The Old Vine Project in South Africa is an attempt to both discover vines and help make wines from vineyards that go back 35 years or more, but also convince growers and buyers that these vines need to be protected and nurtured. Su Birch talks to Andre Morgenthal and Jaco Engelbrecht who have got behind the initiative to ensure it achieves its ambitious goals.
In Stellenbosch you’ll find two men with a mission- a mission to safeguard South Africa’s ’s heritage of old vines. Armed only with secateurs and laptops, they face a huge challenge. Genial Andre Morgenthal, who spent 15 years at Wines of South Africa, and Jaco Engelbrecht, a young, dynamic, tech-savvy viticulturist, are the team tasked with managing The Old Vine Project and getting the South African wine industry behind it.
With generous seed funding from businessman and winery owner Johann Rupert and the legendary viticulturist Rosa Kruger as one of the directors, The Old Vine Project (a newly launched not for profit, public benefit organisation) is beginning to take shape.
The objective is to preserve the South African vineyards that are 35 years of age and older through sustainable trading. There are currently 2,621 hectares of vineyards that are this age, but only an estimated 7% have been identified and resuscitated and result in an identifiable wine brand. The rest are all under threat of being pulled up. “There’s a long way to go”, admits Morgenthal.
Wines made from very old vineyards have been huge drivers in changing the international perception of South African wine as a whole, so they play a disproportionately important role in its future. Winemakers such as Eben Sadie and his Old Vineyard series and Chris Alheit's Cartology and Radio Lazarus have provided the spark for many more brands that have got the critics and the drinkers raving. You only have to think of the old vine series from Ian Naudé, David and Nadia Sadie, Adi Badenhorst, DGB, and Mullineux.
Unique characteristics
Morgenthal explains that all these wines, even though they are so different, have the weight, the mouth feel and the denser texture that is characteristic of wines from all old vineyards everywhere in the world.
South Africa has 39 varieties in its list of old vineyards and that is pretty unusual. The biggest variety is Chenin Blanc at 52%, with Cinsault and Pinotage at 5%, Palamino at 4% and Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Syrah and Tinta Barocca next in the rankings.
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