WHENEVER I talk to winemakers about their jobs, I always become rapidly bewildered at the incredible number of choices which face them at every turn. On the surface, winemaking is pretty easy: pick grapes, squash grapes, add yeast, watch it bubble, filter it, bottle it, sell it for huge amounts of cash – that’s it, right?
Of course it isn’t, and it doesn’t take too much time spent with vintners to realise that they actually face myriad choices every day.
From growing the grapes, knowing when to pick them, what to do in the winery, what kind of yeast/oak/bottles to use... vintners have to be constantly on their toes, reacting and anticipating, ready to change and adapt at every stage.
The good news is that nowadays they have access to a massive amount of information which helps them decide what to do. They can get minute-by-minute weather forecasts, detailed soil analyses, plenty of support and back up from the various science labs around the country.
But doesn’t it take the romance and art out of winemaking – or is it flying in the face of progress to ignore this wealth of information that can help to make better wine?
One person who not only sucks up all the information available, but goes out of his way to consider additional factors that others might ignore, is Richard Kershaw MW (Master of Wine).
One of only two MWs in the country, and of a mere 312 worldwide, Richard left his post at Kanu a few years ago to fly solo in Elgin, an area he believes has incredible potential for two varieties in particular: Chardonnay and Syrah (aka Shiraz).
As with many start-up businesses, he is yet to own his own vineyards and buys in grapes from local growers – it seems there is kudos in selling your grapes to an MW because the queue to do so is long, giving Richard access to amazing grapes from different growers, all within a 10-minute tractor drive of his cellar.
One of the factors Richard considers before buying is which clone the grapes are. Like lots of other agricultural products, grapes can be “bred” for particular purposes and he uses his technical background and experience to treat each clone appropriately and thus make better wine.
The clones he has chosen are all Burgundian in origin and each brings something different to the blend: Clone CY96 give finely-balanced wines with a distinct citrus edge; CY95 is particularly peachy and aromatic, while CY76 has a lovely nutty/almond character and the wines age rather well.
How do we know all this? Because Richard brought some of his 2013 chardonnays, the separate clonal components of which are all still in barrels waiting to be blended, into a fascinating tasting for the launch of his new, Platter 5 Star-winning Chardonnay 2012.
It’s not often that you get to taste the building blocks of a wine in this way – most vintners are keener to show off their finished product and keep their blending secrets to themselves – but Richard wants to produce wines which really reflect their terroir, so understanding all the different components is important.
To my mind, none of this detailed analysis is as important as the fact that, delicious though the individual clones were, the wine that sang the loudest and brightest was the blend of them all, the 2012 Chardonnay.
Science is great at explaining the explainable, but it’s the vintner’s art of blending which changes this wine from a science project into a triumph. Try it at www.richardkershawwines.co.za where you can join the “Clonehead Club” and receive great discounts on all the wines.
l Marston is a freelance wine writer and educator. Follow her on twitter @CathyMarston or see www.thewinecentre.co.za