WORDS Emile Joubert
In wine, age counts. It plays a vital role – usually to the positive.
Serious wines, the afficionados say, need years in the bottle to truly come to the fore in displaying their stirring complexity and individual personality. Years count in historical terms, too. The South African wine industry frequently refers to the year 1659, the year in which the first Cape wine was made, making the country the oldest continuous wine producing country in the so-called new world which includes North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Nice, that.
Another astounding fact that is not often mentioned, is the Western Cape, South Africa’s major wine region, is made-up of some of the oldest pieces of earth found, well, on earth. This is true – the Cape winelands are home to soils that evolved some 700m years ago. Back then when continents were formed, seas backed off and the planet’s internal power made mountains rise which over millennia crumbled and decomposed to form the layers of soil in which South Africa’s vineyards are rooted.
“So, when we introduced a wine called Seriously Old Dirt,” says Mike Ratcliffe, owner and CEO of luxury wine Vilafonté which is responsible for the Seriously Old Dirt red blend, “the words on the label remains true to its name, underscoring the unique proposition of South African wine in that our vineyards are set on some of the oldest pieces of earth known to man.
“It is a bold story, physical and tangible in these old clods of earth in which vineyards grow and from which the country’s wines are made. The geology of our wine regions presents the industry with an incredible opportunity to emphasise an aspect that make our wine offerings totally original and captivating. Diversity of soil, dating back 700m years to the beginning of planet earth. If that is not a USP, what is?”
Since the first Seriously Old Dirt vintage from 2012, the wine has attracted a keen local and international following. Partly for it taking ownership of the fact pertaining to the old Cape soils that host the vines from which the wine is made. But also for the premium quality offered by this approachable red wine with its supple, juicy mouth-feel and delicious berry-flavours. Dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, Seriously Old Dirt sees the varieties of Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc adding dimension and nuance to the final wine.
The lady responsible for this wine is serious, but not old. Arlene Mains is Seriously Old Dirt’s head-winemaker, quick to confirms Ratcliffe’s commitment to soil as the principal building-block of any good wine.
“Soil is the foundation, the life-blood and the home of a vineyard,” says Mains, “and it is this earth that defines the personality, the quality and the taste of the grapes the vineyards are going to give me to make wine from.”
With an MSc in Wine Microbiology from Stellenbosch University, Mains has worked at Château Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux as well as multiple vintages at Opus One, the cult Californian brand that began as a collaboration between the Rothschilds and Robert Mondavi. It was spending time in the vineyards at Opus One that gave her these insights into the importance of viticulture and soils.
“No matter how many times one says it or hears it, there is one fundamental: Wine is made in the vineyard,” says Mains. “We are farmers first, and as per the definition a farmer lives and works with what the soil has to offer. When making Seriously Old Dirt we select vineyards from leading Cape appellations recognised for their ancient geology. Not because it sounds good in the marketing space, but because old soils have a specific weathered structure that ensure the vineyards grow grapes of enticing complexity for structured wines with a discernible and unbridled deliciousness.”
Cabernet Sauvignon, the King of Red Wine Grapes, will always drive the Seriously Old blend, something Ratcliffe is adamant about. “Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated Bordeaux blends from South Africa are my loves – I am going to have Cabernet Sauvignon on my gravestone, which will lie, I believe, on top of some seriously old dirt,” he says.
The 2020 vintage of Seriously Old Dirt has 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 4% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc. And in composing the blend is one of the area’s where true craftmanship comes into winemaking.
The young wines, on completing malolactic fermentation, gives Arlene and her team an idea of the percentages of that vintage’s blending components. “Different varieties and vineyards are, however, aged separately in old French barriques (225l),” she says. “After six months the barrels will be assessed, and the final blend brought together. The wine is then sent back to barrel as a complete whole to integrate and mature further for six months.”
All this talk of quality and criteria and selection poses the question: what does Seriously Old Dirt aim to be as a wine?
Mains smiles. “There is a lot of academic speak and intimidating talk in the world of wine,” she says. “But the most important part of the wine process, is the consumer. So the aim of Seriously Old Dirt is to make a wine that is unique in terms of the origins of its vineyards and its soils, as well as in the flavour profile. But also a wine that is marked by a wine’s most important attribute, and that is a delicious drinkability in the glass. A wine for enjoying and celebrating the pleasure of wine and of life – things as old as civilisation itself.
For more info, visit vilafonte.com.
