Pinotage 2010 grapes before sorting
View of Cab vineyards and Helderberg from
The Winery of Good Hope
Alex proud of his importer from Vancouver, Andrew Topham
As we continue to develop our winemaking diversity and our geographical reach within the Cape, we face very many choices about what we do and do not want to focus on. On the one hand, we don’t want to lose our way by trying to be all things to all people. Whilst on the other, we couldn’t contemplate standing still and potentially walking away from exciting new regions, sites or vineyards. The financial implications of spreading oneself too thin, however, can provoke risks to one’s ability to sustain the highest quality parameters within what one does. So, we have to balance our creative tendencies with our ability to remain focused, whilst continually testing ourselves, promoting innovation and all the time finding the funds to pay for our voracious habits…
What does any of that have to do with GOOD HOPE you may well ask ? Quite simply, the spirit of optimism within both the Cape (in general) and our winery (in particular) lend a “can-do” attitude and a positively hopeful or optimistic approach to all we tackle. The pioneering settlers who arrived in the Cape in 1652 certainly demonstrated their faith in the Cape’s remarkable potential, whilst putting their lives at stake to develop it. The fact that they named their new land The Cape of Good Hope reflected their faith in their enterprise as much as in the natural splendour of the land itself. Wine grapes were one of the first crops to be grown here. Having been planted in 1655, the very first Cape wine flowed in 1659 –to give that some context, this was about one and a half centuries before Australia was even settled for the first time.
With all the new ideas that we generate as winemakers, in a land where the wine industry is enjoying a recent and vigorous era of renewal, we need to be able to contain many new projects and on-going initiatives within an evolving portfolio of wines. Which is precisely why we created THE WINERY OF GOOD HOPE range. These wines invariably combine various qualities and traits of our extensive trials and research. New varieties that we are introducing to the fold, for example. Or new vineyard areas we have been experimenting with, in emerging, cooler regions, or at altitude or whatever. Alternative winemaking techniques (from Old World or New) or even simply the usage of new types of closures –such as screw caps for this entire range.
In terms of viticulture, The Winery of Good Hope range receives the exact same focus and standards as our other more premium wines. Visitors to our vineyards in Stellenbosch, for example, are often surprised to see how a Radford Dale parcel of vines is adjacent to The Winery of Good Hope parcel. Often with so-called entry level wines, the fruit (or bulk wine) is sourced from cheaper, mass-production in-land areas and either used to stretch and cheapen existing wines or bottled as is and targeted at cheap retail shelf prices. Our philosophy is that our entry level wines are our visiting card, to all that we produce, and as such they must be wines we are proud of and which hold the bar high, from the outset. If our “house wines” are anything short of excellent, then we are simply incompetent. With grape quality our absolute prime focus, we believe we can then use our experience and know-how to pass-on savings in the production costs to our consumers. For example, we generally don’t use barrels for these wines, we use less expensive packaging, we release the wines younger and minimise financing costs. And so on. This approach allows us to reduce costs of everything, except for the fruit. We believe therefore that we can offer higher quality, more individual, site-driven wines in a sector increasingly dominated by formulaic industrial winemaking and unexciting, often bland mass-wines.
In December 2006 our The Winery of Good Hope Chenin Blanc was rated 6th in the international top 100 BEST BUYS of the year, in USA publication THE WINE ENTHUSIAST.. The only South African producer in the top 10 –and indeed, we’re told, the first. For what it’s worth, its score was 91 points.
In December 2007, the following vintage of the same wine came 8th in the following top 100 BEST BUY annual feature. Again the only South African wine in the top 10. Rated at 90 points. Only 1 other South African producer appeared in the top 40.
The over-riding characteristic of this range is that each wine must reflect the optimism and hope of our region and our Winery, whilst providing truly first-rate quality and value at all times. These are wines which are both affordable and drinkable, without sacrificing any notion of quality or individuality. In a region such as ours, with our soils our skills and our climate, we have no excuse not to be optimistic –just as we have no excuse not to provide good value, good quality and good hope. And while we’re at it –good fun.