Can Newer Wine Regions Make Waves?

Breedekloof Wine Route, surrounding the village of Rawsonville, can learn a tremendous amount from newer wine regions. Although the art of growing vines and making wine is an old, intrinsic art in the valley, the wine route as a marketing entity, is relatively new. Thus, the area faces numerous challenges in making a name for itself.

I picked up the new Essential Guide to South African Wines: Terroir & Travel (authors: Elmari Swart, Izak Smit); I was excited by its fresh look, reminding me of the graphics-rich DK Travel Guides. I was left disappointed, albeit not all that surprised, when I realised the Breede River Valley appeared glaringly absent, despite it being the largest, by-volume, contributor to Cape Winelands’ production.  There it finally was, Breedekloof and Worcester, given a concise, text-based description, alongside Plettenberg Bay and Orange River towards the end of the book.

Where I picked up this book was more significant though. I was in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, one of South Africa’s southernmost regions, just to the north of picturesque, whale-famous, Hermanus. It too, is a newer wine route, with Walker Bay only afforded full wine region status in May 2004. It has its shortcomings and strengths, as does our region, the Breedekloof. What we lack, they have and conversely: They have a tourist hub town, we do not; they have no major tarred through route, we do. This will soon change, as the R320 is being sealed from the Hemel-en-Aarde valley to the N2 in Caledon.

Their uniqueness as a region is glaringly obvious. Somehow the cellars are doing something out-of-the-ordinary here, that sets this region apart, even from juggernauts like Stellenbosch and Frasnchhoek. It’s quirky, fresh, accommodating and amenity-rich, without being commercial cheese. Could this be why this dead-end road with no sealed outlet (yet), appears to be thriving? Is it the power of Hermanus over the Camphill Ridge? Or is it that one cellar struts her stuff in Parisian burlesque garb, whilst another does so in traditional Cape-Dutch attire? One cellar oozes über-contemporary chic and the other, gothic revivalist grace? Is it that some are glaringly nouveau-riche and others, historic-conservationist and traditional? The diversity in a distance of barely 10km, was so much to take in: I was happy, in awe, but exhausted.

One may say we have an uphill battle, as the village of Rawsonville could never compete with the town, that is Hermanus. This is probably true for the foreseeable future; they just have the tourism critical mass already. They have the sea and the whales and we don’t. However, we do have greater wine volumes, offer better value-for-money, taller mountains and easier access to all parts of the Cape and the rest of South Africa for that matter. All our roads are already tarred, so why the lack of attention?

Could it lie in our ability to be quirky, to redefine ourselves and create that in our cellars: setting us apart, making ourselves unique? I’m still debating how this can be enacted, but one thing is for sure, Hemel-en-Aarde is one unique little area with some weird and wonderful cellars. If our wine route’s value-for-money, wine quality and statuesque beauty is anything to go by, our region could do the same. We just need to find that thing that defines us. We need to do that, which the regional juggernauts cannot do, and do it well. If a “dead-end valley” can do it, so can we.

Special Waterblommetjie Edition: The Recipes

Benny Masekwameng (MasterChef judge) enjoying one of the day’s dishes as judging commenced.

To celebrate our successful hosting of the first annual Cape Cuisine event, the Waterblommetjie Competition between Muratie Estate and DuToitkloof Wines on 17 August, we are posting the finalists’ recipes for your enjoyment. Enjoyed by our VIP guests and the media, we trust these recipes can bring some winter warmth to your home, hopefully paired with one of our beautiful wines.

DuToitskloof’s Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

 • 3 kg mutton in large chunks

• 1 chopped onion

• 12 small onions

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 15 small potatoes

• 4 cups chicken stock

• 2 cups Du Toitskloof Chardonnay

• 3 kg waterblommetjies

• 1 cup soy sauce

• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

• A bunch of wild sorrel or lemon juice to taste

METHOD

• Brown the meat in its own fat or use a bit of oil. Remove and brown the small onions until brown and keep aside.

