Silkbush Pinotage Changed Her Mind

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Dave Jefferson

LD-Pinotage — (c) Julia Crowley, Courtesy http://winejulia.com

Pinotage is a mysterious grape in American wine culture, for now at least. We are trying to change that by importing a bit of Pinotage from our mountain vineyards and taking the time to introduce it to wine enthusiasts. Julia Crowley, the Food and Wine Editor at Eugene (Oregon) Daily News, an award-winning blogger and a former wine shop owner has tasted a lot of wines but she admittedly did not understand Pinotage, until she tasted ours. She tells the story in her review of Silkbush’s 2009 Pinotage.

My Thoughts on Pinotage are Forever Changed: Lion’s Drift Pinotage 2009

The first time I tried Pinotage (a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut), I was admittedly confused. It wasn’t at all what I expected. I was looking for specific characteristics; such as, cherries, red berries, smoke and earth. Instead I experienced bananas, band-aids and paint – I was awfully disappointed.

Pinotage is South Africa’s signature varietal, so I had high hopes – especially since other South African wines I had tried left impressive lasting memories with their pleasant aromas, nice acidity, great balance and solid structure. My thoughts on Pinotage went from hopeful to bleh.

My thoughts, however, were forever changed when I popped the cork on Silkbush Mountain Vineyards Lion’s Drift 2009 Pinotage. Read More…

Asian Wine Judge, Sherwin Lao, Visits South Africa

Posted on June 13, 2013November 25, 2020 by Dave Jefferson

I just returned from another trip to South Africa where I spent a few weeks touring and tasting with Sherwin Lao, a leading wine journalist, judge and consultant from the Philippines. An expert on Asian wine markets, he has visited most of the famous wine regions of the world but this was his first trip to South Africa. He wrote a four-part series of articles for Manila Standard Today about what he saw and learned in South Africa’s wine country. Here’s his first impression…

My first trip to South Africa has been nothing short of astonishing, and I have just been here less than a week. From the time my plane was just about to land at the Cape Town International Airport, I was already captivated by the unparalleled aerial beauty I saw from my window seat. One thing that was so obvious from the onset was how much space there is in this country. South Africa is a huge country with a land mass area of over a million square kilometers, four times the size of Philippines. Yet the population is just 50 million, or half of our population. Excerpt from “The South African Wine Road Trip Part 1” by Sherwin Lao.

Introducing Sherwin to the history and achievements of South African grape growers and winemakers was a highlight of my 30+ years in the wine business. Sherwin’s articles and upcoming role as a judge at the annual Michelangelo International Wine Awards of South Africa will help wine enthusiasts from many Asian countries to discover great South African wines from the Western Cape.

The number of wines I tasted in my recently concluded Western Cape trip is more than that of all my previous total South African wines drunk in my entire wine drinking life. Since I have been drinking wines circa 1994, it seems like I have practically ignored South African wines for almost the last 20 years. And honestly, it may not be simple snobbery but more on South African wines’ availability and appeal in my little world here in the Philippines and the neighboring Asian countries I visit frequently. (The South African Wine Road Trip Part 2 by Sherwin Lao)

Our tour loosely followed the itinerary that I designed many years ago for visitors to the Cape and to Silkbush Mountain Vineyards. We spent a few days at Silkbush where Sherwin stayed at our luxury guesthouse in the unsurpassed Breedekloof district. With his customary attention to detail and comprehensive coverage of each place we visited, Sherman summarizes some key facts about Silkbush:

Silkbush Mountain Vineyards – Silkbush is the English translation of the Sybasberg Mountain in Western Cape. Silkbush Mountain Vineyards has been supplying [the] majority of its grape juices to top South African wineries for over a decade now. The Breedekloof vineyards have been a favorite source for highly priced premium South African Pinotage, Shiraz, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. But now the company is gearing more towards forward-integration and building their own brand equity. The company has the right size (tonnage), excellent vineyards, and a gifted viticulturist in Anton Roos. Silkbush also has a luxury self-catering cottage in Kingsbury Cottage, where I stayed for a few nights, and was blown away by its scenic surroundings, backdrop of the Sybasberg Mountain, idyllic vineyards and indescribable sunset and sunrise views.

I am pleased to have had the opportunity to meet Sherwin and be his tasting buddy and guide. Sherwin’s genuine enthusiasm and appreciation for South Africa’s wine regions will help introduce South African wine to wine drinkers in Asian countries. In fact, anyone with even a remote interest in South African wine should read his well-written four-part series of articles for Manila Standard Today where he writes eloquently about what he saw and learned in South Africa’s wine country.

