VINEYARDS
Pinot time
Good wine isn't made in the cellar. It is either confirmed or denied. Vineyards hold the secret to potential and true quality. That is to say a combination of soil, climate and vines. The Winemaker converts or diverts that potential. That is not to underestimate or belittle the role of the Winemaker, as he or she alone can unlock that potential. Alex & team, over many vintages, have built up an intricate knowledge of the vineyards, microclimates and particularities of the Cape –with particular focus on the Helderberg (within Stellenbosch), Elgin (‘up in the mountains’) and the Perdeberg Mountain (in the Swartland). In the team’s view, these are among the most promising and highest potential sites in South Africa for making individualistic and site-driven wines. And so they set about the task of identifying the best possible sites and either establishing vineyards from scratch or forging long-term relationships with the most diligent grape growers within them. Almost 15 vintages and much viticultural input later, the quality of the fruit we now have at our fingertips is a Winemaker's dream. With approximately 15 prime hectares on the Helderberg (Chenin, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Merlot) and a further 3 hectares in Devon Valley (Merlot and Cab), 1 in Elgin (Pinot Noir) and 10 more in the Perderberg (Shiraz/Carignan/Grenache/Mourvedre/Viognier) dedicated solely to Radford Dale, incremental additions will gently swell the production in coming vintages. New plantings, particularly with Pinot Noir and Chenin in particular, will also contribute to ultimately seeing this micro-managed and highly specialised viticultural mosaic grow to its full potential. We see it as a 20 year blue print –which we’re now over half way to achieving. And then we’ll be set for the following 20 years.
WINERY
Alex going through the 2008 ferments in tank
Alex & team benefited from the committed support of numerous friends' infrastructure in the early years, initially in a mate’s brand new cellar overlooking the Ocean. Today, Radford Dale has made its home in its own fabulous Winery at the heart of the Helderberg Mountain, in the centre of Stellenbosch's finest ocean-facing vineyards. The hard slog of the formative years is behind them, and the wines are now consistently in great demand. When you have to allocate each vintage’s production as soon as it’s bottled, you know that something is working ! Meanwhile, the quality bar is being progressively raised, not least as the vines become more mature and our understanding of the site and the climatic conditions is enhanced with each additional 12 month cycle. Production volumes remain a totally secondary consideration as the driving focus remains on making better rather than more.
The respective trails of the team members, from Burgundy and the Barossa, from the Northern Rhone and from the Cape, have led to this uncommonly fulfilling outcome for the Radford Dale “Grand Crew” (pronounced Grand Cru, naturally) . They have successfully forged a unique existence and an ingenuous partnership. Their love of wine and their dedication to it has passed through their genes and into their bottled offspring. With a certain degree of cannibalism therefore, the Radford Dale clan devour their own on a regular basis. Feel free to join in.
Radford Dale Black Rock
Edouard working-out space for maturation of Black Rock red blend
2009 with the use of his magic measuring glass
Swartland, literally translated, means Blackland. When settlers first arrived in the Cape in the 1650’s, they discovered, north of Table Bay, vast planes covered in thick, black bush. This, they then discovered, acted as the natural nutritional staple for the diet of the wild Rhinoceroses which roamed these planes. They named it the Swart Renoster Bos (the Black Rhinoceros Bush) and the land it covered the Swartland. As we discovered, some three and a half centuries later, there is certainly more to this region than meets the eye…
From an international point of view, South Africa’s most famous vineyard area is Stellenbosch. In recent years, we have increasingly seen a recognition of the separate and diverse Terroirs and micro-climates that make-up this expansive Appellation. We’re bound to see a reclassification of the sub-regions within Stellenbosch over the coming years, as we learn to understand the individuality and natural suitability of certain sites, geologies and micro-climates to corresponding and individual wine types. At the same time, and as the culture of experimentation and innovation spreads and intensifies among our wine producers, we are discovering brand new areas around the coastal, Western and Southern areas of the Cape. Areas where time will prove to us that the best has certainly yet to come. It is without a doubt that the future will allow us to surpass anything we have achieved thus far in South Africa wines.
At The Winery of Good Hope, we have been analyzing and experimenting in various alternative sites around the Cape, across an array of cool climate areas, high altitude locations and warmer though coastal spots -using numerous grape varieties, styles and techniques. From the Southern tip of Africa at Cape Aghulus, over the Mountains to the altitudes of Elgin, heading westwards all the way along to the Atlantic-facing summits of the Darling Hills. But the most exciting results we have unearthed are from the totally unassuming though inspiring Perdeberg Mountain, in the Swartland. We believe that this West Coast site is the best kept viticultural secret in South Africa.
