It’s known for many things – a few pubs included, but certainly not for wine.
In fact, most assumed it would be impossible to grow grapes out here, never mind make wine in this region, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from the near-tropical climes of Durban and the beach resorts that line the coast north and south of it.
But a few committed pioneers have proven the naysayers wrong. For starters, there are the folks at Abingdon Wine Estate.
Message in a bottle
Wine estate? In the misty Midlands? I can hear you scoff.
Family-run Abingdon was the first farm to produce a certified estate wine from KwaZulu-Natal grapes with their maiden vintage in 2007. Jane Smorthwaite, who owns Abingdon with her husband Ian, said: ‘Winemaking is a lesson in patience.’
She told me this, grinning, from behind the counter of the Abingdon tasting room where visitors line up at weekends to taste the regional wines.
Brought up among the gloomy grapevines of Lion’s River, Laurie Cooper (daughter to Jane and Ian) is now the assistant winemaker at Abingdon and was named the Moët & Chandon best young sommelier of South Africa for 2019. The following year, their tasting room was the recipient of the American Express Dining Awards South Africa’s Best Kept Secret.
I immediately loved this winery because Abingdon embraces us, the amateur wine lovers. ‘Ian is completely self-taught, and Laurie studied wine more formally,’ Jane explained. ‘He says, “Right, my gut says this” and she’ll respond with “Don’t be ridiculous, science says this.” They have an amazing synergy.’
The resulting wine is something of a compromise between them.
‘We don’t want to be an anonymous bottle on a shelf,’ Jane says. ‘We want you to come and sit with us for an hour or two, hear our story, and become an Abingdonian, as we call them.’
Like the bubbly that lines the shelves of the cellar, Jane is effervescent. Such a spirited quality undoubtedly aided in making their wild idea work. ‘KZN is capable of making fabulous, fabulous wine,’ she said. With plenty of rain and rolling green scenery, the environmental conditions of the Midlands are similar to those in parts of Europe. ‘We’re getting such a name for incredible wine because it’s so different. It’s got an old-world nature that’s much more delicate. In a blind tasting, you get a leaner style and a lovely minerality. Why dilute it? ’ Jane continued, her dogs snuggling deeper into the rugs beside the blazing fire in a quintessential Midlands scene. Here, there’s no snooty sniffing and spitting (at least, not during my visits where every sip was swallowed). Instead, there’s a culture of learning and a sense of wonder about wine.
Sip happens
‘Our biggest challenge is the weather. If it’s not rain then it’s hail. There are also vervet monkeys,’ Jane gestured to some of the vineyard’s electric fences. ‘We’ve had rain for seven months this year. The only reason our vineyard isn’t diseased is that we’re out there every day thinning the vines and we are pedantic. We have not set foot off this farm. Yes, we’ve proven it can be done, but it is hard.’
The whole family has put their heart and soul into making wine work. Laurie is in her second year of the Master of Wine qualification (she’ll be the third-ever South African with that title if she gets through it) and she runs the WSET-accredited KwaZulu-Natal School of Wine to train up-and-coming wine aficionados.
‘I did all my qualifications overseas and there’s a wine school around every corner in London, but in South Africa, the only school was in Cape Town. So I opened one here in 2015,’ Laurie explained. It’s been met with a tremendous reception garnering support from renowned chef Jackie Cameron (born and raised in the Midlands, she gained fame for her fantastic food as head chef of Hartford House before leaving to start a culinary school based in Hilton) and you’ll find graduates at The Oyster Box, The Living Room at Summerhill and Qambathi Mountain Lodge. It’s not all serious sommeliers, though.
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