here to the winery for the Cornas. And after 4-5 years they are almost neutral. You really can’t taste oak in the wine.” 

“We don’t do too much winemaking, we let nature speak”

The foudres are for maturing the new wines. That little bit of oxygenation helps to round out the tannins. The rest of the winemaking is just at traditional, said Olivier “we don’t do too much in the winemaking, we let nature speak. We use 100% whole bunches [no destemming], a little bit crushed before going into cement tanks.” The fermenting must gets a “light punch down and pump over twice a day for 12 days”, but they “always try to get the best maturity in the vineyard, then do very little in the winemaking.”

Using stalks or not in red winemaking is often a point of debate, but Olivier explained “We have a short, for the region, fermentation and maceration, because we don’t want to go too far with the stalks. They give a bit of tannin and also some freshness and acidity. It may make the wine a bit tighter, but it enables the wine to age.” He added if they were to destem, the wine would be heavier, whereas they are looking for elegance and a certain lightness in the naturally full-bodied syrah variety.

Four wines are made by Domaine Clape, all of them made from syrah. Vin des Amis comes from just one hectare of vines that lie outside the appellation. It is now labelled as the new ‘vin de France’ category. The Clapes make it the same way they make their Cornas, with whole bunches, and with a few months’ maturation

Next up is another single hectare of Côtes du Rhône, which also lies outside the Cornas appellation. This has up to 10 months’ maturation.

Cornas

Then two cuvées are made from the 12 different parcels of vineyard they have scattered over the Cornas appellation. Cornas Renaissance is made from young vines “12, 15 and 20 year old vines. The wine is a blend of those different young vineyard parcels” said Olivier, and is the most recent addition to the portfolio – it’s first vintage was 1997.  Olivier said this cuvée is more fruity, more exuberant, but it won’t age as long as their top wine.

This top wine, labelled just Cornas, is an old vineyard cuvée, from 30, 50 and 60 year old vineyards, where some individual vines are over 100 years old.  As the Clapes replace each vine as it dies, it’s quite tricky to give a precise age of a vineyard parcel.  This is the more austere, tight blend, with most structure and complexity, a long palate and long age-worthiness. Both spend up to 20 months maturing. Though the winemaking for the two Cornas blends is the same, what’s being expressed, said Olivier, is the different terroirs.

Top Cornas can be muscular and powerful, and the best retain an elegance, a purity of fragrance balanced with a firm structure. Olivier explained that Cornas “is a wine to be aged. It’s a full bodied wine with structure, and usually you need to know a bit about wine to understand Cornas.” 

Of his own wines, he said “we try to make wine with structure and finesse, with fine tannins, as well as fruit. We try to have an elegant wine, with a lot of body and not just big tannins. And the granite gives minerality to the wine.”

 Source : Philippe Guigal (pers. comm.), June 2008

In some countries, syrah/shiraz is very new on the global stage. France and Australia have long-established syrah/shiraz vineyards. Indeed shiraz in Australia accounts for just under 50% of that country’s red vineyard area.  But it is in Chile and South Africa where plantings have exploded at a triffid-like rate.  In South Africa the syrah/shiraz vineyard has just about doubled in a decade to reach 10% share of the total vineyard, and in Chile, a decade’s growth has seen syrah/shiraz acreage increase from 200 hectares (ha) to over 3,500 ha. Some Californians are predicting syrah/shiraz to be their next ‘new thing’.

De Bortoli, Yarra Valley

Issues on the global syrah/shiraz agenda included labelling in the new world as a style differentiator.  As in, if the producer thinks his/her shiraz is more French in style, label it syrah. This could also follow the cooler fruit (syrah) / warmer fruit (shiraz) paradigm, but the anecdotal reality of just this tasting suggests any labelling protocol so far exists only the minds of some producers.  The Craggy Range and the De Bortoli might fit the mould, but the South African pair might have been labelled the other way round. Torbreck avoids the issue completely by using leaving off the varietal from the front label.

We discussed the use of a tiny (<5%) proportion of viognier (skins, lees, wine, pressings) in the shiraz ferment, which can lift perfume, soften tannin, stabilise colour.  See here for a (slightly) deeper view.

American versus French oak is usually the other theme that arises with shiraz/syrah, but the group seemed more concerned with too much unintegrated oak, regardless of origin, on one or two of the wines.

Summary of group comments

Rated by the group, wines with high approval quotient, for differing reasons, in alphabetical order:

• Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz 2004, Barossa, Australia, £48.99. Fareham Wine Cellar    
• Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2007, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, £34.95. New Zealand House of Wine
• De Bortoli Reserve Release Syrah 2005, Yarra Valley, Australia £19.
• Domaine Michel et Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie 2006, Rhône valley, France 2006, £410.38/doz (£34.20/btl.  Armit  
• Torbreck Descendant 2006, Barossa Valley, Australia £79.95 / btl or £340/6 in bond, LCB. Handford Wines

All three Aussie wines made it into the top five. The group couldn’t quite believe that both the Burge Meshach and the Torbreck Descendant were from the Barossa Valley, the Meshach completely typical in the classic mould; the Torbreck silky smooth and aromatic (my words).  The De Bortoli, from the Yarra Valley, was completely different again.

Côte-Rôtie

Some suggested the old world for the De Bortoli, as indeed did some for the Craggy Range. I suspect both producers will be happy with that.

The Côte-Rôtie was a lesson in class.

The feedback on the Chilean and South African pair was less flattering, price and value for money being a concern.  Given some of the prices demanded, no forgiveness was offered for the fact that both Chile and South Africa are really very new to shiraz/syrah. Young vines so often make young wines, it can be difficult to build in layers of complexity with young-vine fruit. Nonetheless the group was least happy with these.

My tasting notes, not blind, March 2010.

General observations

• Alcohol was evident, and therefore not fully in balance, in too many of the wines.
• Although tasting young wines, there was still too much new oak evident one or two of the wines.
• Despite some of the alcohols, a remarkable degree of acid freshness was present in all the wines.

The Foundry Syrah 2004, Coastal Region, South Africa, £16 (14.5%)           
Deep ruby colour; floral, red berries. Supple, sweet, enticing palate attack with sweet plum and liquorice-confectionery notes. Full bodied, dry-roasted spices. Slight distraction of burnt charcoal note in the far distance of the palate. Powerful and alcoholic, with the sweetness of red-berried fruit bringing it all back into perspective in a wholesome if not particularly rounded fashion.

Luddite Shiraz 2005, Walker Bay, South Africa, £25 (14%)
Dark translucent ruby colour; cinnamon, sandalwood and cherry blossom spectrum of aromas. Earthy aromatics and freshness of fruit-focused palate to fore, with smoky tar note towards back of palate. Lush, sweet fruit held in frame by restraining fresh acid core.  Smooth texture, focus on density and breadth of fruit expression, with some noteworthy elegant elements incorporated within this. Final finish is just caught off guard for an instant with a short note of bitter caramel, which detracts from an otherwise somewhat restrained shiraz within a forceful South African genre.    

Amayna Syrah 2007, Leyda Valley, Chile, £20 (14.5%)
Deep inky plum colour. Sweet red plum and heady allspice nose with mocha notes. Crunchy, young attack, with alcohol too evident. Rich fruit intensity counters the heat of alcohol, and the fruit is fresh-picked, (alluding to its windy coastal location? Certainly no baked characters) in the sweet plum, liquorice, black berry and allspice spectrum. Some positive herbal notes. Full bodied with grainy youthful texture.  

Montes Folly Syrah, 2006, Apalta, Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley, Chile, £35 to £40 (15%)
Deep ruby colour with bright translucence to the rim. Red cherry and sandalwood nose, with hints of tobacco. Dark spices, some aromatic tarry notes, a smoothening texture all combine to create a wine layered with ripe fruit and rich toasted, caramel notes. Alcohol comes through quite strongly at the back of the palate. Full-bodied, heady and sweet-textured with tarry, plum, bitter chocolate and notes of fresh leather, more savoury, by design, than fruity, in a youthful expression. Do need to watch the alcohol.    

Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2007, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, £35 (14%)
Deep ruby with purple hints.  A floral hit on the nose is followed by red fruits – raspberries, redcurrants – then fresh leather and green tea. Smooth palate attack of crunchy, youthful fruit, in a medium to full bodied style, made complex by aromatic tar, dark berry fruits in the depth of the palate, and an elegance beyond that suggested by its integrated 14% of alcohol. The alcohol is invisibly seamed into the whole, to create a wine of some significant refinement as well as with plenty of aromatic and fruit power. Really very nice, and very young.  Sophistication in development.

De Bortoli Reserve Release Syrah 2005, Yarra Valley, Australia, £20 (14%)
Medium deep ruby colour; aromatic, floral, perfumed. Clearly a different style from its predecessors in the flight, just on colour and nose. Sweet, fresh fruit compote attack, strawberry, raspberry, in a medium-bodied wine of focus and length in the palate. Immediately elegant, with fronds of fruit swaying from a fresh backbone of acid structure. Alcohol is seamless. All the focus is on fruit-freshness equilibrium with acidity, which works wonderfully well. Serious, refined, definitely a cooler style – not any jamminess to the fruit. If you like Barossa shiraz, don’t try this at home.

Gayda Chemin de Moscou 2007, Vin de Pays d’Oc, France, £20 (14%) 
This was a slight interloper, having tasted and loved it at a recent trade tasting. Just 72% syrah, with grenache and cinsault. Plenty of strawberry perfume waving from the glass and lingering. Palate attack is soft, voluptuous, dense and intense and this persists through the palate. Medium bodied, with ripe red berry fruits of the forest, alcohol integrated, tannins imperceptibly silky in the sweet-glycerol texture.  There’s a hint of garrigue spiciness, aromatic herbal notes, thyme and rosemary that add layers to this complex, modern style of wine. Balanced, intense flavours without dominating power.

Domaine Michel et Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie 2006, Rhône valley, France 2006, £35 (13%)   
Medium deep ruby. Violets, raspberries, aromatic tar, a reminiscence of liquorice stick. Sweet-yet-fresh strawberry and raspberry fruit, medium-bodied and perfumed, elegant, refined, with a long, long finish. Restraint, elegance yet depth and intensity of fruit flavour, with silky lightness of seamlessly-grained tannin, yet which are plentiful and framing, for some years yet. The fruit plumbs unchartered depths of the palate profile. It has balance, it has integrity; an inspiring wine.  

Château Maris, Old Vine Syrah 2007, Minervois La Livinière, Languedoc, France, £20 (15%)
Medium deep translucent ruby. Has the spicy, herbal garrigue nose of Southern France with sweet red berry fruits emerging from the herbal introduction.  Fresh-stewed berry fruits, with sweet cinnamon, allspice and juniper berry. The palate is smooth, the tannins fine-grained. Savoury, biltong and leather notes are developing amid the sweet berries. This is a big winewith some considerable power, and the alcohol is fully integrated, adding to that sweet-mulled note. An epitome of the big-brute softie.   

Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz 2004, Barossa, Australia, £50 (14.5%)
Deep ruby colour; minty, sweet-plum and sweet chocolate nose. Soft-fruited palate attack with focus on warm curry spices. The alcohol is held in check well. Gorse and coconut notes of American oak play their integral part. The palate is sweet, lush, full bodied, and slick with a smooth- glycerol texture. Tarry, charcoal aromatics come to the fore at the back of the palate in a wine that shows many layers of lush complexity. Sweet fruit, lush, palate-coating sweet tannins, big, full-fat, full-body, concentrated and brutishly seductive.  You wouldn’t want less from the Barossa.

Torbreck Descendant 2006, Barossa Valley, Australia, £75 to £80 (15%)
Possibly the opposite extreme of the Barossa Valley:  deep translucent ruby colour. Violet and morello cherry perfume erupts enticingly from the glass. Deeply-fruited wine whose refinement seems evident on the nose, if only such a thing were technically possible. Freshly-sweet fruit, with the acid structure keeping the focus upstanding. Perfumed palate, elegant, toasted, tar notes offering layers of complexity and depth. Lush and sweet, all held in balanced check by that fresh acid core. Fleshy layers of sweet berried fruit, supremely well balanced and layered. Seriously good. It has concentration and density without massive power and guts, and the alcohol is completely unnoticed with all the seductive beauty of the fruit and fine, sweet tannin structure.

Shiraz in the Bot River

Shiraz has seen something of an explosive growth in South Africa.  Plantings have increased from 2% of the vineyard area just over a decade ago, to 10% today. It is now the fourth most planted variety in South Africa, after chenin blanc, cabernet sauvignon and colombard. Sauvignon blanc and chardonnay are next.   

Part of this rapid increase is a wider trend to grow more ‘international’ varieties -  chenin blanc is coming down – not surprising considering it used to comprise one-third of the vineyard area less than a generation ago, now down to less than 20% –  as well as colombard in the whites. Merlot and cabernet sauvignon are on the up, but not near the growth rate of shiraz, which has really become the flavour of the month.

Another part of the trend is the changing political situation in South Africa.  Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa, the generic promotional organisation, pointed out just how young the industry is in real terms saying: “until 1992 you couldn’t plant grapes unless you had a quota from the KWV (a co-operative established in 1918 to stabilise the industry). And you could only export through the KWV. There was a pool of cheap and cheerful wines and 85% of the vineyard was colombard and chenin blanc.  In 1994 we achieved democracy. So we are only a 15 year old industry, and had to drag ourselves up from a low position.” 

The achievement of democracy has allowed producers to break out of traditional wine-growing regions and explore brand new ones, many of which are towards the coast – of both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and others have sought increasing altitude, not just for shiraz, but for other varieties too, notably sauvignon blanc.

