WINE MAGAZINE '93- '94

WINE MAGAZINE '93- '94

I was really disappointed when WINE Magazine ended their reign which began with an edition in October 1993 and ended in 2011.

As a junior restaurateur in Cape Town, this magazine was a great way of getting to know South African wine and keeping abreast of wine events where I could go and taste new wines. Sadly due to the drop in the popularity of print- media, and there simply being too few wine geeks to sustain an insightful wine publication- the magazine closed its doors, but still maintains a great website WINEMAG.

First edition wine mag. 

My interest was aroused recently when I discovered some older WINE magazines being thrown out by my neighbour. I rescued them, not knowing that these 12 editions were in fact the first releases of WINE mag. The first edition was released in October 1993, with a young, Pieter Ferreira- with an interesting hairstyle- riddling bottles of his famous Graham Beck Brut- on the cover. Back then it was R58.00 for a 12- issue subscription, and R5.00 for a single edition in a store.

Aside from there being a mullet featured on the cover, the magazines were intrigued me in many other ways too. It was really interesting to look into the wine industry at that time.
The list of contributors reads like a South African wine industry hall of fame- Jos Baker, Wendy Toerien, Harold Eedes (Publisher), Michael Fridjhon, John Platter, Dave Hughes, Peter Devereux, Giles Webb, Allan Mullins, Lannice Snyman- basically the collective wine knowledge of the entire planet.

The articles were insightful, and well written. Some were really technical. As a youngster in the industry, I have often perceived the industry of the early nineties to have been quite backwards. I see now that winemakers back then were in fact fairly up- to- date at least with what was happening in the rest of the wine world.
Several wine- tasting panels were constantly bench- marking our wines with internationals. A picture is painted of a rapidly changing industry trying to catch up fast. Individual wines were sticking up their hands and achieving international recognition, though not with the consistency of today. It seems to have been Bordeaux- style blends and Cabernet Sauvignon that made the most noise for us back then.
I was also surprised at the amount of interest shown for international wines- and it seemed there was an availability of affordable imports too- at one stage there was even a Bulgarian wine shop off Greenmarket Square. Many ads were for international wines, and prices seemed relative to our local pricing.

20 YEARS ON- Some cool findings:

(1) Hairstyles

Hair styles- too cool for old school.

(2) Chateau Libertas and Kanonkop

Chateau Libertas was a great wine at one stage. Consisting of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, in 1993 it is described as a, 'higher price- bracket wine', and by the SFW MD Ronnie Melck as, 'a wine at ease with itself, lively with the freshness of youth, but with the roundness and depth of a little maturity'. I knew it as a wine at ease with badly behaved students.

Tassenberg came in its standard niche it still currently holds in the market- but contained Pinotage and Cinsaut (Hermitage) back then, so it must have been better? Described as, 'lightbodied with a tremendous following. A no-nonsense easily swigged-down Pinotage-Cinsaut-based blend that did much to change the tastes of the public from sweet to drier wines. If kept, it ages remarkably well”.  More interestingly, in the 90's there was also as a long- lost Reserve version.

(3) Lost Wine Brands. Whatever happened to these interesting brands?:

Landzicht, Stellenryck, Rudman's, Kleindal, Bodega, Eclipse, Uitwerwyck, Fredericksburg, Eersterivier Kelder, Bottelary Ko- Op, Bellingham Sauvenay, Oscar's Reserve. Theres a whole lot more, but these are the only images available.

(4) Wine Prices

I have compared retail prices between 1993/94 and current retail prices for some of the more famous brands:

Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 1991- R37.00
Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2013- R337.00

Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel 1990- R23.00
Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut 2012 - R125.00

Meerlust Rubicon 1987 (this was the 1993 current- release!)- R33.00
Meerlust Rubicon 2009- R363.00

Jordan Chameleon White 1993- R14.00
Jordan Chameleon White 2013- R65.00

(5) Extinct Pinot Noirs. Loved these:

Still battling to, though quality has sky- rocketed

(5) Consumer preferences

Consumer ambivalence? Dave made a strong case.

(6) The, 'Cape Blend'

I came across an article in the August '94 edition stating, 'Merlot and Pinotage seem to be battling it out as winemakers' preferred partner for Cabernet Sauvignon, with Shiraz languishing on the side- lines as the search for the typical Cape Blend continues.'
This is still something that baffles me in that with Red Wine we have never developed a unique South African blend.

Signature red blends world- wide are defined by the grape varieties constituting them- Sangiovese to Tuscany, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to Bordeaux, Mourvedre to Bandol etc.
Perhaps it is the lack of definition and structure offered by our 'native' Pinotage, Nouvelle, Chenel, Roobernet which negates this?
Currently white blends- though- consisting mainly of Chenin Blanc are carving a name on the international wine tree trunk. Its really exciting stuff. many young winemakers are pushing this and i really feel we're going somewhere with this style of wine, incorporating our heritage of a certain variety- Chenin Blanc. There are also old- vine Semillon, Muscat, Palomino and red Semillon constituents which add to the heritage, and flavour aspect.

