Vintage Destinations - The Shiraz Rush is On!

The Shiraz Rush is On!
South Africa’s Hottest Grape

featured in Wine Access Magazine
By Michael Vaughan

Trying to comprehend a single grape variety isn’t always a snap. This is especially true while one happens to be totally immersed in the annual two-day Neederberg wine auction, followed by the three day biannual trade show - Cape Wine 2002 (with 213 exhibitors), all combined with seminars, daily visits to wineries and blitzkriegs to various wine regions. All of this was crammed into five and one-half days, enough to bring one down with exhautionitis. Remembering that it takes some 30 hours times two, getting there and back, I challenge those who claim that wine trips are a breeze.

As Syrah is one of my favourite grapes, I was looking forward to seeing what was afoot. There have been terrific improvements. When David Lawrason and I blind tasted147 entries in the “under $25 red” class at the 2002 Canadian International Wine Challenge, we were astonished to discover that South African reds took all three gold medals awarded. In the $12 to under $25 red class, the only gold went to the user-friendly Bellingham 2000 Shiraz ($12.95 in Ontario). One whiff and you are captured by the smell of blueberry pie, cedar and ripe cherries. Its rounded, almost sweetish, very spicy, black cherry flavours were perhaps more reminiscent of a California Zin than Shiraz; it certainly was leaning in an Aussi direction.

With 13.6% alcohol, this wine was made by fermenting on the skins followed by 13 month aging in American oak of which 80% were new. Not only is the total acidity is fairly low 5.21 g/l but the tannins are nicely rounded. The focus here is accessibility not longevity. The meaty, smoky notes that is associated with a Northern Rhone Syrah, which would have been normally aged, in French oak are absent.

And that’s the rub because there are many spins on Shiraz (Aussi) or as it is called in France, Syrah (Rhone). While I enjoy both styles, it is often a matter of pairing the wine with the appropriate dish. For instance, the cedary, plushy fruit of the former works better with BBQ ribs, while the more austere, smoky notes of the latter are perfect with a rare rib steak. It seems that South Africa is excelling in both styles, along with something in between which is uniquely their own.

In addition to tasting some one hundred examples on this trip, I attended seminars, which provided many insights. I was amazed to discover that when South African wine laws were first established (in 1973), the country’s biggest selling Shiraz couldn’t qualify for the 25% minimum grape content. It took two years before this “Shiraz” mustered enough grapes to meet this minimum!

Fortunately, such scarcity along with such ludicrous minimums is a thing of the past. In the words of Tony Mossop CWM (Cape Wine Master) “Shiraz is no longer a Cinderella variety in the Cape. She's driven herself to the ball - to hell with mice pulling pumpkins - in a Ferrari. She's the belle of the winelands, at least as far as our farmers are concerned.”

In fact, over the past decade Shiraz plantings have increased more rapidly than of any grape – a seven-fold since 1990 to six percent of total plantings. Keeping in mind that the base was very small, area under Shiraz amounts to 5,631 hectares. And the trend is moving upwards, as 35% of all new plantings in 2000 were Shiraz making it South Africa’s third most prolific red wine grape.

Key areas were Stellenbosch, Paarl, Worcester and Robertson. While some are anxious about this tremendous expansion, the price-quality ratio of the wines produced is good meaning that these wines will be snapped up by discerning buyers.

At an afternoon tasting session featuring 28 Shiraz, mostly from the 2000 vintage. I was most impressed with the Lievland 2000 Syrah (93 points) a simply delicious, (between a great Cornas and Crozes Hermitage), medium-full bodied (13.5% alcohol), refined, gently smoky, elegantly earthy effort (80 Rand) from Simonsberg slopes in Stellenbosch.

Four others were in the 90+ range. These included: a very spicy, cassis-driven Spice Route 2000 Flagship Shiraz (130 R); an earthy, robust, still extremely youthful, Rhonish Gilga 2000 Shiraz (85 R); a very cedary, knock-your-socks-off De Trafford 2000 Shiraz (145 R) with 15.5% alcohol (actually over 16% with a total production of only 130 cases); the smoky, complex, sun dried tomato Steenberg 2000 Shiraz (50 R). One wine from the previous vintage also scored extremely well: the rich, harmonious, somewhat smoky, spicy, rosehip-tinged Saxenburg 1999 Private Collection Shiraz (91 R).

Most of the rest scored well, in the 87-89 range, with only a few in 86 and under class. While touring booths at the show and during winery visits, I came across a significant number of other exciting examples. Of course, the trouble with numbers is that it is hard say whether my 89 at the end of a long day is definitely worse than the 91 at the beginning of the day.

Of the many fine Shiraz were sampled, the rather robust, mouthfilling, Reyneke 2001 Shiraz (65 R) was very impressive with chocolaty, black cherry purée flavours, lovely rounded tannins and vanilla bean finish. To keep yields at 8 tons (per hc.), some 2 tons of fruit were removed during the green harvest. It took a long hang time to get these ripe fruit flavours – meaning high alcohol (15%) but thankfully high, balancing total acidity (6.2). Aged for 11 months in French oak (35% new), the 1,000 cases produced show excellent promise.

That’s not to say that there haven’t been some false starts. The KWV Abraham Perold 1996 Shiraz, which fetched 600 R (over $100) has not stood the test of time. Indeed, in a blind tasting last fall, it was seriously outmaneuvered by the $12.95 Bellingham! As one CWM muttered, it was “really a blessing in disguise when they decided to allocate this baby strictly to the export market.”

It is difficult to say which region produces South Africa’s best Shiraz because many wineries have started sourcing their grapes from all over the Cape. Nevertheless, many award winners are made from grapes grown in the Stellenbosch, Helderberg and Somerset West area. According to Mossop, “other sources of note include the West Coast/Swartland axis, as well as Durbanville and Constantia… neither Paarl nor Breede River cellars featured in the top spots - maybe some of the vineyards in these locations have still to deliver their best fruit.”

Perhaps the biggest problem with South African Shiraz are the great stylistic swings as winemakers become acclimatized to the vagarities of yeast strains, clones, barrels, yields and regions. These wines are bound to zigzag qualitatively as they approach the summit of the pyramid. While one might be surprised that that the number of wineries in the Cape has increased by over 70% in the past decade, exports have grown by an amazing 800%+ over the same period. And while Canadian imports might still sluggish, in the UK four of the top selling 20 wine brands are from the Cape!

Perhaps the best thing about these wines is their reasonable value for money. At a recent tasting in Toronto, for instance, winemaker Coenie Snyman featured a charming, well balanced, bright, faintly smoky, fresh red cherry driven Fleur du Cap 1998 Shiraz, a winner in the $14 range. Some 60,000 bottles were made before the “Shiraz rush”, meaning that there will be much, much, more down the road. And while everyone seems to have gone mad over Shiraz, it terms of diversity and price, South African Shiraz is going to be hard to beat.

Copyright: Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada 2004
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
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