Of course shiraz loves warmer climates, and South Africa has plenty of those, and this is one of the reasons it is thought to have so much potential in the country. It’s in these traditional regions where the earlier shiraz plantings are – Swartland, Paarl and Stellenbosch. One of the things that is new within the warmer regions is a trend to smaller scale production, with lower yields and more terroir-related results. People like Eben Sadie of Sadie Family Wines were one of the early ones, at the turn of the millennium, to make wines of acclaim in Swartland, with his Columella blend of mainly shiraz with some mourvèdre. 

Swartland, 50 miles north east of Cape Town, has seen a boom for shiraz. Prices were relatively inexpensive in this pretty hot, dry climate, which gets some differences in vineyard climate due to its relative proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and this encouraged new winemakers wanting to make a name for themselves. Stalwart of the region though, with more than 60 years experience, is the Swartland Winery, representing 200 growers, and bringing in fruit from a 20 mile radius, which gives enough fruit character differences to offer interesting blending opportunities.

Sorting shiraz berries at Saronsberg

A little further inland,  to the north-east, is Tulbagh, with a continental climate, dry and hot during the day, though differences in day and night-time temperatures are also quite marked. Here, Saronsberg, whose first vintage was 2004, have more recently being making medal-winning shiraz. The shiraz 2006 won Gold at the Veritas and Double Gold at the Michaelangelo Awards in South Africa, and their Full Circle 2006 (shiraz, mourvèdre, viognier) also got Gold at Veritas and five stars (the maximum) in the UK’s Decanter magazine tasting.

Their winemaker, Dewaldt Heyns explained their rapid success: “It’s hot and we’ve adapted to the area. We’ve worked against the heat and abundant sunshine by changing row direction, the canopy system and trellising height and by lowering yield.” 

Given how recent is the surge in shiraz plantings, the vines at Saronsberg are quite old by comparison with many at an envious 10-12 years old, just coming into their prime. This no doubt plays a part in the consistent success the winery has had with their past few vintages, and Heyns added: “We want to create stunning wines. Our wines are fairly big and bold with a measure of elegance. We work with skins but we de-stem everything.  Our biggest bonus which helps a lot is our hand-sorting system, we have tight selection, and yields are very low, about 28 to 32 hl/ha.

“We also pre-cool the grapes before start anything. We take the temperature down very quickly; we were the first cellar in South Africa to use this system and we feel it helps with quality.” Of course he said “we pick early morning, and are finished by 9am.”

Saronsberg is making shiraz something of a speciality, and the variety accounts for 40% of their plantings. In trying to identify the reasons for their success, Heyns said: “we try to take all the small things you can do to make a better wine.  Each contributes a small amount, and you just need 1 or 2% to elevate the quality level to something different.”

La Motte's Edmund Terblanche

Saronsberg are the boutique end of things.  Total production is just 12,000 cases. But a different approach is that of La Motte.  They were an estate, meaning they could only use fruit grown on their property in Franschhoek, but they de-regulated which allows them to buy fruit from any wine-producing area in the country. As Edmund Terblanche, their winemaker, said: “this where the future lies – there’s too much diversity [in South Africa] to harvest just from one wine-farm.”  This is certainly something with which Australia is familiar.

It was in 2002, said Terblanche “that we decided to go for shiraz more, and make different styles.” It has become something of a flagship variety for them. They bought another vineyard 60 miles away in Bot River, near Walker Bay and these two wine-farms supply the bulk of La Motte’s needs. But said Terblanche “we also get fruit from Darling, Wellington, and Paarl, and lately we’re looking for more cool-climate grapes from emerging areas such as Elim.”

Terblanche is also the chairman of the Shiraz Association in South Africa, a group that hopes to emulate the achievements of the Pinotage Association. It was only last October they formally got together, and they are yet to decide a corporate identity and website. But, Terblanche said “we have the potential to become a strong body. Shiraz is the second most planted red. There are over 700 labels for shiraz in South Africa, yet in 1992 there were just 50. And South Africa is the fourth biggest producer of shiraz in the world.”

Bordeaux may get all the headlines, but there’s more syrah planted in France than cabernet sauvignon.  The Rhône valley has all the famous, top-notch vineyards, but they are tiny in comparison to total plantings, which are widespread across the whole south of France, where syrah is normally blended with grenache, plus cinsault, mourvèdre (mataro) and carignan.

Rhône valley vineyard

Things are quite regulated in the Rhône valley. And the northern Rhône is tiny in comparison to the southern Rhône. The northern ‘crus’ appellations including Cornas, Côte-Rôtie, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage and St. Joseph account for only 5% of total Rhône valley production.

