I spent the better part of a week last month in the Western Cape of South Africa. I was briefly in the vineland around Stellenbosch and a little further west in the Swartland, and then in Cape Town for the country’s big wine show, Cape Wine. It was my first time back in 13 years, and I was as happy to return to that beautiful country as I was excited to see what had changed.
The beauty of Cape Wine is that just about everyone in the business (or craft) of making wine goes. Since my last visit in 2012, I have kept in touch and kept tabs on a handful of South African winemakers, especially those who make it to Canada every few years. But for three days in the great hall of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, I had access to the full spectrum of people, terroirs, grapes, and all things related to wine made in the Southern tip of Africa.
While I knew Cape Wine would be lekker, the Afrikaans word which means both delicious and very nice, I was also excited to get out in the field. When I attended Cape Wine in 2012, the corner of the show that had the most buzz was a group of new generation winemakers, the Swartland Independents, led by the charismatic Adie Badenhorst. Since then, the reputation of the Swartland producers who were there, like Eben Sadie, Andrea and Chris Mullineux, and Callie Louw (Porseleinberg), had only grown.
I hoped dearly I would get to Swartland to see where it all happened, and was delighted when my hosts for the trip, Wines of South Africa (WoSA), gave me a place at a tasting and dinner on my first night in the country in Swartland at the AA Badenhorst winery and farm. All the originals were there, and some new ones, at least to me. The difference now was that the place and the people had become established; no longer revolutionaries, some were even employing a second generation.
I have always enjoyed Swartland wines, especially made with grapes native to places in Southern Europe, like the Rhône Valley or even Portugal. I wanted to get a better understanding of why.
I knew the van carrying me had reached Swartland because the landscape suddenly changed from the hills and mountains of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl to big sky country. The farms were big, spread over wide valleys, with mountains in the distance.
Click HERE to read the full article.