Terroir on the soles of your feet

2009-08-04

Monday, August 03, 2009 by Graham Howe

Graham Howe has contributed 300 columns to WINE.CO.ZA over the last decade. On the tenth anniversary of his first column in 1999, he revisits one of his favourite wine routes.

"That 'Love thy neighbour thing'. I meant that - God" - church banner in Robertson

The adventures of a wine writer take you to some unusual places. Last week started with a meeting with winemakers inside a converted wine tank in an old missionary chapel (the town is named after founding minister William Robertson). The sign I saw outside the town church resonated in the words of cellar master Bowen Botha who told me, "Around here winemakers and neighbours help each other and share information. Our diversity gives us a big advantage - the diversity of all our sites."

You can get religion in a town like Robertson. A wine route sign among all the tombstones in the graveyard is a sobering sight. Is this where wine drinkers who exceed the surgeon-general's recommended daily dose end up? Past the town's old cemetery, we head into the foothills of the snow-capped Langeberg. Reaching the top of the vineyard - one of two wine farms called Wolfkloof - we take in the spectacular view of the Robertson Wine Valley all the way to Ashton, Montagu and McGregor.

"The last time I came up here, a big baboon in the vineyard stopped us from getting out of the bakkie," chuckles Briaan Stipp, the viticulturalist who has worked in vineyards all over the valley for fifteen years. He waves at Casper Heyl, the farmer who planted this highly-prized Shiraz vineyard ten years ago on land in the hands of the Viljoen family since 1886. The farmers here put down roots as deep as the vines - Briaan was born here and his own family settled in the valley three generations ago.

Over the years wine assignments have taken me on walkabouts with the valley's good winemakers through remote vineyards of Shiraz, the great red hope of the Robertson Wine Valley - from Pieter Ferreira's prize-winning The Ridge to Lourens van der Westhuizen's Arendsig Shiraz Hill and Zandvliet's Kalkveld. On a slow stroll in Wolfkloof - the source of Robertson Winery's Vineyard Selection Shiraz - Briaan tells me about cutting-edge techniques of canopy management and deficit irrigation.

Standing in Wolfkloof I recalled a few highlights of my adventures in wine over the last decade. On 29 July 1999, privileged local wine writers attended the launch of Zandvliet's Kalkveld Shiraz aboard Rovos Rail en route to the farm which released the valley's first Shiraz in 1976. After a tasting of Great Syrahs of the World hosted by Paul de Wet and Remington Norman MW, we tasted the wines in situ with the springboks in the vineyards - and planted vines bearing our names on plaques. On other assignments, to see the topography and terroir, I've flown all the way down the Breede River to the mouth at Port Witsand in a light aircraft piloted by Abrie Bruwer, winemaker at Springfield; tasted wines afloat on the Breede, ridden to remote cellars on horseback, tractors and 4x4s, and talked to winemakers on trails in the Langeberg.

Ten years later, Bowen Botha, cellar master at Robertson Winery, tells me, "The first time I saw Wolfkloof, I thought 'This is the wine farm I'd like to own.' It has fantastic soils that are perfect for Shiraz. When I first came to Robertson in 1982, I went into every vineyard and drew maps of every farm from the soil type to elevation and trellis. I had to persuade the winery to buy barrels to mature red wine - and my first red won a gold medal! Identifying the top sites is an ongoing selection process." Quality and consistency are his watchwords at Robertson Winery - South Africa's third largest "glass wine brand", one of the biggest bag in the box producers - and exporter to 33 countries.

Winemakers have staying power in the Robertson Wine Valley. At Robertson Winery, they've only had two cellar masters since the winery was founded in 1941. Bowen Botha, the cellar master at Robertson Winery, has handled 27 vintages here since joining in 1982. (He replaced Pon van Zyl, cellar master from 1941 to 1984). Bowen adds, "When you visit a wine farm in the Robertson Wine Valley, you'll often find three generations of wine farmers sitting around the family dinner table."

We headed over to Prospect farm on the slopes of the Zandvliet mountains - the source of new varieties of Grenache, Mourvedre, Pinot Noir and Viognier planted in the Robertson Wine Valley as well as Prospect Hill Cabernet Sauvignon in the vineyard selection range made by winemaker Jacques Roux. When I asked farmer Johan Bruwer why he planted new varieties in these virgin soils in the koppies, he replies "When you've been growing grapes since 1956, it's good to try new things."

After years of tasting wines in venues in the city, I've found that the best way to understand the provenance or source of wines is to walk in the vineyards where they originate - and get a feel for a unique sense of place. Getting your shoes muddy in red Karoo and limestone soils is a learning curve in terroir. Who would have imagined the noble flavours of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir flourish in these wild hills?

"There's serious potential for Pinot Noir in Robertson," adds Barry Kok, marketing director of Robertson Winery. "Robertson produces great fruit - and offers great value (the new unwooded 2009 vintage at R30 under screw-cap is the best-value Pinot Noir in the country). New plantings will make us the biggest Pinot Noir producer in South Africa. Like Burgundy or Barossa, our rich lime soils are perfect for Pinot and Chardonnay. Pinot Noir makes up only 0,6% of the national vineyard - but 16% of the total vineyard in the Robertson Wine Valley (Chardonnay makes up a further 27%).

Standing on Prospect Hill, I recalled a report 75 years ago by a journalist on Robertson - "There are three farms, Excelsior, Prospect and Zandvliet which no money could buy... There is plenty of limestone everywhere. Where there is water everything grows so lustily as to prove embarrassing!" (Cape Times, 28 April 1933). How times have changed. Today, deficit irrigation and low yields are the mantra of viticulture - and vines once planted in alluvial soils are now cultivated in colluvial soils. "These days it's all about controlling vigour," concludes Briaan Stipp, pointing out vines where Stellenbosch University is conducting a high-tech vineyard project.

* Robertson Slow, a festival of winemaker dinners, vineyard tours and wine tastings, takes places from 7-10 August 2009. For info, accommodation and bookings, phone (023) 626-3167 email manager@robertsonwinevalley.com or visit www.robertsonslow.com.