SOUTH AFRICA DAY II: The Land of Hope

Down the road from the Ken Forrester Estate and flanked on two sides by ancient mountains and sign stating the Winery of Hope captures your attention and guides you in.

The long road down the winery is flanked by giant blue Agapanthas and all around are these giant oak trees that must be related to the Garry Oak as they looked identical.

In through the front door of the tasting room I am greated by 5 happy faces and from behind me I hear a booming English voice saying “you must be the Canadian.” Wow The Canadian, that is a lot pressure. I turned around to see a fellow about the same age as me with a giant smile with a giant extended hand. Alex Dale.

Alex is a Brit that grew up in the UK but in a wine business household. At the tender age of 16 or 17 he did a harvest in Burgundy and was hooked. He went home and told dad that he found what he wanted to do. With his father’s blessings he packed his bags and went back to Burgundy for the next 1o vintages. I have talked to many who have said that they have learned more about the finesse of winemaking through being in Burgundy for 1 vintage let alone for 11.

The landscape started making small changes in 1989-1991. These culminated with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1991 and for many, including Alex, it was the harbinger of better times ahead and thus a reason to move to South Africa. Alex did just that. After visiting South Africa a few times, he made the commiment to make South Africa his home and moved lock stock and barrel to SA in 1991 and started putting his first winery project together soon there after.

Alex set out about 16 wines from various labels for us to taste through. The idea was to become familiar with a number the projects that he is apart of (4). We tasted through 2 wines from the Winery of Good Hope (Beautiful Game Chenin Blanc and Shiraz), Vinum Chenin & Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Rock Red & White blends, and 9 different wines from the Radford Dale lineup of premium wines. Each were very very good in their own right. I particularly loved the Black Rock blends and the Radford Dale Gravity and Pinot Noir, however 1 brand in particular stood out. Little did I know that I had stumbled upon a heart that was the size of the entire country of South Africa and a personality completely adverse to working to the rules of a committee.

Picture for a moment a society that used people like we use kitchen appliances. Kitchen appliances are simply tools to make our lives a little easier. we simply plug them in and they work. I know that I am over simplifying but in many that is how the ‘Black’ & ‘Coloured’ population were treated under apartheid. Opportunities and education were every limited and even if one got an education, making a better life for oneself, if they were black or coloured, was almost impossible.

Tensions between White South Africans and Black South Africans had been at a boiling point for a long long time. I am certain that in 1991-1994 if you were to predict what the future would hold for South Africa, you would have predicted bloodshed and ‘ethnic cleansing’. Nelson Mandela and the ANC came to power in 1994 and somehow were able to diffuse the militant or vigilante movements in South Africa and provide a modicum of ’security’ that fostered the nation that we see today.

Once fears of reprisals and mob rule were settled enough, investment started to roll in, but Mandela also recognized that long term economic growth and opportunities for the formerly oppressed would be limited if education was not provided. Government funded programs such as Black Empowerment Programs were fostered. These programs served to provide trades and other skilled employment opportunities for the Black and Coloured community.

Let me step aside here for a moment and express the fact that in 2010 South Africa is still a largely agricultural and rural society. Certainly urbanization is happening at faster rate than in the past but it will be a while before the economy is driven through urban industrial initiatives. What this means is that the vast majority of the previously disenfranchised were living in the countryside.

From the time that the Dutch East India Company first ‘colonized’ the Western Cape of Africa, agriculture was integral to its identity. Here farmers are specialists, but there wine production or grape growing is only one part of what the farm does, hence instead of referring to wineries and vineyards, the term used is Wine Farm. It was very common for the landowners to house their farmhands and their immediate families in much the same way the Oak Bay Beach Hotel provided boarding for their staff way back when.

