Tag: South Africa

La Motte 2007 Shiraz/Viognier

Courtesy La Motte

Type: Dry red
Made With: syrah and viognier grapes
Plays Well With: Chili and other hearty fare

Shiraz.  Syrah.  It’s the same grape, just a different name.  The Australians made the shiraz term familiar to us in the U.S., and according to La Motte Winemaker Edmund Terblanche, the South Africans are just as likely to say shiraz as not.  Which means the following is going to get a little confusing unless we chose a name and stick with it.  And, by gum, we’re sticking with syrah, since we’ll be referring to the grape as it’s known in both France and South Africa.

So the La Motte 07 Shiraz/Viognier is made with only 9 percent viognier, a white grape known for its flowery nose and soft, fruity flavors.  It’s an old trick in France’s Rhone Valley to ferment syrah with either some skins from the viognier grape that have already been pressed and made into a white wine, or ferment with the actual viognier grapes.  We’re not sure which way Terblanche did it, just that the combination really made this wine come alive.

Usually, viognier smooths out some of the bad boy characteristics of syrah, which can get a little harsh and closed on its own, and in the La Motte wine, the viognier seems to have given the color a nice boost (from a white grape, go figure), not to mention the nose, which is still a little muted and could probably use some exposure to air.

Or, more likely, it could have used some more time in the bottle – since a muted nose can be a symptom of a too young wine.  Funny thing is, the tannins – that drying sensation that gives a wine some structure and ability to age – were a little on the light side, meaning it should probably be drunk sooner rather than later.

This should go really well with a nice, beefy chili that’s not too spicy, and a second glass after dinner should prove interesting, assuming the nose opens up.  With an easy 13.5 percent alcohol, an after-dinner glass of wine is just right.

La Motte – All the Way From South Africa

Edmund Terblanche of La Motte

One of the advantages of massive tastings like Hospice du Rhone is that you get to try wines that are harder to find and from places you don’t get to see every day.  Such as South Africa.

We met a couple of really interesting producers from there, including Edmund Terblanche, of La Motte, in the Franschhoek Valley in the Cape winelands.  It being Hospice du Rhone, Terblanche was pouring the winery’s shiraz wines.  Yes, shiraz is the Australian name for syrah, but apparently, it’s also the preferred term in South Africa, too.

“That’s the name that we’ve grown up with,” Terblanche said.  “But you’ll find in South Africa you have people using the syrah word, as well.  People probably want to express some style or something.  But you taste the whole line-up, the shiraz, the syrah, you can’t really taste the difference.”

So naturally, we had to ask what makes a South African syrah unique.  All lot of things, Terblanche said.

“There’s such a lot of influences here,” he said, explaining that people can imitate the rest of the world or they can make a more unique wine.  “With the influences from two oceans, with the altitude and some of the oldest soils in the world, we can definitely make something unique.”

Selling it to the rest of the world can be challenging.  Terblanche explained that because La Motte is one of the older wine brands in South Africa, having started in 1995, they do sell about 70 percent of their wine in South Africa.  However, they are trying to branch out – having had some success selling to the United Kingdom and Germany.  But they do want to reach the U.S. and are actively looking for the right representation to do just that.

La Motte vineyards

“It’s extremely difficult to introduce the category of South Africa,” Terblanche said.

But that was why he was at Hospice du Rhone.

Needless to say, getting wine from La Motte here in the States won’t be easy, but the wines are available in Canada.  And here’s the website, in case you happen to be in South Africa, www.la-motte.com.