At the eastern end of South Africa’s famous Garden Route, Plettenberg Bay is South Africa’s newest wine area, having been declared a Wine of Origin Region in 2006, the furthest East and at 34° South very close to the generally accepted southerly latitude for winemaking (30-50).
The cool climate and high diurnal range makes the area particularly suitable for sparkling wine (bottle-fermented and now labelled as Cap Classique) and it is starting to feel (20 years on from the first grapes being planted at Bramon) that vineyards, grapes and wine are part of the Indian Ocean-adjacent landscape.
There’ve been changes, hints of skulduggery, mergers and acquisitions, and some casualties along the way but the core is holding. That core is also being held together by the expertise and experience of Anton Smal, whose influence can be seen at seven local wineries.
Pausing in Plett (as it’s known) to take stock of the wine scene, I hear Anton’s name on everyone’s lips from Kay & Monty to Bitou and Newstead. From scouting terroir to choosing cultivars, assisting viticulturists across the growing season and making the wine for several pioneer estates, he seems surprised to find himself in this position but grateful for the opportunity. A laid-back Sixties surfer with a twinkle in his eye, Smal learned his craft at Villiera, the iconic Stellenbosch winery, making their award-winning MCC wines as well as still wines, fortified and noble late harvest.
I meet him at Bitou. Those who have travelled the Garden Route may remember when today’s vineyards bordering the national highway were white picket-fenced polo fields, playing host to royals and celebrities from around the world. New owners dug up the pitch to plant vines, and the whitewashed, green-roofed stables building is now a winery. Every self-respecting winery in South Africa has at the very least a tasting room and restaurant, and at Bitou this is the former polo clubhouse, where Smal takes me through his Bitou selections starting with a sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. The cool climate makes the grape (slightly) less pungently tropical, more green grass and white pepper, with salty, savoury notes that pair so nicely with shellfish. Well, the ocean is just a stone’s throw away.
Having got to grips with the unique climate (as well as the birds, bushpigs and baboons), Smal chooses to pick Sauvignon Blanc earlier for a lighter style. So far, he’s disproving the adage that aromatic varieties don’t make good sparkling wine.
At Bitou he also makes still Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with 25% malolactic fermentation that delivers creaminess to offset the freshness. With these cultivars Smal opts for longer hang time on the vine, which allows the all-important phenolics to develop while not increasing sugar levels.
“The acid levels and low pH means we can use less sulphur, and the longevity of these wines is amazing,” he says. .
Bottle aging is a hallmark of Plettenberg Bay wines, a tactic to tame the searing acidity, and Smal says consumers are learning to drink older white wines. It helps that Bitou has an enormous cellar where bottle-ageing can take place. There are vintages going back to 2016, of which we taste the green-tinged Sauvignon Blanc that delivers a complex nose showing tertiary development, and a palate of salty toasted almonds and musk.
We taste his 2021 Sassy, a Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend, a beautiful old-world style wine with traditional green, grassy notes but also white asparagus and toasted hazelnuts. Astonishingly, to balance the acidity it has 12g of residual sugar (hence the label description off-dry) but it is undetectable in the wine.
“This wine I like a lot,” he twinkles, and I quickly learn that this pleasure applies to all of his wines.
The 2021 Malbec has 10 months in in barrel with a delicate seasoning of wood staves that bring sweet baking spices to the ripe red fruit, but in a fresher, lighter, early drinking style.
As in most cool climate wine regions, sparkling wine is a big focus of production. The bubbles Smal produces for Lund Family Vineyards at Newstead down the road, have been garlanded with awards, the first producer outside of the traditional Western Cape Winelands to be crowned overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge in 2020. I stopped in there to taste what I could (most of the recent vintages having sold out). Newstead vines were planted in 2007 and it is small (only 7ha under vine) and white-focused: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for still and sparkling wine. No reds are produced, as at this extreme continental edge they struggle to ripen. Doug and Sue Lund, sugar farmers from Kwazulu-Natal and also keen polo players (there are nine fields in the area), have shown their devotion to the vine by focusing on quality viticulture and netting the vineyards (see birds, bushpigs and baboons, above), to produce top quality grapes for Smal to work with.
Sommelier Leonard talks me through the wines, the 2017 Blanc de Blanc is their 5-star Platter performer, with extended lees aging for 42 months. It is elegant and refined, dry and crisp with a core of green apple and lemon sherbet and a salty, mineral finish. Another one for the seafood platter! Volumes are small, so off-sales are confined to the estate and online, with nothing exported, which is why it remains such a well-kept secret.
Further up the Redford Road at Kay & Monty, I taste the whimsically named Champu, a lees-aged 2017 Blanc de Blanc with an exuberant mousse; the floral and appley 2020 Sav that has extended bottle aging to soften the acids; the Pretty Polly rosé which is very pretty indeed with notes of rose petals and summer fruit and excellent texture; and the 2021 The Chick which is the estate’s first go at a GSM blend that sees 7-day maceration and fermentation in stainless steel with French staves, and then a further year in third-fill barrels before bottling. It has vibrant dark fruit with notes of musk and sweet spice. The wine is named for founder John ‘Chick’ Legh, who died in 2021.
The new owners in town are Port Elizabeth butcher Elana van Rooyen and her partner Sally Van Der Riet at Bramon, having recently acquired the estate in a state of some disrepair. The regeneration is underway, and the couple have plans for a wedding venue in the winery as well as new vineyard plantings. With her background in butchery and charcuterie (she owns Continental Butchery in Port Elizabeth), their products now feature on the tasting room menu, and locals are once again stopping by for tastings and meals on the vineyard terrace.
So the Eastern star in the South African wine firmament is Plettenberg Bay – stop there, if you can – but the star of the show is Smal, twinkling in his own bit of heaven.
© Linda Galloway 2024