Last year, Wines of South Africa ran a competition for independent wine merchants in the UK. The prize, a trip for two to visit the South African winelands, was won by S H Jones & Co – a family owned wine merchant based in Banbury. Recently returning from the trip, Tim Carlisle, the retail general manager at S H Jones, tells us about his trip and what he discovered in the Cape:

“I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting on my recent trip to South Africa, but as someone who had never been outside Europe I was a little apprehensive about going half way around the world, but I really needn’t have worried.

What I found was a country of unbelievable beauty, who’s people are incredibly friendly and welcoming and who’s wineries work terrifically hard to not only produce some outstanding wines but do so in ways that seek to benefit the environment and in many cases bring a degree of relief to workers who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

If you had asked me before I left what issues were facing South Africa as a wine producing country I’d have probably pointed at excessive use of oak and struggles with finding the correct degree of ripeness in their grapes. However, it would appear that South Africa is getting to grips with these problems, I simply didn’t find any wines that I felt the oak was excessive rather South Africa seems to have learned that less is often more. It is far more common now to find a little judicious use of oak with a wonderful lightness of touch.

The other stand out quality was the ripeness of fruit flavours, we’re not talking over ripe jammy and stewed fruit flavours here, we’re talking fresh, ripe fruit that is creating wines with a brilliant core that can then be supported with a little use of oak and kept fresh with lovely acidity and soft textural tannins.

I was well aware of the diversity in grape varieties in the Cape, but it was a real eye opener to begin to understand the huge diversity in soils and micro-climates that see neighbouring regions with completely different levels of rainfall and average temperatures.

It should come as no surprise to any of us who buy fruit in the UK to discover the these climates are superbly suited to fruit growing, and the fruit that arrives in wineries has long been amongst the best produced anywhere, the key for South Africa has been to turn that potential into world class wine – something that used to happen on a few select farms but which is now happening on more and more estates.

There also seems to be a greater understanding in the vineyards over site selection, paring varieties and rootstocks with their soil types better whilst vine health has been a factor for many over the past decade the situation is improving where it needs to.

Old vineyards up in arid Swartland are now part of one of the most exciting regions in the world, led by the likes of Eben Sadie and Adi Badenhorst Rhone style blends are being made from old (by South African standards) bush vines that are the equal of anything from the New World – and quite a bit of the Old too. Fresh, textured whites such as that made by Mullineux Family Vineyards or Adi Badenhorst (again) show not so much potential as world beating quality.

Cabernet Sauvignon and blends from Stellenbosch are being made with such restraint and style by a whole plethora of producers at prices that make Bordeaux seem not only expensive but insanely so. Whilst producers such as Kanonkop and Kaapzicht are extracting quality and interest from Pinotage that many of us in the UK assume to be impossible. They can also be really age worthy, something that can get overlooked – we can assume a wine will be good for up to fifteen years following vintage from South Africa but the 1983 Cabernet opened for us a Meerlust proved that the very best wines will live at least twice as long as that.

I was also very interested to learn about some of the terrific work that some wineries are doing to help their underprivileged farm workers. For instance at Kaapzicht estate not only do the Steytler family provide housing and electricity for their workers and their families there is an on site crèche for the youngest children paid for by the farm, (including the wages of the crèche teachers and their training), they run an after school club to help the community children with their homework but also to teach life skills such as drug and alcohol awareness and sex and health education – these are run in partnership with Pebbles a UK charity that I became aware of before I visited and one that I would love to help further. Education is rarely free in South Africa and so the Steytlers also foot the bill to send children from the farm to school up to secondary school, although persuading them to finish school rather than work for money is often an issue. I don’t think I had considered this side at all when thinking about buying South African wines, but it is worth realising that buying wines from certain estates will help to improve the lives of many less fortunate that ourselves even if they don’t have any official mark.

The future for South Africa certainly looks exciting, the wines are probably underpriced in the UK, the rate of progress is rapid and there is still plenty to come. I for one left knowing that South Africa was going to be getting more of my business and that the one or two bottles that I keep in my small collection would need to be added to by classics such as Rustenberg’s Peter Barlow, Meerlust’s Rubicon and Warwick’s Trilogy and by newer wines like those from Mullineux, Badenhorst and Vilafonte.”

For more information about Pebbles visit: http://www.pebblesproject.co.za/

S H Jones are running two South African tasting events in the coming months:

Summer South African tasting, held on 12^th August 2011

Discover the taste of South Africa held on 16^th September 2011

To find out more about these tastings and S H Jones visit: http://www.shjoneswines.com