A Year of Promise & Adventure...

Melvyn Minnaar

In the afterglow of the pleasantries that bring friends and family together at year’s end, when there are plenty of opportunities to share best bottles collected over the past year, adventurous supporters of the vinous arts may give a thought to what may be new and exciting or better to drink in 2008.

After all the great bubbly pour of recent days, a new year’s resolution with a tinge of bling may well call for more of the splendid stuff at all and every event. Isn’t it remarkable how well good sparkling wine suits just about every pleasure - and that includes all get-togethers, moods and food. You can stick with it.

So, as a first prediction, it’s a no-brainer that the steadily rising consumption of bubbly will continue in South Africa. At the top end, proper bottle-fermented versions are getting on par with the best in the world, while less-expensive charmant-bottlings are picking up their own increasing allure. Dedicated producers will keep on pushing the envelope. (Graham Beck’s Pieter Ferreira, leader of the pack, is quietly working on a ‘new improved model’.)

For the moment, first-generation wine fans’ favourite tipple seems to remain early-drunk sauvignon blanc. (Others know better and to hold on for a year or so.) With a good harvest about to happen, the promise is good for the 2008 vintage, so expect more and fine-tuned versions - some of completely-new (cool) regions.

The problem with those exclusive SB drinkers is that they do themselves out of the joys of chenin blanc (undoubtedly our best potential grape for an across-the-board wine) and chardonnay (inspired by Burgundy, we produce some of the finest in the world), to mention but two. And maybe this is the year when real riesling catches the limelight.

Expect to see and drink more white wines skilfully crafted from a variety of different grapes that grow cheerfully in, say, ‘warmer’ places like the Swartland. We are entering an era of brilliantly blended white wines, which will shun the current obsession with single varietals. Maybe the challenges of ‘mix-’n-match’ will deliver a future local ‘Gemischter Satz’ wine - the rising-star white blend in Austria, in which different varietals grow and are vinified together in a ‘field blend’.

Thankfully, a number of new red wine makers are also following the so-called Mediterranean recipe. Blending red grapes with names that we never knew, but which seem to flourish in our lands, the profile of average, as well as high-end, reds is changing dramatically - for the better,  (Some would say this exactly where the fashionable fixation on shiraz finds its rightful place.)

A spirit of adventure is about to energise South Africa’s reds, which seem to have had a bit of bad press recently.

Even pinotage seems to be getting a new life in all this. Expect more subtle blends taking on pinotage. But, even more so, wait for very smart pinotages coming from a new generation of winemakers who love the challenge of this quirky grape.

Of course, Bordeaux-inspired reds have been with us for yonks and, for many, remain the pinnacle of winemaking art. Some of the highest-priced (sometimes over-priced) ‘trophy’ bottlings fall in this category, but few will argue the distinction and charm of the top performers, they remain the Cape’s strength. Anticipate more (with flashy labels), but look out too for those that shift the blend sideways with a dash of, say, shiraz.

But, in the meanwhile, we are in the throws of a classic South African summer, and for obvious reasons, the wines we drink come, for the most part, from the refrigerator. Many of the above mentioned whites reside there, but more and more people are experiencing the thrill of pink. Yes, rosé wines are the top scorers for a southern summer - and our cellars are turning out more and more different and unusual beauties. There may even be more in a few months’ time.

Let’s hope these new wines are made in consideration of increasing concerns about high alcohols. What we need for summer are low-alcohol wines with crisp freshness.

The year ahead will also see more wines coming from regions and places that have not featured on the traditional wine map. There will be new labels, more screwcaps and plenty of bottled excitement. All this will allow the intrepid wine lover a feast of a year.