Napa, Sonoma & the Western Cape

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Dave Jefferson

While most who visit a South African vineyard/wine website will expect strictly “cheering for the home team,” we are a little different. This website is all about Silkbush which is 12 years old, however, you may not know we also have a larger and longer established operation in Napa and Sonoma Counties in Northern California (NorCal) . We have approximately 700 acres in NorCal, versus 215 under vine at Silkbush. Our annual harvested tonnage runs about 3,000 tons in NorCal, versus 1,200 metric tons at Silkbush, or 10% more, in comparable 1,320 English tons. (We are constantly converting from hectares to acres; metric tons to English tons; liters to gallons.) If the measurements were not confusing enough, the seasons are reversed as well! In California, we usually begin harvest in early September, and it’s complete most years by late October/early November. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir used in sparkling wines are harvested slightly earlier. In the Western Cape, the earliest grapes usually start being picked in late January, with the harvest in full swing by February, continuing through March, and sputtering to a close in early/mid April. While February is quite hot (think July/August in the USA), by March the weather is usually glorious. March/April are wonderful times to visit the Cape

Returning to Kenwood, Sonoma County, CA, where this post is being written, the 2012 wine grape growing season was, quite honestly, as close to PERFECT as you get in farming. Compared to 2011, which had a chilly summer, and rain during the harvest, 2012 was deemed a “Classic” wine growing year. Frost was almost a non-issue for most growers and the summer was warm with very few heat spikes. Wine grapes, incidentally, are like people; they like warm, but not really hot days, and cool evenings. Photosynthesis (the real farmers tell me) starts shutting down in the low 90’s (Fahrenheit not Centigrade) so the plants then go into survival mode, and higher temps are not beneficial. High temps drive down grape acids, drive up sugar, and the grapes become unsuitable for high quality wine long before they are fully ripe. That’s why the best grape growing areas, worldwide, are usually influenced by a body of water or by a mountainside location, where most nights are cool. Knowing this, we purchased former fruit orchards with these benefits in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma and Napa Counties in the 1970’s, and we did essentially the same in the year 2000 in South Africa.

In Sonoma, we farm exclusively in the “middle reach” of the Russian River appellation, largely with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and just a bit of Sauvignon Blanc. Further west, the fog is too pervasive to get “cool weather” grapes matured; further inland, the fog burns off early and it’s too hot for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Many people find this hard to believe but it’s much like zip codes and property values. There’s a massive difference between property prices in Beverly Hills and Watts, despite there being relatively close together in Los Angeles. In Napa, we grow grapes in two valleys (Chiles and Wooden) both parallel to and just east of Napa Valley proper. Our principal production is Cabernet Sauvignon, with much smaller amounts of Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and a few other blenders in the spice rack. At Silkbush, we have 11 different cultivars (varieties), but predominantly Cabernet and Syrah. It is chiefly (93%) a red grape vineyard, but we are also getting quite high quality whites from Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Viognier in some protected area. Being in the mountains, and decidedly cooler, most of our reds take at least two weeks longer to mature. Frequently, our grapes are just about the last loads into the wineries before they close for the season.

Because farming is inherently risky and unpredictable, our basic stance in both countries is to lower risk since we can’t eliminate it. The first step is to grow top quality grapes that are desired by multiple wineries. In California, we were growers for 24 years, and then became a principal partner in White Oak Winery. Today, 85% of our grapes are still grown for approximately 20 other wineries. In South Africa, about 50% of our grapes are delivered to some five branded wineries, and the other 50% go to a wholesale winery (Wabooms) where we are minority owners. As the acknowledged best vineyard among the Wabooms members, we are getting the best prices they can afford to pay and our wines are kept separate. We also can purchase our finished wine, further mature it with oak and time, and have it bottled at an independent bottling facility. This is how we produce our export Lions Drift and domestic Silkbush brands of Pinotage, Syrah and Viognier.

Demystifying Wine & Other Fool’s Errands

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Dave Jefferson

It has been my personal experience over the years that the more wine drinkers learn, the more questions they have. Some wine drinkers have an insatiable appetite for more wine knowledge. Virtually all of us in the wine business learn that in social settings, once the word gets out about what we do, we are inundated with questions for the balance of the day or evening. Wine advertising is chiefly wine education, and the first step in demystifying wine which happens during cellar tours, in store and trade tastings and even in media coverage.

Some wine producers believe the mystery and romance of wine is part of its allure, and if more is explained it will erode higher prices for wine. Some of them enjoy telling a tale that only their small corner of the world grows the best grapes, and that generations of growers and wine makers have a monopoly on the secrets. If this works for a chateau, fine, but many of us believe that more knowledge of wine growing increases the benefits for both wine drinkers and wine producers.