In 1994 I am certain that there was a great deal of ‘fear’ amongst the farm owners and it would have been their first inclination to secure their property and families from the potential of marauding bands of machete wielding youth by tossing everyone off the farms. I am not clear how this instinct was diverted but one of the many programs set up was for the farmers to receive subsidies to allow them to continue to house their workers. As time went on, programs expanded their reach to include providing education, daycare and recreational facilities right on the farm. I am still amazed at how many of the wine farms have developed their own little extended families. I am humbled by the fact that it is so common that the wine farms themselves don’t mention it as an unique distinction from wineries in almost all other places in the world.

I wish you all could have met Alex Dale and been there at the tasting that I enjoyed. I should have turned on the video camera and just let it roll as the conversation was incredibly engaging… well except for when he tested my palate by asking me to identify the grapes in the Black Rock blends; this I failed miserably. One of the many directions the conversation went was inspired by a brand called the Land of Hope.

I was very intrigued by the label as it featured a tree with words written through it. There are two wines in the line up – a Chenin Blanc and a Cabernet Sauvignon. The first I tried was the Chenin Blanc. The nose was a rich bowl of fresh melons, some ruby grapefruit slices and gooseberries all with freshly rasped lime zest over top. The palate carried the aromas through but had the added bonus of a rich texture without masking the fresh and crisp acidity. My mouth was ‘alive with possibilities’ as more and more flavours leaped and danced on my palate as I let the wine just sit there. I kept on coming back to the wine and was finding more and more nuances.

I then tried the Cabernet Sauvignon. As this was my first day touring wineries in South Africa I was fully expecting the burnt rubber South African-ness that pervades many of the lower end South African wines. Slap my mouth I was wrong again. The aromas didn’t leap out of the glass, they effortlessly glided out of the glass like a song by Macie Gray kind of grips you with its rich textures and easy movements. The nose was rich in ripe red berries and black currants with a touch of freshly ground espresso and dark chocolate. The palate was a swarthy as a curvaceous bohemian beauty; opulent flavours of cassis, crushed raspberry and currants glided across the palate and were met with a gentle embrace of mocha, black pepper and spice on the finish. It seemed like I had spent at least 30 minutes just diving into the wine, yet it was only about 1 minute.

As you know I believe that a glass of wine should tell the story of the winery, its culture and the people behind it. Both of these wines did just that. There was a boldness of character that spoke to Alex and his drive. There is a richness of flavour that speaks to rich landscapes and culture of the winery and its people and there was a fine and elegant finish that spoke to the idea of the Land of Hope. I asked the natural question “why Land of Hope.” I had my ideas as to what the answers would be, but yet again I was in for a surprise.

As I mentioned off the top Alex doesn’t believe in action through committees and as a result he will avoid anything that requires participation in a committee. One of the main empowerment and educational programs subsidized through the National Government was knocking at Alex’s door. In fact an international organization was going to publish some of the success stories of the empowerment programs, but to be included the winery had to belong to the organization and be audited by the committee. The purpose may be golden but the process was abhorrent to Alex. So what did he do? He went one step further. Without the subsidies offered by government and without belonging to a committee he established his own empowerment and education program. One of the many issues Alex has of committees is that a lot of the money raised for the purpose goes to the operation of the committee. Alex started the Land of Hope Educational Trust (http://www.landofhope.co.za/)  where 100% of the funds goes to educational and empowerment of not only the employees of The Winery of Good Hope, but also the employees extended families including cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces. The trust is so effective that the international organization ranked it better at ‘walking the talk’ than the committee run programs. Well done Alex!

I was impressed to my core with the talent and energy of Alex Dale. I was engaged and won over by the quality and depth of the wines. We will definitely see the Radford Dale ‘Freedom’ Pinot Noir (one of the best that I tasted on the whole trip) and perhaps the Black Rock wines, but come hell or high water we will get behind the Land of Hope wines. They speak to their story eloquently and provide exceptional quality. They will likley be priced in the $30 range, but in my opinion offer an experience and soul far greater than the price of the bottle and I hope that you will purchase and enjoy at least a bottle or two whence they arrive.

Thank you Alex for improving the quality of my life… one sip at a time!

Next up one of the most storied and sought after South African wineries – Rustenberg.

Cheers

Rod