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WBW 6: South African Reds

When I saw the theme of "South African Reds" for this round of Wine Blogging Wednesday, I immediately knew who the host was. Jeanne, a South African expat in Britain, often educates us about food and wine from that country. Maybe I should offer to host a theme with wines from the region where I grew up. Mmmm, the bulk wines of California's Central Valley. Then again, maybe not.

I went to the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant and asked about their inventory of South African reds. They don't carry much, and it was all Shiraz/Syrah, despite the fact that most people think of Pinotage when they think of this country. The salesperson couldn't tell me much about the estate-bottled 2001 Mooiplaas Shiraz from South Africa's Stellenbosch region, but wine maker Louis Roos was kind enough to respond to my questions.

"Mooiplaas is a family business. I am the winemaker and my brother Tielman is responsible for the vineyards," said Roos by email. The 120-hectare site is in the hills of the Bottelary Ward region of the appellation, "about 35km from Cape Town". "The farm has been in the hands of the Roos family since 1963," he told me, though until economic sanctions were lifted in the early 90's, all the grapes were sold off to the country's equivalent of negociants, brokers who make wines from a variety of sources. The brothers still sell off about 80% of their grapes, reserving the best 20% for their estate-bottled wines.

Roos informed me that South African law defines "Estate Wine" precisely—all the grapes in these wines must come from the family's vineyard. The family does much of the work on the farm, occasionally "popping in for a chat" with visitors to the renovated farmhouse on the property (the tasting room is in the former stable).

After he educated me about the property—"mooiplaas" means "beautiful place"—Roos told me about the wine I bought and his wine making practices (Note that I mistakenly asked him for information on the 2002). The brothers planted Syrah in the early 1990's, but they've only bottled those grapes since 2000 when "the vineyards produced excellent quality grapes." The yield for these vines is a scant "3 tonnes/ha" (about 1.2/acre). As a general rule, he tries "to be in barrel before the onset of malo-lactic fermentation" and the wine stayed in the mixed new and old French barrels for 16 months. The winery produced approximately 6500 bottles of the 2002 Shiraz, presumably similar numbers for the 2001.

Tasting Note - 2001 Mooiplaas Shiraz Estate Wine, Stellenbosch, South Africa, approximately $25 at Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant
Thin lipstick-pink edges surround a deep red, almost black, opaque core. A bit of alcohol on the nose doesn't interfere with the ample smells of black cherries with a dollop of bacon fat and hints of coffee. This wine has robust but well-integrated tannins, relatively low acidity, and a pleasant mix of cherry and vanilla flavors. A somewhat hot medium-long finish.

Food
We drank this wine with chicken legs braised in an over-the-hill bottle of Gruner Veltliner, served on a bed of root vegetables and spinach and sauced with the reduced and thickened braising liquid. It went reasonably well, but the ample tannins of this wine suggest a heartier meat of some form.
General Thoughts
Melissa and I both liked this wine quite a bit and we'd buy it again. While this wine is intense, I don't know that I would yet say it's complex. However, Roos has demonstrated the potential of these vines, and I'm sure as they mature a bit the complexity will appear.

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