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SOUTH AFRICA
– NEW VARIETIES –
At certified organic producer Waverley Hills, some 20km
south of Tulbagh, manager/winemaker Johan Delport
has pioneered the growing and bottling of Marselan,
a cross between Cabernet and Grenache. Material was
imported in 2009, and after some years of propagation
and experimentation, the first commercial vineyard was
planted at Waverley Hills in 2016, with the maiden 2020
vintage scoring 90 points. Says Delport: ‘I am very happy
with our Marselan, the first in SA. It has a dark colour
and concentrated flavours, with very soft tannins. I would
recommend it to other local producers, because of its
drought resistance.’
A southern French grape with a much longer track record
in SA is Cinsault, aka Hermitage (famously crossed with
Pinot Noir in 1925 to create Pinotage). Once widely
planted in SA, Cinsault went out of fashion but has made
a top 10 comeback thanks to people increasingly wanting
lighter reds. ‘Like Chenin Blanc, it was a workhorse due
to its high yields,’ says Arco Laarman of Laarman Wines
whose Focal Point 2019 from a Bottelary Hills vineyard
near Stellenbosch has scored 91 points. ‘Now, however,
thanks to older vines being available, the wines show
much more concentration. I believe Cinsault can reach
the same status we have achieved with Chenin,’ he says,
with 91 points for another Bottelary Hills Cinsault, the
Kaapzicht Skuinsberg 2020, adding weight to this idea.
Waverley Hills winemaker Johan Delport
GRAZIE ITALIA
Although not widely planted, there have been small
pockets of Italian grapes growing in SA for decades.
Barbera, first planted in Durbanville in the 1920s, was
brought ‘home’ to Merwida Wines in the Breede River
Valley in the late 1990s by co-owner Schalk van der
Merwe. Today, his son Albertus reports that almost five
hectares flourish in the farm’s rich floodplain soils.
‘Barbera is one of the few red wine grape cultivars with the
ability to retain high natural acidity in the warm Southern
Africa climate. This combined with its low tannins and
spicy undertones has allowed it to become one of our
flagship wines, winning numerous awards and acquiring
a loyal and ever-increasing following.’
Certainly the Merwida Barbera 2019 impressed the Gilbert
& Gaillard tasting panel as a ‘great example of the variety’
(90 points), shining alongside the Merwida Papenkuils
Waterblommetjie Pinot Grigio 2021 (87 points) from an
Johan Delport recommends planting Marselan because of its
drought resistance
WINTER 2021 GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE 115