The rest is from the broad rolling terrain of the southern Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône-Villages appellations as well as the likes of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

In total, France has about 70,000 ha of syrah spread over all these regions, compared to Australia’s 44,000.  But this is just 8.5% of the vineyard area in France whereas Australia has made a massive feature of shiraz, which accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s total vineyard area.

At the crème-de-la-crème end of syrah wine, Côte-Rôtie vies with Hermitage for top dog slot, and it’s often personal preference. They’re on different sides of the river, the ‘roasted slopes’ of Côte-Rôtie face the warm east and south, and the appellation allows the use of viognier in the blend, something that’s also become very trendy in Australia.  Meanwhile Hermitage is considered more muscular and tannic, the slopes face mostly west and south, and the wines must be made 100% of syrah.  The total production of these two appellations combined is in the region of 160,000 cases. Rarity value alone stretches the imagination.

The Hermitage appellation, at just 130 ha, is a hard, granite hill, an outcrop from France’s Massif Central, separated from it by the River Rhône. The river was forced to take a nearly west-east squiggle past the 344m high hill on its way south to the Mediterranean sea.  The west sides, those facing across the river to the Massif, are therefore all granite-based soils. On the east side of the hill, soil influences come more from the Alps, with glacial deposits.

Jaboulet Hermitage

One of the most iconic Hermitage wines is Jaboulet’s La Chapelle. This chapel of Saint Christopher has been owned by Maison Paul Jaboulet Aîné since 1919. Caroline Frey, their winemaker said: ”one of the particularities of La Chapelle is to blend all the different terroirs of Hermitage – Méal, Bessard, Rocoules, Murets – that’s why the wine is so complex and so well balanced, with such a long ageing potential.”

Michel Chapoutier, the seventh generation to run his eponymous business, whose L’Ermite wine is also from Hermitage added, with “the same grape you have different expressions in different soils – the granite part of Hermitage is graphite dominant, in Méal, you get ink.” On this basis a winemaker can choose whether to blend different parcels, as in La Chapelle, or create a unique expression of a single vineyard site, as in L’Ermite. 

Other appellations also have different expressions, he said: “Côte-Rôtie gives black olive and bacon, Cornas is fig leaves.” Chapoutier didn’t restrict his comments to France; he also works in Australia and said of his projects there “the Cambrian rock at Heathcote gives a concentration with ink and violet [and] in the Pyrenees, on schist, it is liquorice and pepper. Even with same clone, we have different expressions thanks to soil.” Terroir, or site-specificity clearly influences syrah’s flavours.

Côte-Rôtie is a little bigger than Hermitage, but still only musters 224 ha in total. It’s generally less tannic, and the best are more floral, fragrant and elegant than Hermitage. Guigal is one of the best regarded proponents of the appellation, and his single vineyard wines La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne are some of the most sought-after wines.

Guigal Côte Blonde

Philippe Guigal, general manager and winemaker at E. Guigal took up the terroir theme for syrah in the northern Rhône. In terms of quality, he said: “high quality parameters are the vineyard and terroir, and the people behind the terroir. We have a lot of winemakers who counterbalance what is normally done by terroir and nature. On the Côte Blonde, we expect very fine, delicate wines. Brune has more tannins, more structure.” He said some winemakers might do more pumping over on Blonde fruit to counter its delicacy, But at Guigal he added, the “balance is the opposite: if the terroir says the wine should be fine and delicate, we want to keep the level of finesse and delicacy. And to keep the phenolic potential of Brune.” Their ‘Blonde et Brune’ Côte-Rôtie is a blend of fruit from these two vineyards. And the Guigal vineyards are co-planted with a tiny percentage of viognier, as permitted in the regulations. It is all picked at the same time and fermented together with the shiraz.

Given that the northern Rhône appellations account for just 5% of total Rhône production, it is no surprise that the main producers also run merchant businesses in the southern Rhône, buying in fruit and wine, blending it and bottling under their own label, for each appellation. In this respect it’s no different from the bigger Australian companies buying fruit in several regions.  Guigal’s Côtes du Rhône is probably one of the best known brands. Philippe Guigal said: “we taste blind finished samples on a large scale.  Every day [after harvest] we receive 50-60 samples and we select one or two each time. 90% of the time, we buy wine from the same people” even though the wines are tasted blind, which shows both the consistency of the tasting and of the growers.

