By David Setley
This week, let’s take a look at another “grape unknown” by exploring South Africa and Uruguay, two countries that may not be high on your list of well-known wine countries. Read on as I discuss two unique wines that come from these countries: Pinotage and Tannat.
South African wine originated in 1655 when members of the Dutch East India Company planted the first grapevines near Cape Town. In 1659, Jan van Riebeeck, founder of the city of Johannesburg, bottled the first bottles of wine in South Africa. Interestingly, the original intent of planting vineyards was to ward off scurvy, a disease resulting from vitamin C deficiency, amongst sailors. Early planters chose high-yielding grape varieties to ensure plentiful wine. Though initial results were not great, as more colonists arrived, they brought more knowledge and a tradition of viticulture and winemaking with them. In 1679, Simon van der Stel, Governor of the Cape, arrived in South Africa from Holland, bringing with him both an extensive passion for wine, as well as firsthand winemaking experience. In 1685, he established the first winemaking farm in an area behind Table Mountain, known today as Groot Constantia. This large estate went on to produce a world-famous wine that earned the attention of nobles and royals around the world. South Africa earned its place on the global wine map.
Winemaking prospered until the 1880s when the disastrous insect Phylloxera arrived, devouring virtually all of the vines in the country and bringing winemaking to an abrupt halt. By the time a solution was found nearly 2 decades later, many wine producers were out of business or had been bought out by fruit farms. Then, in 1924, Abraham Izak Perold, the first professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, invented a new varietal of grape through the process of grafting. Grafting is a horticultural technique that joins together two or more plants. In viticulture, grafting is done to create a new varietal that reflects the best characteristics of multiple other varietals. Perold grafted Pinot Noir and a grape that he believed to be Hermitage, a grape from the Rhone Valley of France. He called his creation “Pinotage” as a combination of the two. It took nearly a century and the availability of genetic testing for the wine world to realize that Perold had not, in fact, combined Hermitage with Pinot Noir. As it turned out, he was using Cinsault, a varietal that had been brought to South Africa in the early 17th century. Regardless, the name Pinotage had already stuck.
An awesome Pinotage to try is called Kanonkop Kadette Pinotage from Stellenbosch, South Africa. This 100% Pinotage wine is deep red in color and medium-bodied with well-structured and smooth tannins. It is well-balanced with flavors of red raspberries and plums and notes of sweet baking spices. This wine pairs perfectly with pastas, meats, or roasted vegetables. If you are a red wine lover who has not yet tried this wine, the time is now!
Uruguay’s wine history developed in tandem with its founding as a country in the early 1800s, though there are records of Jesuit Priests making sacramental wine there as early as the 1720s. That said, Uruguay’s wine industry didn’t find footing until the end of the 19th century when there was an influx of European immigrants who brought grapevines from their homeland. By 1889, 70 percent of adults in Uruguay were immigrants. There was land to be planted, workers willing to work, and more than 80 grape varietals passing through the docks. Northern Italian varietals, like Barbera and Nebbiolo, Spanish varietals, such as Garnacha, and French varietals like Gamay, Cabernet, and Tannat, became common in Uruguay’s vineyards.
Tannat (pronounced Than-naht) has become known as Uruguay’s national grape and has put the nation on the global wine map. According to records, Tannat was first planted in Uruguay in 1861, near Concepción. Pedro Jáuregui brought cuttings in from Southern France. Argentina has attempted to lay claim to the first Tannat planting in South America, but research has led viticultural historians to believe that the varietal was present in Uruguay at least a few decades prior to its arrival in Argentina. Tannat’s name is believed to have been derived from the high tannins in the wine produced from this grape. The color is dark red, and its flavors of raisins, plums, licorice and smoke are intense. An outstanding example is the Tannat Reserva from Bodega Garzon in Uruguay.
I hope you enjoyed this exploration into a few new “grapes unknown.” As always, contact me with any questions at dsetley@passionvines.com, or stop into the Somers Point store. Until next time, happy wining!
David Setley is enjoying his retirement from higher education as a wine educator and certified sommelier at Passion Vines in Somers Point, New Jersey.
