Saturday 7 June 2014

ELGIN

ELGIN

Elgin is a lush plateau above Somerset West known for producing 60%of the national apple crop and increasingly some of our best wines.

The area is named after the original farm in the area, 'Glen Elgin'.

Glen Elgin Station. Not far from Cape Town


The Palmiet River flows through much of the area.
This year I attended the Elgin Cool Wine and Country Festival http://www.elginwine.co.za/ to gain a better understanding of the area and it's wines. This is a festival well worth attending. It is held in April each year and is a great way to taste wines from all the Elgin farms, as many are still only accessed by appointment. I must also mention that it was really affordable to attend, and we didn't come across any major crowds at the tasting rooms.



Wine grapes were first planted by Sir Antonie Viljoen, forefather of the Oak Valley Estate, which still produces some of the regions best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. He first planted Semillon, Palomino and Cinsaut, and built the first Elgin wine cellar in 1907. Currently, prominent grape varieties in Elgin include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay,  Pinot Noir and some of the Bordeaux red varieties. Merlot has in fact fared better here than anywhere else in the Cape, and this caught my attention in particular.

Elgin rests 300m on average above sea level. It's an area of cooler temperatures than surrounding wine regions (5- 10 degrees in fact) with an average yearly temperature of just over 18 degrees. On the winkler scale which classifies wine regions according to climate, Elgin is compares with Bordeaux in France, and some other European and New Zealand areas. Grapes spend up to a month longer on the vine than in surrounding regions, which leads to better development of physiological ripeness in the grapes ( more integrated natural acidity, developed, fresher flavours and gentler tannin).

                          
                           


2 farms with the longest track record of wine production in Elgin are Oak Valley and Paul Cluver, both at the northern end of Elgin close to the town of Grabouw, and the Peregrine Farm Stall. Planting of vines in the modern era began in 1985 with an experimental block at Oak Valley. the first commercial wines from Elgin in the modern era were made by Nederberg under their own label, with. Paul Cluver Fruit.
In 1991 Oak Valley collaborated with the then new Bouchard Finlaysson cellar up the Hemel- en- Aarde valley, and contributed to their now infamous Blanc de Mer, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.



90's collaboration between Oak Valley and Bouchard Finlaysson.
                                     
On the recent visit, we first checked out Shannon Vineyards. Wines are made by Gordon and Nadia Newton Johnson from Newton Johnson wine estate in the Hemel-En-Aarde Valley. the grapes are farmed by renowned viticulturalist James Downes who supplies many other producers as well including Catherine Marshall and Blackwater (Francois Haasbroek). James brother Stuart manages the wine sales and marketing, and he took us through a vertical tasting of their Pinot Noirs first, and then their Noble Late Harvest Pinot Noir, ' Mecushla'. It was most interesting to see the vintage variation on these wines. 2009 and 2012 stood out for me.

An epic vertical at Shannon Vineyards.
                         
Pinot Noir makes a delicate wine, and favours cooler conditions. The average growing season temperature in Elgin is 17.5 degrees Celsius which is as cool as many well known European regions.
Other great Pinots from the valley included the Oak Valley Pinot Noir 2012, Paul Cluver 2012, Paul Cluver Seven Flags 2012 and  Catherine Marshall Reserve 2012. A great surprise on the day was a 2005 Stellenbosch wine made by Catherine Marshall for the BWC ( Barefoot Wine Co.) near Ridgeback winery in Wellington.

Some other epic Pinot Noirs from the day.
                        
My favorite wine of the day though was the Shannon Mount Bullet Merlot, named after a pointy mountain to the south of their vineyards.
Merlot is a much scorned grape in the wine circles I hang out in. Sometimes referred to as an 'eskimo'due to it's favoring cooler growing conditions, Merlot ripens quickly, and benefits greatly from longer time on the vine. Initially planted in Stellenbosch, it has proved an awkward wine to master. Physiological ripeness at harvest is reached in warmer areas resulting in high alcohols which overshadow Merlots delicate, fresh red fruit appeal. To compensate, some farmers harvest early and sacrifice full flavour development. Resulting 'green' flavours ensue. Some wineries also emphasize too much extraction on Merlot grapes, with 4-5 or more punch downs a day.
In wine however there are always contradictions to the popular opinion, and 3 'new world style'. Merlots which show balance despite their power and concentration are Camberley Elm Tree Merlot, Thelema and old Veenwouden wines.

I prefer a more delicate, old- world French Bordeaux style of Merlot emphasizing good acidity, dry tannin, fresh red fruit, flinty minerality and a silky texture.
Gordon Newton Johnson makes his wine with a, 'minimal winemaking intervention approach', with only 2 punch downs a day. It's also naturally fermented.
The Mount Bullet Merlot is my best example of South African Merlot, and indeed leans more towards the French style. In distinguishing this wine though, I did find it had more concentrated dark fruit notes than true old world Merlot.