The Vineyards and the logic
Filling a 600L barrel with Elgin Pinot Noir 2011
for fermentation
In an area where annual rainfall is a third lower than in Stellenbosch, where the mean mid-Summer (February) temperature is 4 degrees higher than in Stellenbosch and where altitudes are generally 200m lower, the pervading mentality has always been that the Swartland is wheat and table grape country- and certainly not premium wine country. This bias is beginning to be seriously challenged.
The Perdeberg Mountain dominates the sprawling wheat and cereal planes of the Swartland. It is a lone and imposing outcrop of decomposed granite slopes and peaks, a very distant summit from the silhouette of Table Mountain, visible directly to its South. The West and South-West facing slopes of the Perdeberg have , in this otherwise parched and rugged, rocky environment, some modifying influences, facing directly as they do the cold Atlantic Ocean –which is chilled by the Benguela current, flowing immediately up from the South Pole. With the combination of the maritime breezes, the higher altitude, the granitic sub-soils and the favourable exposures, the Perdeberg Mountain possesses potentially, in fact, some of the most ideal conditions in the Cape to produce world class wines –of certain varieties. This fact is now borne-out by the emergence from the Perdeberg of the Cape’s first iconic wine, and its most sought-after and expensive one : Columella - from the Sadie Family. Indeed it was Eben Sadie and Willie & Tanja De Waal (from Scali) who introduced us to the potential of the Pederberg, some years ago. They converted us from our ignorance and prejudice that the Swartland was a low potential region, to believing fully in its outstanding potential and thus to invest considerable resources in this area.
We spent three years researching the various Terroirs and vineyards until we found what we believe to be one of the greatest spots of them all, in Aprilskloof. Not only did we uncover the ideal partners there (thanks again to Eben Sadie), possessing established vineyards in the particular locations and micro-climates we had identified as being our prefernce, but we also found ourselves with a far more diverse selection of ideal varieties to work with than we had imagined possible. The mineral soils and the climatic idiosyncrasies create a simply idyllic environment for varieties such as Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Shiraz, Viognier, Chenin as well as a few quirky others…
And thus we kicked-off in the 2004 vintage with the benefit of impeccable, established vineyards and with fruit of a quality and intensity of flavours that blew us away.
In year one, we selected 10 specific vineyards, 6 for our white blend, 4 for the red. Many of these are bush vines and mostly dryland (i.e, no irrigation). The yields, consequently, are very limited –indeed in 2004, the whites averaged about 25 hl / hectare (by comparison, Grand Cru Burgundy can produce +/-40 hl / ha), whilst the reds averaged 32.5 hl / ha. In 2005, a hot vintage, yields were lower still, averaging-out at about 20 hl / ha across red & white. In the subsequent vintages we’ve understood the pattern of yields versus climatic condition and remain astounded by the quality of fruit and the completely individual flavours we manage to extract from this incredible location. Today, we’re producing from about 20 hectares of vines on the Perdeberg and will grow that gently, if we find the right -preferably old- vines in this site to work with. Production will always be very limited; quality is really all we’re interested in.
The Human Ingredient
Our belief in this area was stimulated by some of the most passionate wine folk in South Africa, as described above. That endorsement, subsequently fuelled by Alex Dale’s own conversion, dove-tailed so naturally with his own affinities, both taste and experience-wise. Having spent many years educating himself on the wines and the terroirs of the Swartland, Alex was convinced he’d seen a light that would change our entire outlook on the Cape. He also realised that he had the perfect team with which to get stuck in.
Northern Rhone-based Edouard Labeye has to be one of the most broadly experienced individuals in the world with Rhone and Languedoc varieties – working as he does as a vigneron and producer in St. Joseph & Condrieu, whilst at the same time being oenologist and advisor to so many top Estates in both the Rhone valley and across the Languedoc. Coupled with Edouard’s fifteen vintages in South Africa and his understanding and feeling for the wines and the potential of the Cape, Alex’s discovery of the Perdeberg made Edouard smile from ear to ear. Home away from home…! was his immediate reaction. Indeed, the great success of the wines, from of our very first vintage, owes as much to the outstanding fruit as they do to Edouard’s and Alex’s interpretation of it.
Backed by the rest of the Radford Dale team, the Black Rock project was initiated in with a real sense of adventure and excitement. The first wines to be released, from the 2004 vintage, experienced tremendous success and we have been working hard to build on that with each vintage. Working with some tough old varieties like Carignan and Grenache has convinced us of the versatility and outstanding potential of some of the lesser-known areas in the Cape. Just by walking off the beaten path, we have opened-up a huge new horizon for our wines. Which goes to show how much mentality limits us or sets us free.
The human ingredient is always a pivotal factor –although the more you know, the more you realise that nature is the driving force. Perhaps mankind has put himself ahead of nature for too long, evidence of which we see increasingly around the planet. Having discovered the enigmatic terroir of the Perdeberg and having recognised its untamable spirit, we’re content to take a back seat and to allow the character of the wines to guide us.