There are more than 6,000 wine growers in the Rhône Valley, so this type of business is important for Rhône brands. The big southern Côtes du Rhône appellation has different regulations again, and here syrah is a contributor to the blend, which contains grenache, as well as mourvèdre. Syrah adds berry fruits, structure and some fine tannins to a Côtes du Rhône blend. Guigal’s usually has at least 50% syrah, and more in poorer vintages to preserve the structure, while Jaboulet’s Parallèle 45 is usually around 60% grenache with 40% syrah.

But it’s not just the bigger players that run their business as a combination of estate and merchant sectors. Château Mont-Redon started out as a Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate. But since the mid 1990s, said owner Jean Abeille “we conduct two different activities – producer with a wine range under the ‘Château Mont-Redon’ label and wine merchant activity under the ‘Monredon’ brand.” This keeps estate separate from brand, but more than hints at the link.  He said they started partly as a response to customer demand and also for their children who will one day inherit the business.  

So just in the Rhône valley, the wines may be 100% syrah, in the north, or 10% or more in a Côtes du Rhône blend – the original GSM (grenache, syrah/shiraz, mourvèdre) wines.  There’s also plenty of syrah planted in the Roussillon and Languedoc, all across the regions that border the warm Mediterranean Sea, offering syrah a climate that makes it smile.

Co-fermentation seems to be a recent buzz word from the new world, but truth be known, the French have been using this technique almost forever.

It is the simultaneous fermentation of two or more grape varieties in the same vat. The ‘field blends’ of California fame spring to mind, as do the accidental co-fermentation of Chilean merlot-merlot with carmenere, before they sorted out that they were dealing with two different grape varieties.

Viognier gives floral aromas. Syrah gives raspberries and strawberries.

Most commonly though, syrah/shiraz and viognier are the players/protagonists and the scene is Côte Rôtie, in France’s Rhône valley, where up to 20% of viognier is permitted in the blend, where viognier is mixed with syrah in the vineyard, and shiraz-rich bits of the new world.

Pierre Gaillard, of the eponymous French domaine said, for his Côte Rôtie: “we pick the grapes together, we macerate and ferment both grapes together. Viognier has more sugar than syrah, so helps to raise alcohol in the wine. This means more fatness, more structure, a softer structure, more flavours in the wine.  Because viognier is a very aromatic variety, the skins give the wine floral aromas, such as violets.  The syrah gives more cassis, raspberries and strawberries.” He said the floral aromas help with freshness in the wine, which is one of the typical traits of Côte Rôtie – “it can be a full bodied wine, but it always stays quite fresh, and the viognier helps for more complexity and elegance.”

Gaillard uses viognier berries, which are all destemmed, with the syrah before going to the vat. But there are other techniques, such as using just the skins of viogner. Erlank Erasmus, winemaker of the South Africa’s Goats do Roam range, said of the Goat Roti, a co-fermented syrah/4% viognier, “viognier skins are put into shiraz ferment.  They help stabilise colour, making the wine darker, and elevate the fruit of the wine, giving freshness and a floral character, and softening the palate structure.”

Viognier flowers and textural modification are key attractions of the technique.  Warren Gibson, winemaker at New Zealand’s Trinity Hill said: “the tannin molecules in viognier stabilise red pigment, but we do it for the lovely aromatics – floral, blossom, dried apricots, ginger.  It also gives a creamy mid palate, a textural feel not seen with varietal syrah.”

So simply blending a bit of viognier into a syrah/shiraz would not have these floral, structural and visual effects, and would probably dilute and simplify the wine instead. The scientific understanding of the processes involved is still at an early stage.  Whether it suits other grape varieties, with synchronous ripening times, is open to experimentation.

Democracy liberated the industry from the shackles of the past including trade sanctions, which also meant that high quality new planting material was hard to come by, and a brandy-distillation focused grape growing trade, rather than light wine. International travel, the lifeblood of cross-fertilisation of ideas and skills in a global wine industry had also been inhibited prior to democracy.

A defining moment occurred two years prior to democracy with the ending of the quota system.

Cederberg vineyards

To backtrack momentarily, at the turn of the 20^th century, the South African wine industry was in poor state of affairs with both wine surplus and attacks of devastating phylloxera. So in 1918, the KWV co-operative was set up to stabilise the industry. A quota system was later introduced which limited the number of vines a producer could grow. This meant the KWV, as operators of the quota, controlled the size of crop, the grape varieties planted, and the location of grapes.  It was not something that encouraged quality improvement, because minimum prices were guaranteed for grape products.

Abandoning the quota system in 1992 allowed a freer market to develop. Vines could be planted anywhere someone thought they could successfully make wine. The playing field was levelled further in 1997, when the KWV was privatised.

