Submitted by Michael Fridjhon on 27 June, 2011 - 08:08In the world of South African wine buffs Merlot has assumed the polecat position previously occupied by Pinotage. For most of the past two decades a seat on the Pinotage tasting panel was the official short straw for a local wine judge. While the overseas panellists frequently sought the Pinotage slot (because of its exotic-for-foreigners status), the South Africans squawked as if they had been condemned to a line-up of Egyptian Shiraz.
At the time, there were sound grounds for the brace-yourself-Sheila attitude of the rent-a-palates: too many Pinotage producers valued tradition above cellar hygiene, and tannin above flavour. Real men, so the subtext went, considered the acetone, green and chunky textures of unevenly ripened and poorly made Pinotage the most delicate thing to have crossed their lips since their last baboon tartare, scraped fresh off the cow-bar of the bakkie.
It took a lot to change this. Leadership came from within, from the persuasive example of people such as Beyers Truter - at Kanonkop and then at Beyerskloof - rather than from the flying winemakers. (They showed it could be done but were as welcome as Teddy Kennedy lecturing the apartheid regime on the importance of morality in government.) In the past five years Pinotage has provided some of the most exciting new style wines - with established cellars (Kanonkop and Lanzerac) sharing the limelight with relative newcomers like Manley, Tokara, Painted Wolf and Rijks.
Meanwhile Merlot filled the slot of ugliest sister at the dance. Partly this is because incompetent Pinotage producers don't have a monopoly on sloppy winemaking. When you work with an unforgiving variety, whatever you do badly is dramatically magnified. Uneven ripeness is harder to hide, unevolved tannins greener and more evident. On a scrawny beast all flesh seems angular.
The planting material has also been problematic. Many of the vineyards were established with an Italian clone which fails to deliver the textures ordinarily associated with Merlot in Bordeaux (and in the US). The wines seem to pass from under- ripe to Porty without achieving an intermediate stage of juicy. Then there is the question of location. It was assumed that, like other more versatile varieties, Merlot would flourish wherever there was soil, sunlight and water. This is obviously not true for any cultivar of which high quality, fine wine is expected. Still, it seems that Merlot is a picky princess, ready to make you suffer for not treating her properly.
Happily the Merlot producers have been more proactive than many in addressing the problems associated with their chosen variety. Led by Luca Bein (of Bein Vineyards in Stellenbosch) they have been looking at what can be done to optimise wine quality from existing vineyards, and how to improve the quality of the plantings. There are now signs suggesting some sites consistently perform better than others - though whether this is a result of geology, or the aptitude of the producer is not always clear. For example, the latest vintage of Shannon Vineyard's Mount Bullet - the 2008 earned a five-star award in Platter - looks pretty good. Is this because of the clone, the location, or the skills of the viticulturist and the winemaker?
Hillcrest, in Durbanville, which in 2007 won the Merlot Trophy at the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, this year got a gold medal for the 2009 and the trophy for the 2008. This is very much a product of a single location, improved clonal material and dedicated work in the vineyard. (Winemaker Graeme Read only produces eight barrels from the site.)
Yonder Hill, Meerlust, Nederburg, Marklew and Meerendal are all performing well at the moment. In some cases there appears to be a pattern (many of the vineyards enjoy a distinct maritime influence, for example). But whether this is causal or coincidental is not yet clear: in short, there's still plenty of work to be done by the Merlot think-tank.
From Business Day, 24 June 2011
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