GVG Black Land Bargains

Neil Pendock and the GVG take a daytrip to the Swartland on the trail of value for

money wines you’ve likely never heard of.

The Swartland, that bowl of Bokomo cereal tinged green by sprawling vineyards, is one

of the oldest appellations in SA: producers like Allesverloren date back to the 17th

century. Yet in reality, it’s barely ten years old.

The Swartland popped onto my radar screen when GVG and I

visited Eben Sadie and Tom Lubbe in their tumbledown bucolic

Eden that was Charles Back’s Spice Route operation on the farm

Amoskuil outside sleepy Malmesbury back in 2001.

Miles Davis was playing ascenseur pour l’échafaud (lift to the

scaffold) on the tapedeck in that pre-iPod period and Tom was

wet-nursing barrels of the first Swartland terroir blend,

tentatively called Caldera. Later revised to Kalbas after they

found out some Americans were already producing a Caldera.

Which was a pity, as Spain’s most famous architect, Antonio

Gaudí, was raised at Mas de la Calderera in Catalonia. Tom and

Eben are big fans of the intense reds of the Pyrenees; Eben

calls Priorato, just south of Barcelona, "the best wine-growing

region in the world" and spends half the year there.

Tom went one better and married Nathalie, the daughter of

Gérard Gauby on the other side of the mountains in French Roussillon where he now

makes a kickass white blend called

Matassa which tastes remarkably like

something… grown in the Swartland!

The GVG swallowed the fifties avant-

gard jazz hauntingly filling the cellar

hook line and sinker but today he’d

be more aware of Eben’s finely

tuned marketing antennae that sees

him offer his R550-a-bottle

Syrah/Mourvèdre blend Columella in

Riedel crystal stemware, subliminally

reinforcing the quality assumption

Eben Sadie, King of the

Swartland

Swartland Tasting at Bar Bar Black Sheep in August

that this is no Swartland dop but rather the best rated SA red ever by Wine Spectator

magazine.

Which explained the twitching of GVG’s own moustache when he received an invitation

from Eben to a Swartland appellation tasting at Bar Bar Black Sheep. BBBS is Mynard

Joubert’s hedonistic HQ in Riebeek-Kasteel, the thinking person’s Franschhoek, an hour

from Cape Town. Further investigation revealed that Eben “wanted to keep the tasting

tight” so the usual hoards of freebee freelancers who crowd-out tastings, would

hopefully be thinned.

The GVG doesn’t usually play crowd scenes but

he’s hardnosed when it comes to value

propositions. So the prospect of 20 Swartland

producers at a haal uit en wys (showing their

cards) was too tempting to pass up.

Johan Simons from Dragon Ridge in the Joubert’s

Kloof of the Paardeberg made a dense and intense

white blend in 2006 “inspired by Eben Sadie. We

sell ours for R55 a bottle while his is in the several

hundreds. But R100 a bottle is a cutoff for my

friends. Any more than that and they buy a bottle

of whisky.” So the GVG took Johan’s advice and restricted himself to wines under the

R100 glass ceiling.

GVG Swartland Whites

Least expensive white to make the grade was Babylon’s Peak

Chenin Blanc 2009 (R30). Winemaker Stephan Basson’s 40 year

old Chenin vineyards are older than he is. Most of his 200ha of

grapes are sold off to famous brands but a tiny percentage is

bottled under his own label. This fresh and fruity Chenin is floral

and zingy with acid pear drops fading to a lingering, peachy

farewell.

The Porterville Co-op is located in the northeastern corner of

the Swartland, next to Tulbagh, which explains why the co-op’s

blend of Viognier and Chenin Blanc 2009 (R40) is labeled

André Oberholzer

Johan Simons

Paddagang for the Tulbagh restaurant of the

same name. Cellarmaster André Oberholzer

reckons the flavours are deep enough to deal

with a chicken curry which given the profusion

of chicken farms in the vicinity, must be a

popular dish.

White blends are suddenly in fashion and

make complete sense as the vintage

weaknesses and strengths of various

components may be finely balanced by a canny winemaker like Hugo Basson. 2007

was arguably the vintage of the naughty noughties and the Annexkloof White 2007

(R45) has oaky richness and food friendly acids.