As a result, in the last 15 years, new wine-growing regions have been popping up all over the place in the Cape, outside the traditional areas of Stellenbosch, Paarl, Constantia and Robertson. For example, Cederberg, high up in the mountains; Lambert’s Bay, tight against the Atlantic coast; Elim, tight on the Indian Ocean; and further along the Indian Ocean coast, Plettenberg Bay, a good 500km as the crow flies from Cape Town. 

Generally, given that South Africa has a warm to hot Mediterranean climate, growers have sought less warm areas, and apple-growing territory such as that at Elgin, was an early opportunity. Those coastal pockets up the Atlantic and across the Indian Oceans are proving increasingly popular.

As a result of the shifting vineyards, the number of Wine of Origin (WO) designations has doubled since 1990, now heading towards 100.  The WO system specifies that fruit must come from the origin stated on the label, providing a guarantee of origin to consumers, much as the appellation system does in Europe.

Yet all this flight from traditional areas has not seen a massive expansion in vineyard area. Over the last five years the total vineyard area has settled at just over 100,000 hectares (ha). France, by comparison has 825, 000 ha, Australia 174,000 ha.

Diemersdal

However the structure of the country’s vineyard has changed almost beyond recognition, in terms of the grape varieties planted and the age of the vines. Twenty years ago, white grapes accounted for 85% of the vineyard area.  Now they account for just 56% as red grapes have taken firm root in the Cape. The top four reds – cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, merlot and pinotage between them are 35% of the total vineyard, though in the last few years only shiraz plantings are still growing, and then only just. Cabernet sauvignon plantings have increased three-fold, and shiraz plantings have gone from a just 1% 20 years ago to 10% today, an extraordinary increase, but one well borne-out by the warm and hot Mediterranean climate that favours shiraz/syrah. Even merlot plantings have doubled in the last decade.

On the white front, chenin blanc, which in 1990 represented a third of the vineyard area, is now less than 20%. And very much flavour of the moment, sauvignon blanc, plantings have doubled to nearly 10%.  It is the historical, less good quality grape varieties that are being ripped out, the likes of crouchen, palomino, clairette, and lesser known varieties, to make way for international grape varieties that have a considerably better export potential.

All this uprooting and replanting in recent years means about 50% of the South Africa’s vineyard is less than 10 years old, which by old world standards, is thought to be significant tipping point for improved wine quality. So things augur well for those producers already doing well from their young fruit.

A decade ago, the buzz was around Cape Blends – usually Bordeaux blends (cabernet sauvignon/merlot) with some of the Cape’s indigenous pinotage blended in. Warwick Estate’s Three Cape Ladies (the current 2005 vintage being 38% cabernet sauvignon; 25% pinotage; 22% shiraz and 15% merlot) is one of my favourite examples of the genre.

Now, the buzz is all around pristine, grassy-tropical-combo sauvignon blanc from relatively cooler, coastal sites, as well as around different expressions of shiraz/syrah, according to location. There’s been some ‘rediscovery’ of older vineyard pockets, for example around Paardeberg and Malmesbury in Swartland, about 70km north and a tad east of Cape Town, where the likes of Sadie Family Vinyards, Scali, The Observatory and Lammershoek lie, alongside the Swartland co-op which has being going for more than 60 years. 

Luddite, Bot River

Additionally the opening up of newer, less warm, sites is offering a stylistic difference, with more black pepper spice notes, floral violets and blackcurrant fruit. Cederberg first planted shiraz in 1999 and have developed a nice reputation for theirs. Diemersdal in Durbanville have a good commercial version. Luddite in Walker Bay only makes shiraz and their 2005 is a big, nicely-structured wine. It’s still evolving, but some producers are adopting the ‘syrah’ moniker for the ‘cooler’ examples and ‘shiraz’ for the warmer, full-blooded versions.

So much else is still evolving in viticulturally emancipated South Africa.

This article was inspired by a visit to the region in March 2009 sponsored by Wines of South Africa.

The Guigal family is one of the iconic producers of the Rhône Valley in France., and the northern Rhône appellation of Côte Rôtie is at the very heart of the company.  Syrah (shiraz) is grown here, and a little viognier.  No other grapes are permitted to be grown.

Marcel and Philippe Guigal

Guigal was founded by Etienne Guigal, in 1946, in the town of Ampuis.  It became one of the leading international lights of the Rhône under the auspices of Etienne’s son, Marcel who almost single-handedly led the revival of the small appellation, after he took over the business in 1961.

Third generation Philippe is now at the helm of a substantial business, having taken over twelve years ago, when he was just 22. And, with three degrees, (from the Universities of Dijon and Bordeaux, and an International MBA where he studied in 17 countries), as well as a life-time of wine experience, he is well placed to take the company to its next natural level.

