Syrah (Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa)

We took the long flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. It's non-stop, but it's brutal. It feels like you leave in one year and arrive in the next no matter when you set out. Exiting the airport, we detoured just a bit to the north to Pretoria and then drove southward towards Cape Town, but taking the route near the small landlocked nation of Lesotho (pronounced luh-soo-too if you care) through Bloemfontein and then southwest to Cape Town. 

Why? 

We wanted our trip to go through all three current capital cities of South Africa. And, our ultimate destination, Stellenbosch, is just to the northeast of Cape Town.

Arriving in Stellenbosch, we see an area that reminds us in many ways of California wine country. Turn to your left and you see a winery. Turn to your right and you see a winery. And, not surprisingly, when you see a bottle of wine that comes from Stellenbosch, they are often quite remarkable; on the other hand, they are often quite remarkable in a bad way.

How do you know?

The good news is that most of the wines that are exported from the area have proven themselves to be toward the upper end of Stellenbosch wines. And, if you know the geography, almost all of them have something in common.

Remember when you learned basic geology in high school or some similar time? One of the things that you crammed for a test and then forgot about may have been an alluvial fan. Typically, an alluvial fan developed either where the flow coming off the mountains hit the plains or at a glacial margin. The fan, named for its shape, captures the bulk of the sediment coming from the mountains or that came from the glacial flow. This results in soil that is incredibly fertile -- rich in minerals and gravelly making it quite porous. This is perfect for viticulture.

And, parts of Stellenbosch sit directly on alluvial fans, loaded with that mountain flow sediment (the alluvial fans remain active today) and rich in granite.

The weather here is also excellent for growing the traditional vitis vinifera  grapes. Cool, but nowhere near freezing winters, warm, but not hot summers, and moderate winter rainfall combined with dry summers allow local growers to produce the traditional grapes of Bordeaux and the Rhone. Today, we are tasting the classic grape of the northern Rhone -- Syrah, or Shiraz as they often refer to it here.

What we are going to find today is that even within Stellenbosch, each sub-region (it might be called an AVA in Napa, for example) has its own character.

In Blaauwklippen (the blue cliffs), the Syrah is big, bold, and spicy, and is dominated by its dark color and blackberry notes. In Simonsberg, the traditional notes remain black, but here they are currants with lots of tobacco and cigar box. In Jonkershoek, the Syrah is reminiscent of those from the northern Rhone in that it is laced with black fruit and white pepper.

For a traditional pairing with the Syrah (or Shiraz) of Stellenbosch, serve lamb. But, for those who want to be different and adventurous, here is suggestion. For some reason that someone far more knowledgeable than I may be able to give you, the Syrah of the area loves moist foods with just a tiny hint of sweetness. Make some cupcakes of black currants and blackberries and serve them at room temperature with these wines.

Go ahead; try it.