Passionate about wine

THE WINE CLUB

All winemakers are passionate about their wines "" there's no other reason why someone would spend five years and oodles of boodles to produce wine when there are many more lucrative ways to make money.

However, nothing comes even close to the passion and poetry of the following lines I found penned by a South African winemaker:

"We carry into sunlight the spirit of a place by growing grapes there. We ask the vine roots to find it for us in the cold, dark remembrance of soil and clay. We coax the leaves into pulling up the silently vibrating energy of memory from there.

"Mapped in the strata of our ancient soil is the memory of millions of years of life. This energy, this spirit of place, is transported into the grapes by the vine. We harvest these handfuls of time, these bunches of grapes with complete respect.

"Each berry is a spiritual snapshot of swirling climate, a sweet memory of the sun, a spinning impression of earth, a quenching recall of moisture, a reminiscence of breathing, a reminder of cycles.

This energy imprint is concentrated and powerful when the grapes are resonant and delicious with ripeness.

"Through the miracles of natural, soft and sympathe-tic fermentation we channel nature's spontaneous narrative into wine.

"And so we can taste our enveloping corner of the universe "" the coincidence of geography and time.

"We can drink in the wonder of it and share out the majesty of it all. We want to learn to accept the sadness of it and revel in the mystery of it.

And perhaps through making wine this way we can begin to understand something of our relationship to the confusing, tumultuous craziness of it all.

"This is what we do and why we do it."

Practically the only South African wines widely available here are Two Oceans from the giant Distill brought in by Sula. The Chardonnay is a medium bodied white, while the Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and refreshing.

The Shiraz is again medium-bodied, while the one I like most is the Pinotage, which has unusual aromas and pairs well with Indian food.

It's the wines from South America that are making waves worldwide "" a good example is Sula's Satori Merlot, imported in bulk from Chile: a fruity and medium bodied red wine which makes a great aperitif.

Try this with the Casa Lapostolle Merlot (marketed by Moet Hennessy) "" nicely balanced, fruity and spicy with a long finish.

However, it's the French who've written the book on la passion du vin, and there is little to beat the quality wines from Bordeaux or Burgundy "" provided you can afford their exorbitant prices, but I'll delve into wines from the Old World another time.

New World reccos

From South Africa Sula imports Two Oceans wines, decent whites and reds (Rs 600-650 each) of which the Pinotage is a favourite.

From South America Sula's Satori Merlot from Chile, Rs 400-450, is a great aperitif. Hennessy's Casa Laposte Merlot, Rs 1,450, has a long finish