Wine and the obsession with newness

Anxious not to cause offence, Paul Clüver Jnr, MD of Paul Clüver Family Wines in Elgin, nevertheless proceeded to wonder aloud to his audience if the wine media is not lazy in its obsession with the new. He was speaking at the launch of the latest vintages of the top-end Seven Flags range, the Chardonnay from the 2023 vintage and the Pinot Noir from 2021, his concern being that because the range is relatively well-established, it doesn’t generate quite the excitement it used to.

The maiden vintage of Seven Flags Pinot Noir was 2006 while its companion Chardonnay followed in 2014. “We ask ourselves: How can we be good in a global context? And how can we prove it year in and year out?” he says. “We could experiment with Assyrtiko, Pinot Blanc or Gamay but it would take five years at the earliest to get the wine out and 10 years to make something good.” Instead, he says, the team is looking for continuous improvement, realising that any quality gains will become smaller and smaller over time but that the commitment to this process needs to be unwavering.

The modern wine world holds an obsession with newness – regions that are just coming into the spotlight, new vintages, new trends, and new winemakers. Not just media, but trade and consumers chase novelty, looking for “the next big thing” in wines. The Swartland Revolution which ran from 2010 to 2015 seems a long time ago and today areas like Ceres Plateau and Sutherland-Karoo are gaining attention. The depth and richness of established winemaking districts such as Stellenbosch, Constantia and Durbanville are overshadowed. Even within Stellenbosch, previously unheralded Polkadraai Hills is suddenly far more hip than the Simonsberg…

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