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SOUTH AFRICA
– NEW VARIETIES –
At Merwida, six members of the seventh-generation Van der Merwe family are currently involved at either the winery or on the farms
11-year-old block. ‘The Pinot Grigio ripens nice and early in the
season and has really impressed us with its subtle but poignant
floral notes, good natural acidity and well-balanced structure.’
SA’s first Nebbiolo seems to have arrived around 1910, although
better clones were imported in the 1990s, when Steenberg in
Constantia became the first farm to bottle it as a single-varietal wine.
Meanwhile, Peter Finlayson of Bouchard Finlayson in the Hemelen-Aarde
Valley decided to combine it with Sangiovese and Barbera,
along with Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Mourvèdre, to create a memorable
left-field blend whose name – Hannibal – is ‘a symbolic expression
of the connection between the Old and New Worlds of viticulture’
(the Carthaginian general Hannibal was famously carried by an
African elephant when he invaded Italy).
SA’s first Sangiovese was planted at Boplaas in Calitzdorp in 1982,
with better clones for high-quality wines imported in 1991. The
Jasper Raats Single Vineyard Wines range includes a rare Stellenbosch
interpretation, named Silk Weaver, grown on the lower southwestern
slopes of Helderberg Mountain using a traditional Pergola or Tendone
trellising system. ‘This one-hectare vineyard enjoys refreshingly cool
116 WINTER 2021 GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE