As in fashion, wine trends change and need to future-proof — but they have to do so in advance because it takes four to five years before a commercial crop can be harvested. Because of climate change, the grape makeup of vineyards the world over is undergoing transformation.
In South Africa more examples of albariño, assyrtiko, verdelho and grenache — red and white — are making it to the shelves. These grapes are better suited to withstand heat and drought, and producers are wise to get them in the ground and cultivate a consumer market for them sooner rather than later.
Grenache noir, the red version, is the most established. It’s a grape that’s been around for centuries and is deeply rooted in the south of France and Spain, with it once having been the workhorse grape of the Spanish industry, making up 80% of all red grape plantings.
That might sound familiar to fans of local chenin blanc because, like South African chenin, Spanish grenache — or garnacha in local parlance — was heavily cropped and used for everyday red, mainly by large, volume-driven co-operative wineries. However, there’s been something of a revolution since the late 1990s and early 2000s with Spanish winemakers such as Álvaro Palacios highlighting the beauty of wines that truly speak of place, notably the Penedès, Priorat and high in the Gredos mountains beyond Madrid.
What makes grenache so appealing when well made is its freshness and delicacy
The Spanish took their cue from what the French were doing with the grape in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Minervois and Corbières — hot, dry areas. Château Rayas, a French grenache, is a lifetime bucket list wine for geeks, and for good reason: it’s haunting, hedonistic, achingly beautiful and precise, but costs a fortune. London’s Farr Vintners lists a single bottle — in bond — for R17,393 (and that’s before any duty or sales tax is paid)! By way of comparison, a 2021 bottle of Palacios’s L’Ermita Velles Vinyes, from DOCa Priorat, is also available in London for R22,353. It also explains why grenache is sometimes referred to as the pinot noir of the south.
South Africa is beginning to turn heads with local examples of the variety. Eben Sadie was one of the pioneers, having discovered the grape during his stint in Priorat in Spain in the early 2000s. His Soldaat — if you can get onto the allocation list — sells for just shy of R1,000 a bottle. Fellow Swartland producer David & Nadia’s grenache sells for just a nudge over R900. Similarly, AA Badenhorst’s Raaigras grenache will require a buyer to fork out nearly R700. It’s appropriate that all three are Swartland wineries because they know all about heat and lack of water. But the list is long: The Foundry, Naudé Family, Ken Forrester, Momento, Illimis, Tierhoek, ArtiSons (Stellenrust), Lourens Family, Fram, Blackwater, Catherine Marshall, Van Niekerk Vintners, Villion, Waverley Hills, Vriesenhof, Saronsberg, Migliarina and more.
Plantings of grenache noir have gone from 42ha pre-2000 to 207.7ha in 2011 and 518ha in 2021. (Those figures are courtesy of Sawis, the meticulous national wine information gatherer, and show that grenache has squeaked into the top 20, occupying the No 19 slot of most popular grapes planted.)
What makes grenache so appealing when well made is its freshness and delicacy. The best examples display a trace of rose petal or a hint of Turkish delight, though for many years producers chased ripeness and bold tannins, masking these nuances.
Palacios et al sought to express site and soil, the minerality and power usually expressed as the “iron fist in a velvet glove” — and this is the route and model local winemakers have taken. David & Nadia’s grenache was described by the latest Platter’s Wine Guide as having “freshness, energy, concentration of flavour and weight but still closed behind a cloak of fine, dry and vibrant tannins”. The wine has heft and palate weight, but the talcum fineness of the tannins, in balance with the fruit ripeness, makes it a great example of grenache.
It is also a wonderful blending partner, particularly with shiraz and mourvèdre, and it’s in blended guise that greater value can be found. Creation and near neighbour Domaine des Dieux offer wines in this style that will give you change from R300, while Michelin-starred chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s eponymous JAN, made by Zevenwacht, will return a few rand from a R200 outlay.
One of grenache’s biggest positives is that it also straddles seasons comfortably: it fits the bill for winter but is equally happy served slightly chilled in summer; it doesn’t lose flavour or appeal in either setting.
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