News
September 1, 2005
Radford Dale’s winemaking infatuation bridges Indian Ocean
Innovative Stellenbosch winemakers, The Winery, have launched a first in dual-continent winemaking from the New World with the release of the 2004 vintages of Radford Dale Riesling and Chardonnay. The Riesling was produced in Australia and the Chardonnay in South Africa.
The Winery’s co-founder Alex Dale says the simultaneous release of these two wines in the South African market will showcase the parallel objective of refined winemaking on the two continents. This is a style for which he and co-founder Ben Radford are becoming renowned on both sides of the Indian Ocean.
This is the first commercially released vintage of the Radford Dale Riesling, following the maiden ’03 vintage kept for family and friends, and it has already garnered an enthusiastic response from top US wine critic Steve Tanzer. In his August issue of International Wine Cellar he sums up the wine by saying: “Firm, focused, concentrated and flat-out impressive’, and scoring it a high 90.
About 10% of the Eden Valley-produced wine, bottled under screwcap, will be available in South Africa, where it will retail for R 140. It will be available in specialist Johannesburg and Cape Town wine outlets from October.
The winemakers believe that Riesling will increasingly be recognised as Australia’s greatest white varietal, not least with its impressive aging potential.
Radford Dale Chardonnay 2004 has also got off to a tremendous start already by being selected for Christmas travellers in the highly selective British Airways’ Business Class.
The Chardonnay is scheduled for release in South Africa from selected Johannesburg and Cape Town outlets from October at a retail price of R90.
Ben Radford, who spent seven years winemaking in the Cape before returning to his native South Australia, grew-up admiring the legendary Aussie Rieslings of the Eden and Clare valleys.
When deciding to establish his own estate, at the turn of the millennium, he specifically sought-out old Riesling vineyards on the high slopes of the prestigious Eden Valley. The block on his estate from which the Radford Dale Riesling is produced today was planted in 1930.
“She’s a beaut,” remarks Radford, “and the little sister block is approaching 50 now, so when she retires in another 20 years or so, we’ll have another 70 year old block to take her place.”
“In Australia, Riesling is regarded as a noble varietal and it is held in great esteem, not least for producing wines of exceptional longevity. I recently tasted Rieslings made from Eden Valley vineyards in the 1970s and they were still entirely fresh,” commented Dale.
He adds that the Radford Dale Riesling will give South African consumers the opportunity to taste this varietal at its Southern Hemisphere best. “There aren’t really Rieslings of particular note in the Cape because the geographical conditions here are not ideal for this cool-climate grape and South African vines are also much younger. So even in the very few areas where reasonable Riesling is planted, it simply cannot deliver the same level of complexity and character as those in Eden Valley, where vines are commonly between 50 – 100 years old”.
By contrast, South Africa’s geology and climate are well suited to producing excellent Chardonnay. “We can produce globally significant Chardonnays in the Cape, with plenty of individual character and refinement, especially in Stellenbosch,” says Dale.
“That’s why we intended from the outset to produce Chardonnay here and Riesling in Oz. “
For the Radford Dale Chardonnay, which has firmly established its high-quality reputation over the past seven vintages, Dale has combined the influences of his Burgundian upbringing with the specific characteristics of Cape-grown grapes. “We’re not trying to make Burgundy in the Cape –but we certainly do draw inspiration from it”.
“The decomposed granite of the south and south-west slopes of the Helderberg Mountain, coupled with the climatic influences of False Bay, enable us to make a genuinely mineral wine. It takes three to four years from vintage for our Chardonnay to really settle down and show its best.”
He adds: “We’re simply not interested in making Show-Ponies with excessive new oak and high residual sugar, which taste like marmalade, flash in the pan and then fall to pieces within 12 months. We like our wines to complement our food, not to dominate it, to have balance and minerality and to last for years. If that means making life tougher for ourselves, so be it. Why compromise ?”
Radford and Dale say that the simultaneous release of the Radford Dale wines produced at opposite ends of the southern hemisphere amply demonstrate that this is a truly individual and unusual brand. One which showcases the energetic, explorative and creative nature of quality winemaking in the New World.
It also reflects the seamless kindred spirit that links two passionate individuals in two of the worlds great wine regions.