Chris Williams, Meerlust Cellarmaster, began his career as one of the youngest wine-makers in the world. He was in Nairobi recently with vineyard owner and wine-maker Hannes Myburg, whose family has run the Meerlust wine estate in Cape Town since 1756.
1. How did you get into the wine business?
Actually my background had nothing to do with wine. I enrolled for Law and while at the university, I joined the campus wine club. I enjoyed learning about wine and tasting different wines and took a holiday job at a winery in Cape Town. After that I decided to study winemaking for three years at Stellenbosch in South Africa. I worked in France for a while, and then Hannes Myburg hired me at Meerlust.
2. It has been said that there are certain wines to be drank at certain times or with certain dishes, for example red wine with beef and white with fish. How important are these guidelines?
The number one rule is to always drink what you enjoy. Never be intimidated or told how to drink your wine. Trust your tastes. Often people like to start with sweeter wines because they like the taste but with time you learn that dry wines (wines with no sugar) go much better with food, because they are fresher and have a higher acidity. Of course grilled fish goes down well with a nice Chardonnay, and a juicy steak is awesome with Pinot Noir, so there is some truth to these recommendations. Ultimately it is best for you to experiment and drink what you personally enjoy.
3. What is the difference between the major types of wine?
The most common categories are red and white wine. Wines tend to be named after the grapes used to make them, or the region where those grapes are grown. For example, Chardonnay is a white wine and Pinot Noir is a classic red wine, both named after the grapes used to make it. Champagne is the name given to sparkling wine grown specifically from the region of Champagne in France. No other wine in the world can be called by that name. Burgundy is also named after a French region. Rose wine is often a blend of red and white wines. Sherry is fortified wine (the wine-maker has added alcohol to the wine to improve age-ability and other qualities of the wine).
4. Why is it that In Africa, wine is mostly produced in South Africa and not in other countries?
This is mainly due to the climate. Throughout the world, wine is grown in temperate belts of the earth. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Mediterranean, California, and some parts of South America. The best climate for wine growing involves wet winters and dry summers. In equatorial regions it rains in the summer so the grapes would actually rot. At the Cape, the African sunshine is great for concentrating the flavours in the grapes, and the Atlantic sea breeze acts as a natural air conditioner keeping the grapes cool. Our region also has poor, well-drained soil with a bit of clay to maintain optimal moisture, which is perfect for wine growing.
5. What about the protocols as regards to glasses? does one really need to use taller and thinner glasses for white wine and more rounded goblets for red?
Generally speaking, there are no hard and fast rules so long as you use a clean, wine glass with a stem. Tulip-shaped glasses that go inwards towards the top are best because they retain the bouquet or aroma of the wine for much longer. Glasses that go outwards like Martini glasses are inadequate because the bouquet evaporates too quickly. Thinner glasses are actually better than the traditional heavy crystal goblets. It is important to make sure your glass is clean and has no other odour, like that of soap or anything else.
6. What is the alcohol content of most wines?
Wines generally have a 13.5 per cent alcohol content. Beer has five per cent and whiskey is 45 per cent. Wine has a bit more alcohol than beer so it is important to know your limits and always drink in moderation.
7. Is this why you spit your wine into a bucket at professional wine tastings?
Yes. In my profession I will taste ten or 20 or 30 different wines in a day so of course if I did not spit I would not be able to do my job properly. Of course you shouldn’t spit at the table when drinking wine with a meal for enjoyment, but at tastings it is appropriate to spit for practical reasons.
8. How do you make the wine and how long does the process take?
Winemaking is both a science and an art. When studying Viticulture and Oenology at college, I had to study Chemistry and Microbiology. My most important tools are my tongue and my nose, and it is a lot like cooking. My job is to accentuate the flavours of each wine we create so that it is very distinctive yet has a consistent style with those from the same vineyard, preserving the “terroir” or essence of the particular region. I have to create it in such a way that the flavours are protected and only get better with time. Without this age-ability, wine just ferments and turns into vinegar.
From scratch to the time a new wine we make hits the shelves, the entire process takes from five to seven years, and after that we keep tweaking them to improve our classics even more.
For example, our classic Rubicon wine has ten years of work behind it.
9. So when you are blindfolded and given a certain wine, can you pinpoint the region where it is made?
Yes. I am currently studying for my Master of Wine from England and part of our requirements involves blind tasting.
When I taste wine I can pretty much pinpoint the quality of the wine, the type of grapes, the market position of the wine and the region where it is made.
10. What is the difference between wine grapes and juice grapes?
Grapes used for winemaking are much smaller in size and have a much thicker skin. Juice grapes are bigger and fleshy.
If you use juice grapes for wine, the flavour will be very wishy-washy.
Wine grapes have an intense, concentrated flavour, which lies
