It was pure coincidence that I opened a South African wine yesterday, of all days, when Mandela's death was announced. I hadn't read the death news at the time. It was simply a desire for a Shiraz from the "Black Country", which is about 100 kilometres north of Cape Town. Perhaps it was also because I have firmly resolved to finally visit Swartland on my next trip to South Africa (next March), because I have not yet visited this wine region. Or was it - as is so often the case with me when choosing a wine - the story behind the wine or the somewhat unusual name "Allesverloren"? Probably a bit of everything, because South African wines - especially Shiraz and Pinotage - are among my "secret" loves.
Now that much is being written and talked about the country in southern Africa with its turbulent history on the occasion of Mandela's death, its wines are increasingly taking centre stage. They deserve it, because their power and elegance - for all their refinement - still have something primal, even liberating about them. I always have the feeling that I am still drinking wine and not sophisticated wine technology. Maybe it's all just my imagination, an over-interpretation of a country - or terroir - that lies in another part of the world, and which - not to forget - was ostracised for years because of its unworthy racial segregation. Emotions cannot be excluded from wine consumption. And that is a good thing.
For me, this Shiraz is a real alternative to the Syrah from the Rhône Valley, a little more bulky, a little more expansive, even more aromatic than the wines from the South of France that I love so much, precisely because of their filigree yet powerful nature. We are dealing here with a somewhat older boy (for a Shiraz). Maybe that's why I'm having so much fun, because the wood is (for once) wonderfully woven in and a lot of the pure Shiraz aromas come to the fore. The otherwise quite strong currant notes complement the subtle fruit and spice nuances and do not overwhelm them. My sensory associations find their way to tobacco, coffee and laurel. A wine that reconciles with all that is so often done to Shiraz or Syrah by wood, by assemblage, by concentration.