MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Elgin climate makes for some cool and edgy wines

As Europe (and most places in the northern hemisphere) swelter under the summer heat dome, the idea of cool climate viticulture seems something of a distant dream.

This is all very new: in the past century there were several decades when Bordeaux battled to achieve proper ripeness. In the 1930s only two vintages yielded respectable wine. The 1960s saw a few of the best vintages in living memory, but also three that were so poor that several chateaux refused to bottle the crop under the name of the property. Even the fabulous decade of the 1990s began with a string of disappointments.

Today Bordeaux’s problem lies on the opposite side of the spectrum. In the past few years alcohol levels have increased inexorably, with vintages like the 2018s and the 2022s from top estates coming to market with alcohols in the 14.5% to 15.5% range. Leading producers in Chateauneuf-du-Pape are releasing wines at over 16%.

Over and above the other issues associated with the warmer weather — insufficient rainfall and the risk of wildfires — there is now a real threat to future prospects of fine wine in some of the best-established appellations in the new world.

For the moment the southern hemisphere — where many of the vineyard areas are close to the sea — has experienced less marked effects of climate change. This doesn’t mean that winemaking has been plain sailing: weather patterns have also changed, so that unseasonal conditions have obliged producers to approach each vintage as something unique, dry one year, wet the next, with unexpected delays in the ripening cycle and panic harvesting as the fruit surges forward to readiness.

Elgin, one of the Cape’s youngest appellations, suddenly finds itself in the happy situation of being the country’s coolest area of origin. Although subsistence viticulture was practised there from the 18th century, the vineyards vanished after phylloxera devastated the Western Cape at the end of the 19th century. It came back slowly, starting in the 1980s and finally took hold only in the past decade.

There are now so many fine wines coming from Elgin that it’s hard to remember that until recently the area was famous only for its apples and pears. At a recent presentation hosted by the Elgin producers I was struck by how almost everyone working with chardonnay was achieving freshness and finesse.

Oak Valley’s entry level wine “Beneath the Clouds” 2021 was bright, pure and edgy. The premium Groenlandberg was richer, rather than heavier, and with more detail on the palate. The Chardonnays from Paul Cluver (both the Estate and the 7 Flags) share the same weightless intensity, a feature of how well the variety performs in Elgin.

This much was evident elsewhere in the line-up: the Iona Elgin Highlands Chardonnay is both expressive and fresh, textural and linear. So too is the Kershaw Clonal Selection 2019: as it approaches its plateau of maturity it has moved from zesty and fresh to a more luminous rounded style.

The virtues of Elgin’s cooler climate were evident in other varieties presented at the tasting. Lothian’s Riesling was a standout example: I sampled the 2019 and the 2022. Both were excellent, the former more in the smokier South Australian style while the latter had a citrus-like purity and linearity.

Cool climate also means the potential to make more classically styled pinot noirs. Here Elgin has several convincing candidates. These include — once again — both the Estate and the 7 Flags cuvées from Paul Cluver, as well as the wines from the adjacent Oak Valley Farm. Their entry-level “Sounds of Silence” pinot — which sells for about R170 — showed lovely crunchy red fruit, while the more expensive Groenlandberg 2021 delivered layered black cherry and bruised strawberry notes.

Elgin is no further from Cape Town than Franschhoek. Until recently it was seen as a visit en route to Hermanus, rather than as a destination in its own right. In the past few years it has acquired critical mass, epitomising the best of the modern Cape wine industry.