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MICHAEL FRIDJHON: White blends a good hope for the Cape
It’s curious how few of the established blends in the world of wine are connected by name to a place. Those that are enjoy their reputation (and implicit credibility) mainly on account of a French connection: Bordeaux blends and Rhone blends, both red and white. No-one talks of chianti as a Tuscan blend or tempranillo, graciano and mazuelo as a Rioja blend: chianti is chianti and Rioja (the appellation) is a more important brand than the mention of the wine’s component parts. For years the Cape’s pinotage producers wanted to extend the visibility of their wines (or perhaps, as some less sympathetic commentators have suggested, bury their surplus) in a blend where pinotage was the central component. They labelled the category “Cape blend” and waited patiently for it to take off. So far the rumours of its success, locally and internationally, have been greatly exaggerated. Long-established blends have an economic as well as organoleptic logic to them. In Bordeaux there are sound reaso...
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