• Braise the chopped onion and garlic and add the meat, wine and stock and place the waterblommetjies and small potatoes on top

• Place the lid on and simmer for about an hour

• Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for afurther 20 minutes

• Serve with crushed wheat, rice, beetroot salad and baked quince

Muratie’s Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kg mutton (a combination of platrib, dikrib and sheeps’ tails)

• 2,5 kg waterblommetjies, cleaned

• 500 g potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

• 1 onion roughly chopped

• 1 clove of garlic fi nely chopped

• A bunch of wild sorrel, finely chopped

• 250 ml hot water

• 15 ml brown vinegar

• A pinch of grated nutmeg

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• Lemon for serving

METHOD

• Use a heavy bottomed cast iron pot with a lid

• Season the meat with the brown vinegar, salt,pepper and nutmeg

• Braise the meat, onion and garlic in a little water until tender

• Add the waterblommetjies and wild sorrel and place the potatoes on top

• Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste and add the 250 ml hot water

• Cover with the lid and simmer until tender. Keep hot water handy should you need more moisture – don’t let the contents cook dry or turn into a soup.

• Don’t stir the pot during the cooking but only before serving to mix the meat, potatoes and waterblommetjies

• Serve with rice and lemon wedges.

CLEANING THE WATERBLOMMETJIES - Soak the waterblommetjies overnight in salt water and rinse thoroughly. Remove all sand and dirt as well as the harder parts from the flowers and the leaves.

THE MEAT - If using mutton tails, don’t exceed the weight of the meat as specified in the recipe. If using lamb, braising will be much quicker. The success of this stew is the marriage between the fat of the meat and the waterblommetjies

Winelands Lifestyle Crutch

Going to the Highveld in the winter is an anomaly for a Cape-resident, particularly if it is not for business. Most Northerners are trekking to the KZN coast or to game reserves for their mid-year break. Those that are brave enough, head down to the Cape, contending with our notorious winter weather for some good wine, green landscapes, snowy mountains and rough seascapes.

The classic South African inter-city rivalry exposed?

As a person doing the opposite, something strikes you: We’re spoilt, spoilt to the point that our environment becomes the overriding factor in many of our decisions, our ability to adjust, our collective psychology and how we interact with people and our surroundings. This may sound like hyperbole, but when you meet recent Cape migrants seeking better employment up north, or even as a visitor, you’re confronted with the “northern” lifestyle, you realise how reliant we are on these seemingly trivial physical geographical aspects of the Cape: weather, scenery, diversity of agriculture and landscape, Winelands Lifestyle and the like.

Sociologically, we are aloof. We hear it repeatedly from our northern cousins: Capetonians stay in their cliques, tend to be a tad dismissive and aren’t good at venturing out of their comfort zones. You may ask as a Capetonian if this is not a gross stereotype. A Northerner may ask why this stereotype is often valid. It’s our environment. The Winelands Lifestyle means one’s comfort zone is as comfortable as one can be without a financial infusion. There is little need to venture beyond one’s province, usual urban-or-rural stomping grounds or even one’s clique. It’s just all too nice. Why does the Gauteng bar have a buzz of activity about it even before the social lubricant (read: alcohol) begins working on the inhibitions? The patrons of these bars seek out the company of others, even those beyond their cliques, as the people they surround themselves with, creates contentment.

We use our environment as a sociological and psychological crutch. When all else fails, the mountains and vineyards remain. We use the environment to bring about the aforementioned contentment. Having a glass of wine on your own in Johannesburg can feel lonely. Here, having that same glass with a gorgeous view fills this void. However, the void is still there, the mountain in front of your eyes is just masking it.

What am I getting at? The question is do we collectively live in a fool’s paradise, where our personal issues are glazed over, professional and personality flaws are masked and where comfort is so easy to come by, we fail to take risks, either professionally or personally? Are we truly happy or is the environment forcing our happiness; contentment coming from the external, rather than the real, internal contentment?

In Afrikaans they say, “Elke huis het sy kruis.” For those less well versed in our other language, it basically states idiomatically, that every home has its cross to bear. Upon returning to the Cape after a short stay in the Highveld, it becomes evident. It is not evident in the fact that the Cape is a bad place, but actually in how great it is. The effect this has on its residents and how those who don’t live here compensate and how we’re often too complacent.

It is perhaps the hyperbole of the sociological and psychological consequences of living the Winelands Lifestyle, but there are definitely profound affects. As the Highveld has its crosses to bear, so do we, although often fail to realise it. We gloss over so much ugliness, we are content with so much less because the environment provides so much more. We often fail to see our fellow humans because the mountains blind our eyes. Perhaps in all our intrinsic arrogance, we can learn something from these Northerners. Perhaps if we can analyse our glamorous Winelands Lifestyle with some introspection, we will see that we don’t have it all. What we have externally, we sometimes neglect internally.