South Africa's best Merlot? I think so.
                                    
Other great Merlot wines tasted on the day were Oak Valley's Merlot Cabernet Blend 08, Shannon's export Merlot 2012, and Catherine Marshall's AMATRA Merlot 2012.


Elgin Merlot. WATCH THIS SPACE.
                          
Other notable wines I have recently sampled were Spioenkop Pinotage, Hannay Cabernet Franc and the Charles Fox MCCs.

Hannay Cabernet Franc made with fruit from the northern edge of Elgin.
                             
Hannay Cabernet Franc really impressed. It was quite complex on the fruit side, soft on alcohol and had all the tell- tale mint humbug, raspberry and tobacco on the nose. It showed a darker fruit palate with evident good acidity. Possibly a dash of Merlot in there as well to soften the wine.


COOL vs WARM CLIMATE debate

When I began learning about wine around 2004/5, a message often preached and to which I largely adhered to was that cool climate wines were better overall than their 'warm climate' counterparts. My yardstick for South African wine was initially Constantia wines, so I got to know cool climate in detail first, particularly Sauvignon Blanc which shows good noticeable variation between areas of different climate. Lean, tart, herbaceous and steely for cool climate, then fruit forward, tropical, broad palate for wines from the warmer areas.

I now know that indeed there are different expressions of wine that can be made from the same grapes, from different climatic areas. Wines are different, and one is not better than the other from differing regions. I do find that I like acidity and freshness in both red and white wines- wines from the traditionally cooler areas. Though I have had many examples of this flavour profile from warmer areas as well. The discussion here is a mainly accurate generalization,but there are always contradictions in wine.

In the sales and marketing business of wine, I found that being cooler makes the pitch of most promoters of respective wine farms. It seems like many farms (at least judging from their sales people) outside of Elgin, constantia, durbanville and the overberg feel a need to justify why some if not all of their wines grow in cooler conditions than the next guy.
COOL is definitely in. But why?

Climatic conditions speed up or slow down the ripening of a grape. Warm, sunny areas produce ripe, fuller fruit, while cooler areas will produce crisper more tart fruit (apparently in some vintages Cabernet Sauvignon in Elgin doesn't even ripen).
More sugars develop in grapes from warm areas, and so certain grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional benefit from the boost of better ripening conditions.
Yeasts consume sugars during fermentation, and convert them into alcohol. More sugar equals more alcohol. In really hot vintages a farmer may try to harvest early to avoid high alcohol levels, but in doing so lose out on a full flavour profile.
Grapes best suited to cooler climates include Riesling, Pinot Noir and Merlot. Grapes are able to spend longer time on the vine, which is better for the development of acidity and subtle flavours. Grapes with thinner skins I found perform really well with longer ripening periods.

Elgin is a cool area. It also experiences significant cloud cover in the summer months. Grapes here are harvested up to 6 weeks later than Stellenbosch, just a few minutes drive away! Wines are often described her as, 'elegant', a slogan for the , 'elegantly Elgin' wine Route.

SAUVIGNON BLANC

Naturally acidic Sauvignon Blanc made some of the first big impressions for the region. The wines are distinctly herbaceous, and some good ones I have tasted recently are Highlands Road, Oneiric and Oak Valley.
Wines with prominent natural acidity such as these can age really well and show best after a few years. 


CONCLUSIONS

This a superb wine region to visit. Most farms are closely situated to each other, and the region itself is 1 hours drive from Cape Town. Most are still accessed by appointment though,so do phone ahead, or attend one of the very affordable festivals held there when all the farms are open.

Restaurants are few but I could recommend FRESH at Paul Cluver, and the Pool Room at Oak Valley. The Perigrine Farm Store has a superb deli and coffee shop. It's well worth a turn. their pies are famous.

Fresh farm produce, terroir- driven Oak Valley wines,  and long lazy afternoons at the pool room.
        
Keep an eye on Elgin Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz for the reds. Pinot Noir has established itself as the Elgin talisman, but there are so many interesting expressions of other varieties coming through.

Charles Fox MCC is outstanding for a bubbly.

White Grapes to watch are Chenin Blanc. Riesling is being planted more and more which is great, but I think Sauvignon and Chardonnay will continue to stand out as they both perform so well here.

Elgin is still a young area viticulturally. Much of the hype in the wine industry has been centered around the Swartland and some of the more traditional wine regions. I think that as some of the vineyards start to mature beyond 10-15 years the quality of Elgin wines will continue to improve across all the producers.

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