Pieter du Toit’s Kloovenburg Chardonnay 2009 is a steal at R48. Defiantly New

World in style with big, booming fruit and 15% alcohol, it has a fragrant nose

reminiscent of church incense.

Irishman Bernard McCoy has a 2008 blend of Chenin

Blanc and Grenache Blanc for R55. It is made from

Chenin grown on slate near his Roundstone B&B in

Riebeeksrivier while the exotic Grenache Blanc

component comes courtesy of the inevitable Mr.

Sadie. Bernard’s maiden vintage, only 600 bottles

were made. Matured in old wooden barrels, it has

the lively elegance of a leprechaun’s jig.

2009 is Pieter Euverard’s first vintage and his

oxidative white blend (R60) of Chenin, Sémillon, Chardonnay and Viognier made on his

Orangerie farm, tastes of… oranges. Once it’s bottled and labeled, it will be well

worth searching out.

Hugo and Stephan Basson

Bernard McCoy

GVG Swartland Reds

In the red department, Swartland is synonymous with Shiraz and Eric

Saayman made a classic baked black plum pie at Riebeek Cellars in

downtown Riebeek-Kasteel. The 2006 vintage at R60 is the same

price as Andries Blake’s sour cherries and figgy

interpretation of the same vintage from Swartland

Winery located just before the potholes as you drive

on the R45 into Malmesbury. Pity about the R100 limit

as the Swartland Idelia 2006 (R120) is an amazing achievement of

perfume and balance. Rudi Wium hedges his bets at Meerhof by

producing a blend of four vintages (04-07) for R80 that is deep and

delicious.

Allesverloren make an Old World style Shiraz – big

and full bodied – with spices and smoke reminiscent of those ancient

cattle rustling raids from which the farm earned its lugubrious name

“all is lost.” The farm is the birthplace of SA prime minister DF Malan

while Boer general (and another prime minister) Jan Smuts was born

in Riebeek West, a couple of kilometers up the road from Riebeek-

Kasteel. The Smuts homestead is now located next to a giant PPC

cement plant, the expansion of which is very much no cause célèbre

in both Riebeek towns.

Shiraz is not the only string to the Swartland bow. Anton Espost

has a fresh and spicy blend of Pinotage and Merlot from the 2007

vintage which he sells for R70. This is no obvious coffee/mocha

Pinotage, but rather a symphony of sour figs with strong mineral

notes. His wine is called 1120, which resolves disputes over a

brand name among the several owners of farm 1120 on the

Kasteelberg mountain.

Eric Saayman

Gilmar Boschoff from

Allesverloren

Anton Espost

Rudi Wium

Billy Hughes hails from Argentina and his spicy red blend of Shiraz,

Pinotage, Mourvèdre and Merlot called Nativo from the 2007 vintage

is an excellent buy at R70 as it’s organically farmed, not overwooded

and bursting with fresh and tangy red fruit flavours. Billy’s day job is

designing underwater mining equipment, but with De Beers profits

down 99%, the bounty of Bacchus must be a better bet than that of

Neptune.

Charles Back’s Spice Route, the brave gamble that kick-started the whole Swartland

Renaissance, is still delivering the goods. Kalbas, alas, never did see the light of day,

and its place is now taken by Malabar, a blend of Shiraz and Petit Verdot. The Platter

wine guide calls the 2005 being poured a “high-toned Rhône reflection.” Gobbledygook

to the GVG, who did react to the selling price however: R350, premium whisky prices to

the inhabitants of the Dragon’s Lair.

Contact Details

1. Allesverloren 022 461 3220

2. Annexkloof Wines 022 487 3870

3. Babylon’s Peak Private Cellar 022 487 1614

4. Bar Bar Black Sheep 022 448 1031

5. Dragon Ridge Winery 022 487 1153

6. Hughes Family Wines 082 493 1565

7. Kloovenburg Vineyards 022 448 1635

8. Porterville Co-op 023 230 1001

9. Riebeek Cellars 022 448 1213

10. Roundstone Estate 022 482 3245

11. Spice Route Winery 021 863 2450

12. Swartland Winery 022 482 1134

Billy Hughes