Winemakers love a new piece of kit to add to the toolbox.
In the early days of chardonnay in South Africa, winemakers adopted the French technique of bâtonnage — stirring wine in the barrel using a special tool, a lees stirrer. (More thrifty winemakers soon realised that a golf club did the same job.)
The latest method is as old as the hills: clay amphora jars.
Wine Machinery Group and Amorim Cork hosted an amphora seminar with Pedro Ribeiro of Herdade do Rocim in Portugal’s Alentejo region as speaker.
Ribeiro recounted his “aha!” moment during a sales trip to New York in 2010. “Beverage directors and sommeliers in New York always wanted something new or different, something with a story,” he said. When he mentioned Rocim’s ugly duckling, an amphora wine made in tiny quantities compared with its 1.5-million bottle production, eyes lit up.
That led to an amphora festival, which last year attracted about 50 producers of amphora wines and nearly 2,000 visitors.
Ribeiro is a world authority on amphora wine — or vinho de talhas (talhas being the Portuguese term for the clay jars). He laments the lost art of making amphorae, which date back to ancient Roman times. “Some of the vessels we use at Rocim are more than 200, 250 years old. Nobody in Portugal knows how to make them any more.” Rocim has 32 talhas after buying old vessels.
Former Kleine Zalze cellar chief Alastair Rimmer recounts the Stellenbosch winery’s experimental amphora journey. “Vessels like these have been around for thousands of years, but it’s only been 10 or 15 years since South African winemakers began experimenting with them.”
I’m not a hippie winemaker who dances naked by the light of the full moon ... but there’s something about amphora wine that lends an extra dimension
— Alastair Rimmer
Hamilton Russell persuaded a local potter to use clay from its Hemel-en-Aarde vineyards to fire a homemade amphora.
Kiln size and firing temperatures presented the first obstacle, so most producers interested in experimenting have cast their eyes to Italy. Wine Machinery Group’s Vanessa Hoek says the Manetti family are the best in the business. They have decades of experience in clay and large-scale production — initially roof tiles — and began making amphorae for chianti producers in 1968.
“It’s been a journey of exploration,” Rimmer says. “Clay amphorae add an extra dimension to wine. You can explain it by means of the subtle micro-oxygenation the wine undergoes in an amphora, but there’s also something else — a vibrance, freshness or energy.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hippie winemaker who dances naked by the light of the full moon ... but there’s something about amphora wine that lends an extra dimension.”
He points to Duncan Savage, Catherine Marshall, Eben Sadie and Peter-Allan Finlayson of Gabriëlskloof as fellow early adopters, all winemakers recognised for making some of the country’s best wines.
Rimmer hazarded the wrath of his boss by buying the first few without approval. “But once he’d tasted the wines we made under Project Z, he approved more.” Kleine Zalze now has 24 amphorae and is happy to beat the drum.
If there was ever a proof of the pudding, Kleine Zalze being heralded as winery of the year in 2021 by the Platter Guide was it. As the editor wrote in his commendation: “Of its seven top ratings this year, three are from the new Project Z, and their names speak volumes: Grenache Amphora, Whole Bunch Shiraz, Chenin Blanc Amphora.”
Current cellar chief RJ Botha was in lockstep with Rimmer. “A lot of people think these are just geeky toys — and they are — but they can make a difference to large, volume-driven commercial wines too. The reason we started with Project Z, to experiment with different vessels, grapes and winemaking techniques, was to see how we could improve our wines that go on the retail shelf.”
Never doubt the difference a few percent, even 5% or 10%, can make to a large volume of wine, says Botha. It can add texture and mouthfeel, length or flesh out the mid-palate. Consumers might not even be aware of what it is, but they will know that the wine is not the same as another bottle of the same grape cultivar.
Ernie Els winemaker Louis Snyman concurs. The 25% of amphora wine is an integral part of the flavour profile for the lauded Helderberg producer. “It’s been the biggest change for us in the past 15 years — and has been a revelation,” he says.
Jordan, Lourensford, Haute Cabrière and Kaapzicht are just a few other wineries that make commercial ranges with a portion of amphora wine in the mix.
These clay vessels are again becoming fashionable.