Côte Rôtie

The appellation Côte Rôtie, which translates as ‘roasted slope’, extends to just over 200 hectares (ha), and includes some of the most inhospitable vineyard terrain, where some vineyards have a slope of 45° – impossible to work but for the most determined of manual labour.  Machines are unheard of. It’s even too steep for animal labour.  Many of Guigal’s vineyards on such slopes.

Côte Rôtie

The area oozes viticultural history from every leaf pore. Records show vines were cultivated here 2,400 years ago.

Côte Rôtie is a special spot where the river Rhône bends to expose vineyards to a perfect south-east aspect (considered ideal in European climes to capture the morning and day-time sun through the day). This aspect also protects the vines to some degree from the cold winds that buffet the northern Rhône.

Traditionally the appellation is split into the ‘blonde slopes’ – Côte Blonde –  and the ‘brown slopes’ – Côte Brune –  and a certain style of wine emanates from each patch of dirt, or terroir, as the French might say. Philippe explained: “Côte Blonde has schist soils of a calcareous nature, and mostly southern exposure. It expresses finesse [of syrah]. Côte Brune extends to the north, the soils have more clay and iron oxides, thus producing more powerful and structured wines“ with a deeper colour.  Guigal’s ‘Brune et Blonde’ label blends wines from both these slopes.

Winemaking

Guigal’s philosophy on the use of oak might raise a few eyebrows in Australia. The top wines spend three and a half years in 100% new oak as part of their maturation.  Philippe said: “my father and grandfather were fascinated by the history of winemaking. They read in 150 to 200 year old books that the first growths [in Côte Rôtie] were aged for 4 years in new pièces”.  A pièce is a barrel of 228 litres, which is three litres bigger than the size of oak barrel commonly used – a barrique, at 225 litres.

“When my grandfather and father started to buy vineyards in the 1960s, they worked on these purist traditions, which was very controversial in the 60s.  Most producers were using 40 to 50 year old chestnut barrels at that time.”  Philippe stressed “you cannot leave every wine for so long in oak because you would get oak juice.  You have to know the terroir and the vinification.”

Apart from the oak thing, Philippe often gets asked about the use of viognier with syrah, which has become enormously trendy over the past few years in Australia.  Côte Rôtie is both the birthplace of syrah, and of syrah-with-a-bit-of-viognier, and it is to this French appellation that countries such as Australia, California and South Africa look for inspiration with the syrah grape variety.  But Philippe has been unable to help new world producers, because, he said: “the vineyard is co-planted with viognier. It was done 70 years ago, and when a viognier vine dies, we replace it with a viogner. We try to keep the percentage of viognier consistent.”

Château d’Ampuis

Château d'Ampuis

The Château is the family home and business headquarters, having been bought in 1995, and painstakingly restored over the subsequent eleven years.  The oldest parts of the Château are from the 11^th and 12^th centuries, with the Château itself dating from the 16^th century. Coming full circle, the Château is where, in the 1930s, Etienne met Philippe’s grandmother, Marcelle, when she was working there as a housemaid.  Now it is a national monument, said Philippe, “we do a lot of receptions there, all the growers [in the Côte Rôtie] can use the Château if they want”.  Phillipe said that after their first growths of La Landonne, La Turque and La Mouline – top-top wines made in tiny quantities – the very best fruit goes into the Château label.  See below for line up of Guigal’s Côte Rôtie wines.

But the Guigal business is not just Côte Rôtie, as Philippe explained. “We have three businesses. The estate, which is about 60 ha in northern Rhône, on steep vineyards only. We also purchase grapes from small growers in the northern Rhône, where we do all the work and the vinification. And we have a pure negociant business in the southern Rhône where we buy finished wines.” Philippe said their negociant business, though they make their purchasing decisions on blind tastings every year, have found they are often buying wines from the same producers.

The full list of appellations worked by the Guigal family is:

• Northern Rhône: Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, St. Joseph, Crozes Hermitage (red and white), Condrieu.
• Southern Rhône: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône (red, white, rosé), Gigondas, Tavel

Celebrations

The family were delighted to have won the Winestate award in 2008. Philippe was completely charming and humble when he said: “My father and I are unusual French people. We taste a lot of [syrah and viognier] wines, from Australia, California and around the world. There are outstanding terroirs everywhere, different terroirs.

“I have lot of respect for the traditions in Australia. We share this idea of tasting wines throughout the world, and tasting wines next to each other, where wines are not competitors, they’re just different.”

There was another celebration in the Guigal family as 34-year-old Philippe got married in July 2008.  He married the girl next door … to the family summer home in Corsica. Eve is already part of the business, working on the marketing  and communications for the family, her specialty.