This, of course, is not to denigrate beautiful wineries in glorious settings, and the influence of tasting wines in such surroundings: romance is definitely relevant in the marketing of any luxury good or experience. Mystery, however, is often the product of complexity and the wine business is full of complexity.

Only wine drinkers who want to learn a little more about wine grape growing need to read any further.

Let’s take two different river valleys where we (my partners and I) produce grapes, the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, CA, and the Breede River Valley in the Western Cape, South Africa.

In Sonoma, the first 10-15 miles from the Pacific Ocean is often so foggy and chilly that most grape varieties will not ripen unless the grapes are grown on a warmer knoll or hillside. The next 10-15 miles (the “Middle Reach”) is some of the best land in the world for growing colder weather varieties, such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. But by the time you get to and past the town of Healdsburg, and into the Alexander Valley (with the Russian River running through it), perhaps 30 miles from the coast, the fog burns off too early and arrives too late for these cool weather grapes to do well. “A quality” Chardonnay grapes suddenly become C+ quality, but warmer weather grapes, such as Cabernet and Zinfandel just love these conditions. Thirty miles along one river valley makes for huge variations in growing conditions and grape quality.

In South Africa, in the Breede River Valley, which has steep mountains on both sides, we are far inland from the Atlantic Ocean so fog does not appear. However, the mountain sides impact the amount of sunlight on the grapes grown in this valley. We have a large vineyard on the east side of the valley where we have 93% red grapes planted because we get wonderful midday and afternoon sunlight. Perhaps 10 miles to the west, on the other side of the valley, grapes are shaded by other mountains from the sun by early afternoon. Accordingly, these vineyards work very well for white grapes but poorly for red grapes.

Local knowledge of terroir is essential in knowing what to plant and where and for wine drinkers who want to know why the wines grown in particular regions can vary widely, these are major insights. In terms of price, there is a limited amount of plantable land in both river valleys for wine grapes, hillside land is limited still further, which of course, affects prices. Additionally, spacing of vines in rows, and between rows, various types of rootstocks, different clones of the same grape varieties, types of trellising and irrigation systems, soil preparation that may have occurred (or not), frequency of irrigations, and how ground water is measured, and more, are all factors. Grape growing is very complex and I have not even mentioned the importance of harvest conditions or what happens in the winery itself.

Most of the mystery of wine growing is due to complexity and most people aren’t interested in spending the time to learn 1% of this stuff. (“Just give me a glass and I’ll judge for myself.”) There are days I fit into this group and I don’t ponder the mysteries of wine, I just enjoy the wine in my glass.

Lion’s Drift Pinotage Penetrates St. Pete

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Dave Jefferson

Because there are so many wines available, new wine farms such as Silkbush have to make special efforts to distinguish itself. A nice package, competitive price, an unusual variety from an exotic location is appealing but it’s only when buyers in restaurants and wine shops actually taste the wine and carry it that consumers can buy it and drink it. Introducing retail establishments to Silkbush’s wine is a face-to-face-and-taste undertaking. Accordingly, I found myself in late January in St. Pete, peddling Pinotage, and having a delightful time.

For those who haven’t been there, St. Pete is St. Petersburg, Florida, co-founded in 1888 by Peter Demens, formerly Pyotr A. Dementyev, a Russian aristocrat who, orphaned at age 4, spent much of his youth in the original St. Petersburg. As a liberal minded, well educated and outspoken person during turbulent political times, he was exiled from Russia in 1880. Thirty years old, he came to the US, anglicized his name to Peter Demens, and headed for his cousin’s orange grove in Jacksonville, Florida. Soon after, he bought land in Western Florida and began producing railroad ties for the Orange Belt Railroad. When Orange Belt could not pay him, he assumed ownership of the railroad. He then extended the railroad to undeveloped land on Tampa Bay, named the area St. Petersburg, and the rest is history.

Silkbush’s South African Pinotage is an ideal accompaniment to picnics and grilling and St. Pete, sporting 360 days of sunshine per year is a perfect match for outdoor fun. Located on the west coast of FL, “Tampa Bay/St. Pete” is home to over 4.8 million people and has three major league sports franchises, the NFL Buccaneers, MLB Rays and the NHL Lightening. With air conditioning taming summer heat, the area’s beauty and bay has made “Tampa/St. Pete” a major retirement area and tourist destination.

Silkbush’s local representative is Bruce Alexander. Bruce retired from a career in public relations has decided he can’t play golf every day so he’s started a new career in imported wine. Living in downtown St. Pete, Bruce enjoys patronizing area restaurants such as Wood Fired Pizza and local wineshops including American Spirits in the Publix Mall, both of which now carry Silkbush’s Lions Drift Pinotage.