THERE is an extraordinary disconnect between the reputation of a grape variety and the actual taste in the glass. A considerable number of wine drinkers still refuse to sample a Chenin Blanc because of the cultivar’s tarnished reputation from decades of co-op plonk production.

1. THERE is an extraordinary disconnect between the reputation of a grape variety and the
actual taste in the glass. A considerable number of wine drinkers still refuse to sample a
Chenin Blanc because of the cultivar’s tarnished reputation from decades of co-op plonk
production. It doesn’t matter that for the past 10 years it has been virtually impossible

2. to find one of those easy-drinking, soft, guava-fruited wines. Nowadays those in the
know count Cape Chenin among the country’s vinous Big Five. Nevertheless,
reputational damage has a way of outliving the offence that engendered it.
The converse is also true. Merlot is one of the most popular varieties and the cultivar of
choice for many red-wine drinkers. Supermarkets and wine shops report that the
category continues to show growth despite the bad press it has received for many years.
It seems that wine drinkers are either not reading what is being said about the country’s
Merlot-based wines, or else they are not tasting what comes out of the bottle the same
way the critics and wine judges approach it.
At this year’s Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, the Merlot class not only failed to yield a
single gold medal: there wasn’t even one silver medal from 40–50 submissions. There
have been years when Merlot goes without a trophy or a gold, but this — as far as I can
tell — is the first time bronze has been the best yield in the line-up.
Why are the professionals so clearly at odds with the punters? It is tempting to argue
that they fail to appreciate the qualities that have given Merlot its worldwide reputation
as a source of easy-drinking red wine. On the basis of this argument, the judges despise
exactly those features consumers love.
Too proud to admit they like its plush sweet fruit and soft velour-like tannins, the wine
geeks have followed the line of the movie Sideways in denigrating the variety because of
its supposed simplicity, popularity and lack of complexity.
Except that this is not the case. When you actually taste Cape Merlot, you quickly
discover that it bears no resemblance to the Californian red wine of popular perception.
In fact, most South African Merlot-based reds are thin and weedy, with austere green
tannins and a finish akin to a short skid down one of Gauteng’s potholed main roads. On
the other hand, ask a Merlot drinker why he has made it the red-wine cultivar of choice
and the reply is likely to be: "It’s so easy drinking, and so smooth."
In other words, the reputation of Merlot as a velvet-textured soft red wine continues to
sell bottle after bottle — despite the absence of these features in most of the wines
available in the trade at present.
It’s not that the serious producers are unaware of the problem. Luca Bein, whose
eponymous estate consistently makes one of the Cape’s best Merlots, has been
managing an informal group of growers and wine makers in an organisation called the

3. Merlot Forum as they investigate what they can do to up their game. They have also
noted the comments of foreign judges and viticulturists who have suggested we have
the wrong clonal material, and that many of the vineyards are incorrectly sited.
Neither of these observations — if substantiated by their research — are susceptible to
quick or easy fixes. Getting sufficient quantities of suitable planting material is not an
overnight matter, and replacing vineyards takes time — and costs at least R250,000 a
hectare. Then there’s the small matter of site: if you shouldn’t have Merlot growing on
your property, short of grubbing up productive vineyards, there’s very little you can do
about things.