News> Blended Red Out of Africa


Bordeaux is the world's most important wine region. It makes a greater quantity of high-quality wine than any other region, and it makes more of the world's ultra-expensive trophy wines than any other. Some of these are dry whites or sweet dessert wines, and some of them are indisputably fantastic, but they remain sidelights. We could prove this by subjecting
100 connoisseurs to a word association test involving the word "Bordeaux." I'd bet that 99 of them would link the word not to a city or a diverse production region or a Sauternes but rather to this: a bottle of blended red wine.

Given this background, nobody would be surprised to learn that the diffusion of high-end winemaking from Europe to other continents and regions has -- always and everywhere -- included efforts to grow Bordeaux's red grapes and blend them into close replicas of the original. However, somebody might indeed be surprised to learn that this goal has never been
attained anywhere with any consistency.

I say this because you'd think that, with thousands of winegrowers working in thousands of different little spots, somebody would pinpoint the place where the magic of red Bordeaux could be replicated. They've tried it in Napa, Barossa, Coonawarra, Mendoza and, for that matter, even back in the Old World in places like Tuscany. What happened? The most skillful and well-capitalized winemakers have made wickedly good wines that, despite their varied virtues, don't quite smell or taste like Bordeaux. Sometimes I sniff something from the north island of New Zealand or Chile's Maipo Valley that makes me think they've got the spot, but then a more inclusive tasting or the performance of wines from new vintage convince me that such a judgment would be premature.

One could argue that reasonable facsimiles of Bordeaux will never be made anyplace -- even if millions of winegrowers try millions of different spots -- on the ground that Bordeaux is as unique as the countless snowflakes that are all supposed to be different. But I don't believe it
(and I don't believe that snowflake thing, either). I've always thought that a place would be found where winemakers could craft wines that share Bordeaux's remarkable combination of complexity with integration, and of character with class. And my hunch is that the place may now, finally, have been found.

It is a hunch rather than a conviction, but my hunch is that the Cape region of South Africa is a place where wines closely akin to red Bordeaux can be made. The evidence has been gradually leading me in this direction since South African wines began appearing in significant numbers here after Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.

In my tastings since that time, I've found many of the best wines surprisingly hard to "place." They don't behave like archetypical New World wines from, say, California or Australia. They don't seem as ripe, or rich, or alcoholic, or overtly fruity. They show plenty of ripeness and richness and fruit -- but these characteristics don't seem quite as "pushy" as they tend to be in most quarters of the New World. In sum, South African wines lean more toward Europe by veering more toward restraint than intensity, and more toward minerality than gushy fruitiness. Stated differently, they lean more toward the earth and less toward the sun, and in this crucial respect, they display a notable resemblance to European wines.

My most recent round of tastings has focused on red wines made from Bordeaux grape varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot). The bottlings tasted include varietal wines (i.e., ones made predominantly from a single grape variety and then named by reference to that variety) as well as blended wines. Some of the varietal wines show a resemblance to Bordeaux, but the likeness is much closer in the blends.

This probably results from a combination of structural and stylistic factors. There is a closer structural correspondence between blended South African reds and Bordeaux reds, which are usually blended. But even when a single grape is predominant in a blended Bordeaux, the wine is rarely styled with the intention of showcasing the character of a particular grape (as opposed to the particularities or terroir of the place where the grapes are grown). By contrast, expressing "varietal character" is often an explicit objective for New World winemakers when styling varietal wines in places like California or Australia. When South African producers are crafting their varietal wines, they would find a more appropriate benchmark in California Merlot or Coonawarra Cabernet than in Bordeaux. Conversely, it would be very surprising if a winemaker producing a blended red in South Africa didn't see Bordeaux as the proper point of reference.

In any case, I hope that you'll try a few of the top blended South African reds I've tasted recently to see if you, too, find an intriguing similarity to Bordeaux. Recommended wines are listed in order of preference, with appellations, approximate prices, and D.C. wholesalers indicated in parentheses:


OUTSTANDING

Mont du Toit (Coastal Region) Red Wine 1999 ($36, Franklin): Very complex but absolutely seamless, this is a beautiful wine and the one bottle that I'd choose to exemplify the premise of this column. Sublime stuff.

Ernie Els (Engelbrecht Els Vineyards) "Limited Release" 2000 ($75, Country Vintner): Clearly an exceptional wine wrought from exceptional materials, this features very deeply flavored, highly concentrated fruit braced with plenty of fancy oak. All of the components are well balanced and the wine is already very enjoyable, but to recoup your full investment, you'd be well advised to hold this for a couple of years.

Cobblers Hill (Stellenbosch) 2000 ($37, Winebow): Both this wine and the Jardin "Chameleon" that follows are made by Gary and Kathy Jordan, who were trained in California. Their wines are a bit less Bordeaux-like than others recommended here, but a certain similarity is evident nonetheless. This bottling is remarkably integrated and subtle despite a 22-month stint in new oak and 14.5 percent alcohol.


VERY GOOD

Jardin (Stellenbosch) "Chameleon" 2000 ($16, Winebow): A delicious blend of 49 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 38 percent Merlot and 13 percent Cabernet Franc, this is beautifully balanced and very well made. Although the back label acknowledges "a New World influence" behind the wine, it shows a notable streak of the Old World as well.

Clos Malverne (Stellenbosch) "Auret" 1999 ($17, Potomac Wines and Spirits) It is rich and juicy and packed with fresh berry fruit, but still shows a measure of subtlety and restraint that makes it tough to place confidently in either the New or Old Worlds.

Rust en Vrede (Stellenbosch) "Estate Wine" 1999 ($38, Country Vintner): Cabernet Sauvignon makes up 71 percent of this blend, and Merlot accounts for another 9 percent, with Shiraz checking in at 20 percent. The Shiraz is more prominent than you might guess, but the aromas and flavors of the wine are coherent, interesting, and very appealing.

Camberley (Stellenbosch) Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2000 ($23.50, Dionysos): Spicy oak is well balanced against concentrated fruit, with a firm but long finish.

Michael Franz will offer additional recommendations and answer questions live today at noon on washingtonpost.com.

-- By Michael Franz for the Washington Post