I believe our diversity is our strength perhaps, but regarding a defined, unique South African flagship red, here's an uncanny insight from MW Liz Berry from 1994, 'South Africa doesn't want to be a market follower so i suggest you look at grapes which can make good quality wine here: Cinsaut, Grenache, Mourvedre, and some of the Port varieties such as Tinta Barrocca.'
Its nice to see some of these grapes coming through now, and adding to increasingly popular and present Rhone- style blends and variations thereof.
Interesting times ahead.


(7) I WISH I could have tasted some of these:

Produced by the Dieu Donne winemaker. I wonder if these vines still around?

The Rustenberg 1982 i believe was an absolute stonker!

I don't know if anyone still has Muller Thurgau?

'Alter Ego'. A garagiste old- vine Merlot/ Cab blend from Tulbagh. Too cool.

(8) Disagreement over a united marketing front

The article reads, '..lack of finance and an inability to agree on a united marketing strategy seems to be hampering efforts.'

In my extremely limited knowlege of the South African wine industry, does this still ring true for our international marketing and export approach?

(9) Cheesy ads and headings:

Ultimate Blue Steel. And his dronkie girlfriend.

 

(10) Paarl Wine Route

This was quite big back in the day. Needs a push. Other wine areas are getting way ahead in the tourism stakes.

(11) The Swartland

The Swartland was seen as a value- for- money destination, and constituted the co- ops of Mamreweg Wine Cellar, Allesverloren, Riebeek Wine Cellar, Swartland Wine Cellar, Porterville Wine Cellar and Winkelshoek Wine Cellar.

The New

The Old Firm

(11) New- comers (then):

Chris Keet began making the famous, 'Cordoba' Wines.

Constantia Uitsig's first releases in 1993. Good times ahead.

Jeremy Walker released his first few Grangehurst beauties.

(12) An obsession with awards.

There are still many wine competitions which take place, where accolades are bestowed on individual wines, and the relevance of these awards is still disputed hotly in the wine media. More so between wine reps.

In 1994 these awards contributed an essential adjective to each and every wine mentioned in the magazine. Every award- oriented descriptive cliche in the industry was first mentioned here. At least half of the magazine was the mention of awards.

Awards- seemingly- were everything when it came to marketing your wine. A quality focus. There were no advertised deals and bulk specials. Was the market then less price- sensitive than today, and more interested in quality?

The 90's were an exciting time in the wine industry, and these pages introduced some of the current industry greats to the wine- drinking public.
It was an easier time to sell wine back then- or so it seems- and I was quite astonished to see the amount of labels that have since disappeared. Encouragingly, many of our most notorious wine houses have stood the test of time- realizing the need to evolve and read the market in order to re- position themselves when the necessity arose.
Sales and Marketing in the local wine market has become a lot more important. A resultant increase in wine quality is a positive result of  increased competition, but there are negative side- effects too. The market  is increasingly price- obsessed, partly through habituated spending patterns and aggressive pricing strategies by the larger companies. This focuses production at a certain market and increases production of inferior wine.
The John Platter Wine guide's physical growth year on year indicates a growth in overall supply of wine in the country. I hope that there is sustained reciprocal reaction from the local market.

I'm really happy to see so many of the 'big' names in the industry still going strong, and most are smiling a little more than 3-5 years ago with the current export results.

Now its time for an extraordinarily unprofound ending which reflects sentiments talked of since wine appreciation evolved.

Looking ahead (with my incredibly limited knowlege and experience in the wine industry), it looks like much more needs to be done to get people to drink wine. Anything, as long as its wine. This is where i am not averse to some of the flavoured wines. They serve a purpose, and they are perceived as being less intimidating to taste by consumers. One knows what to expect and everyone can sound clever because of the coffee flavours they can smell. I'm not saying that pushing these wines should be the only strategy, but they can help.
The problem is that people are intimidated by wine. Many households have grown up with wine, but not grown to know wine. The mainstream market the industry so desperately wants to attract is uneducated and intimidated by wine. There's so much choice, and the perception is that you have to be a studied expert to enjoy wine, and so they will stick to their guns. Just walking into a bottle store with so many options is quite daunting (unless you're a wine geek like me), and as a result, many consumers continually return to their brand which they drank with their Mom and Dad when they were young, when there were 5 wineries in South Africa.

After all that, having convinced the entire middle and upper class of South Africa to drink wine, a concerted effort to get people to drink better wine is needed.

There's a couple of ways to achieve that, and that in itself is the problem. Unity isn't a strong point for us is it?