Don’t let the Winelands Lifestyle blind you: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

What Makes a Wine Region Successful?

The lesser known wine regions often desperately ponder what makes a wine region successful. It often erupts into a highly emotional, raucous debate where conflicting views pit conservatives against liberals and protectionists against the globally-minded.

Visitors enjoying some wine at a seemingly more successful Soetes&Soup Festival

What is very concerning about insular and lesser known wine regions, is often the fact they are lesser known, makes them even more adverse to letting go of their protectionist, almost survivalist mentality; the whole psychology of, the worse off you are, the harder you try to hoard what you have left. However, this is often a counterintuitive measure that results in more hardship.

Albeit, the worse your financial position is, the more difficult it becomes to invest in the very things that will improve your financial position. This goes for wine regions in general and some forgotten rural towns of the Western Cape. Such wasted glory is a sad sight; beautiful towns with surroundings that take your breath away, towns that Europeans, Americans and Canadians would die to see. However, these towns are locked in a poverty cycle, locked in protectionist mentalities and economic stagnation; few amenities exist and poor tourism and economic vision creates a toxic mix perpetuating the hardship.

Most wine regions also understand that any large body requires a heart, a core; a tourism and services hub that ties all the far-flung estates, cellars and other attractions together. Stellenbosch uses this very effectively and although Pniel, Kylemore and Klapmuts fall within this wine-of-origin area, they realise their core is the town of Stellenbosch. Even the new kid on the block, Robertson, grasps this. Bonnievale, McGregor and Ashton playing the role of the smaller cousins, but the natural and logical nucleus is Robertson and this name is what draws the tourists to the region as a whole.

Robertson is often used as a paragon of how an obscure region can quickly and effectively propel itself into the national and even international wine region limelight. Their festival, the Wacky Wine drink-fest that it is, is either loved or loathed. However no matter which way you slice it, it is deeply ingrained in the wine-drinking psyche and Robertson has created a model of marketing success. This success spills into their town’s main streets; cafés, restaurants, boutiques and new retail outlets are opening on a regular basis. Their main thoroughfares are well-maintained, meticulously landscaped and their success and tourism-mindedness almost exudes out of the pavements.

Contrast this with the Breedekloof Wine Route, a wine region with no town’s name, a region created for marketing purposes only. In fact, no Breedekloof exists, except in a brochure and in company name. Breedekloof is geographically, simply the western Breede River Valley. Then there’s the dysfunctional heart, Rawsonville – The town that never was. Here, lack of vision exudes from the cracked pavements, stagnation and rural blight is exposed for all to see. A horrific pity for a wine region that probably boasts the best value-for-money wines, produces the most wine in the country and arguably has some of the most dramatic landscapes of any wine region south of the equator. In fact, it is the region where the most vineyards get planted annually – production is on the up, in stark contrast to many regions in contraction. Where did it all go awry?

Frankly, lack-of-vision, protectionism and absence of partnerships; Breedekloof has been given a double-edged sword: genuine, down to earth people who make you feel you’re the only tourist here. The other unfortunate edge, the one whose roots are so deeply imbedded in the soil of the valley, the branches cannot reach over the mountain, never mind the rest of the globe. Thus, the solution; allowing visionaries to take the reigns in forging partnerships to get the town off its knees, allowing the knowledgeable to drive regional marketing and permitting lateral-thinkers to assume positions where a mandate can be carried out. Conservatism and protectionism is often threatened by these very aforementioned traits, often extricating or dismissing these individuals and ideas, using emotive arguments protecting tradition and patriarchy. However, disallowing this will end up only perpetuating the very hardship these protectionists lament.

Can lesser known wine regions achieve success? Yes, it has already been done, the proof exists. This success comes from letting go of those things the collective within the region know little about. Most are farmers, wine-makers or in associated agricultural services. Do what you do best, stick to your core business and allow people who have vision, to cultivate your success outside the vineyard. However, a word of warning; other regions are moving apace. To build a strong collective Cape Winelands brand, it is imperative that all Cape wine regions can hold their own and compete on a similar level, in a healthy manner. Waiting too long to jump aboard the marketing-train makes for an even more difficult game of catch-up. Don’t allow your region to eventually wake up one day and realise:

Our valley has been forgotten!