I rediscovered the magic of Tannat while exploring alternative grape varieties which contribute diversity to the national vineyard, my cellar and my life during the long days of lockdown. Only a handful of innovative South African producers make single varietal bottlings and big red blends using this variety known for its astringency, tannin and deep colour. But in the search for variety Tannat is on the comeback trail as a cult variety from Australia and California to Argentina and Uruguay where I tasted it under its moniker Harriague after the Basque settler who replanted it in the 19th century.
Tasting Tannat under lockdown evoked a Saturday morning I spent twenty-five years ago in the redwoods at Bonny Doon winery near Santa Cruz south of San Francisco. I first tasted Tannat made here by iconic winemaker Randall Grahm from his home region of Madiran in the south-west of France - the AOC of big red blends of Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Bottled under Grahm’s Heart of Darkness label, after Joseph Conrad’s classic novel, it perfectly captures the gonzo character of this variety with its raspberry aroma, mouth-filling blackberry flavours and dark colour.
In Planet Wine, Stuart Piggot describes Tannat as “the vinous equivalent of Conrad’s Mr Kurtz … the hard man of red grapes with its earthy, butch soul”. Jancis Robinson adds, “Young Tannat can be so deep coloured and tannic that it recalls Nebbiolo. The wine is spicy, mouth-filling and exciting”. During lockdown, I’ve relived my own real time travels around planet wine, tasting cult Tannat wines like Chateau Montus from Madiran close to its source – and wine made by Denis Duveau at Castel La Puebla in the Dayman Valley of Uruguay, where Tannat thrives in the sunshine, “wraps the aroma of wet clay and hot tar in a rich and tannic package that is dangerously handsome” (Stuart Pigott).
Tannat may owe its name to its high tannin content. In South Africa, Tannat plantings grew from 50 hectares in 2008 to 108 hectares in 2018, making it grape #35 in the top 100 variety hit list in the South African vineyard (Sawis), slightly ahead of Touriga Nacional. Single varietal versions are made in far-flung pockets around the country by inter alia Arendskloof (where Diner’s Club winemaker of Year Christiaan Groenewald also blends Tannat/Shiraz), Fairview, Kranskop (Robertson), Lowerland (near Prieska in Orange River region), Mooibly (Paarl) , WineFolk and Du’’Swaroo in Calitzdorp. A few years ago, I enjoyed tasting tank samples and back vintages of Tannat at Kranskop cellar in the Klaasvoogds Valley with veteran winemaker Newald Marais who makes one of the best South African Tannat wines I’ve encountered – a wine of inky-dark colour brimming with intense dark berry fruit.
Newald, who celebrated his forty-third vintage in lockdown in 2020, acquired his own boutique cellar Kranskop in the Robertson Wine Valley in 2010. The veteran winemaker who made his first vintage at Nederburg in 1976, went on to make mark as one of Distell’s wine legends. He describes Tannat as a challenge. “Tannin, tannin and more tannin! Tannat is a small Pyrenees grape with a thick skin, great natural acidity and colour. Once you get the tannins ripe on all four to five pips, it makes a fantastic blending grape. I pray to the barrels! I’ve only got a few rows of Tannat vines”.
One of the best Tannat blends I’ve tasted during lockdown is the innovative T3 label made at Druk my Niet estate, a cellar which dates back to 1692 in Paarl. A world-first blend of Tempranillo, Tinta Amarela and Tannat – hence the moniker T3 – the 2010 vintage I came across in my cellar is a vibrant, spicy melange demonstrates the longevity of these big tannic grapes tamed by oodles of oak.I also enjoyed a succulent, spicy blend of the 2011 vintage of two big tannic titans, Tannat and Petit Verdot, made at Glen Carlou with a grip as big as that of former winemaker Arco Laarman. Both this blend – and the ripe and juicy blend of Malbec and Tannat I tasted from Guardian Peak – are now discontinued. The versatility of Tannat as a blending ingredient for colour, tannin and flavour shines through in the style of the original Malbec/Tannat blends of the Cahors region in France.
To mark day 80 of lockdown I enjoyed a braai with the brooding, meaty flavours of an older vintage of Hidden Secret, a blend of Shiraz, Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon from Hidden Valley Wines in the Helderberg mountains outside Stellenbosch. Spicy with intense dark berry flavours, it makes a great food partner like most Tannat blends, showing great balance, fine-grained tannin and structure. Hidden Valley also releases a limited single varietal bottling of Tannat, revealing its hidden secret.
The planting of new clones of Tannat have led to a more accessible style worldwide – with a boom from the USA to Australia. Writing about the rise of Tannat to 32 producers over the last decade in Australia,industry veteran Dan Traucki comments, “Whilst most Tannat is planted in France, Uruguay has become the ‘spiritual home’ of Tannat, just like Chile is for Carménère, Argentina for Malbec and Australia for Shiraz. If you enjoy big rich red wines, buy some bottles of Tannat and exercise a bit of patience. If you don’t have a cellar or a temperature controlled wine fridge, just chuck the bottles into a dark cupboard for two to four years and you won’t be disappointed, because ‘Tannat is Terrific’” (Wine Business Magazine, Apr 2019). Traucki’s global tasting notes on Tannat are terrific too. https://www.wineland.co.za/i-am-friends-with-the-monster/
Vititec, a leader in clonal plant material,recently identified five emerging cultivars which could flourish under South Africa’s hot and dry climactic conditions, suitable for local soil types - namely Albarino (pioneered by Newton Johnson and Springfield in the Cape), Marselan (a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache), Vermentino (pioneered here by Ayama and Morgenster), Assyrtiko (recently planted by Jordan) and Arinarnoa (a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat developed for its drought tolerance). Planted to 164 hectares in the south of France – and to over 3000 vines in South Africa, Arinarnoa has good colour, acidity, tannin and complexity. If variety is the spice of the vineyard, there is no end to viticultural ingenuity in adapting plant material to global warming. https://www.wineland.co.za/emerging-grape-cultivars-in-south-africa/
Tannat seems like the perfect thick-skinned survivor for these dark times. Pigott concludes, “Mad, bad and dangerous … Wine grapes don’t come much crazier than the tannin bomb that is Tannat”. One of my favourite detectives, Inspector Adamsberg in the best-selling French crime series by Fred Vargas, drinks Madiran/Tannat while investigating his latest crime in This Poison Will Remain (2019), is one of my top lockdown reads. Have some Madiran M’dear (with apologies to Flanders and Swan).