LIQUID INVESTMENTS
MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Swartland’s delicate old cultivars attract new followers
Sometimes we take the way cultivars present themselves for granted. This explains the excitement when we trip over new interpretations of the familiar. Part of the reason why the Swartland engenders so much commentary is that it offers a new take on old varieties. At other times, we come across an unfamiliar grape or style of wine, and there it’s the same surprise, a kind of "shock of the new". While the Swartland was best known for its old vine chenin and shiraz, it’s now in vogue for clairette blanche, semillon (blanc and gris), cinsaut, grenache and carignan — often from vineyards older than fashionable chenin blancs. These cultivars were once familiar enough, though not perhaps to the fine wine fraternity. Cinsaut was the primary red blending variety in the era before merlot, while clairette blanche, together with ugni blanche, supplemented chenin blanc at the brandy distilleries. Now made from vines old enough to deliver surprising concentration, wines from these vines have acq...
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