The Cinsault Revival in South Africa
3 min read
with
Jim Clarke (Wines of South Africa)
Alex Milner (Natte Valleij) Grower & Maker
Bernhard Bredell (Scions of Sinai) Grower & Maker
Description
Alex Milner, Natte Valleij, introduces a grape that has captured renewed attention around the wine world, Cinsault. Once the most planted red grape in South Africa, a work-horse used mainly in blends, it is now being given attention and older vineyards are delivering some exceptional, serious, wines. Cinsault has become a driver of New Wave South Africa. As a variety previously only recognised for its part in creating Pinotage, this is a new dawn.
Jim Clarke (Wines of South Africa)
Jim Clarke is the U.S. Marketing Manager for Wines of South Africa. Prior to joining WOSA in 2013 Jim was the wine director at Armani Ristorante and Megu, both in New York City. He is also a writer, regularly contributing to a number of trade and consumer publications including World of Fine Wine, Club Oenologique, and Fortune.
In 2020 Jim received the International Louis Roederer Wine Writer Award for Feature Writing and in August of that year Wine Business Monthly named Jim as a Wine Industry Leader of the Year.
Jim is the author of The Wines of South Africa, published by Infinite Ideas as part of the Classic Wine Library in July 2020.
Alex Milner (Natte Valleij)
Grower & Maker
Alex Milner, owner of Natte Valleij, introduces a grape that has captured renewed attention around the wine world, Cinsault. South Africa is leading the charge for appreciation of this grape today. Once the most planted winegrape in the country (it was well suited to the climate, being able to tolerate high temperatures and drought, while giving good yields) it became a work-horse variety, mainly used in blends.
Today, however, producers are treated Cinsault very differently and winemakers are realising its potential; older vineyards in particular are delivering some exceptional, serious wines. Cinsault has become a driver of New Wave South Africa. As a variety previously only recognised for its part in creating Pinotage, this is a new dawn. Many leading wine publications and wine writers having been giving Cinsault airtime and although the grape is originally from France, it’s South Africa that’s grabbing the headlines.
Bernhard Bredell (Scions of Sinai)
Grower & Maker
Bernhard Bredell grew up on his family farm in the Lower Helderberg, southeast of Stellenbosch, where his family have been farming grapes for seven generations. He set up Scions of Sinai in 2016 after studying oenology, viticulture and soil sciences at the University of Stellenbosch, and working on vineyards in France and Spain. The name reflects this commitment to both land and family: a scion having the dual meaning of a young vine shoot and a generational descendant.
The project is based around a granite outcrop colloquially known as Sinai Hill, and his goal is to make pure authentic wines from dry-farmed bush vines grown here. Many of the vineyards he works with were planted in the late ’60s to mid ’70s by Koos and Pieter Bredell. Bernhard is low-intervention in the cellar - slow fermentation in open-top vats, ageing in old oak, no manipulations to the juice or wines and no filtration. His goal is an expression of a place, a vineyard, its history and its soil. “No fancy intervention techniques - for me what’s most important is to have that line between vineyard and glass as uncompromised as possible"
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Wines of South Africa (WoSA) is a fully inclusive body, representing all South African producers of wine who export their products. WOSA, which was established in its current form in 1999, has over 500 producers on its database, comprising all the major South African wine exporters. It is constituted as a not-for-profit company and is totally independent of any producer or wholesaling company. It is also independent of any government department, although it is recognised by government as an Export Council.
