A Match Made for Heaven

EMILE JOUBERT knows a thing or two about South Africa’s Cap Classique wines – and how they can, when blended with certain choice ingredients, make an elixir fit for gods.

HE FIRST WINE that I, as a child, truly felt had to pass my lips was Champagne. Not because it flowed freely at the parental home, nor because I wished for a slice of the luxuriously unattainable, like a boy aspiring to own a Ferrari or Lamborghini. It was just that James Bond made Champagne sound so gloriously delicious.

This desire for the famed sparkling wine arose when I was about nine, while reading Goldfinger. In this particular scene, Bond was dining with Mr Junius du Pont to talk of matters concerning spies and intelligence, and Du Pont had ordered the meal. The two men were eating the silky, fleshy legs of stone-crabs after dunking them in melted butter. And to wash the crabs down they were drinking Champagne, pink Pommery Champagne, from silver tankards.

Until then I had wanted a lot of what 007 had: the job as a spymaster, the Walther PPK pistol, a well-cut dinner suit and a curvaceous blonde. Not to mention the shiny Aston Martin. But reading about that dining scene, there and then I wanted the Champagne more than anything. I could not imagine anything more delicious in this world.

The memory must have stuck, as Champagne and other sparkling wines – made to the traditional method of secondary bottle fermentation, which draws complexity and depth from the fruit – still sits atop my vinous desires. This is good for a South African, as the country’s version of sparkling wines (made using the traditional method, known here as Cap Classique) is one of the wine industry’s strongest categories, both in terms of the sheer quality it offers in its diverse forms and in its popularity with local and international consumers.

Although wine sales locally are plummeting to the worrying tune of 10% a year, the Cap Classique category is growing some 16% annually. Exports, too, are on the up, increasing 6% a year, with more than three million bottles sent overseas over the past year.

So it’s obviously not just me who can’t resist a cool glass of pale gold or onion skin-coloured Cap Classique, consumed in mouthfuls rather than tentative sips, and with an anxious squint to ensure there is another glass or three to follow.

CLASSIQUE IN COMBINATION
Champagne and Cap Classique are the most fashionable style of wine known to humankind, and those of us who love this bubbly tipple are also not shy to buck trends by enjoying it in a variety of ways. We are, in fact, way out in front.

As wine consumption declines worldwide, producers are seeking ways to make wine more approachable, fashionable and exciting for a younger generation that finds spirits, beer and cocktails more on-point as a match for their modish and instagrammable lifestyle.

For decades already, Champagne, Cap Classique and Prosecco have been at the forefront of this drive, with an array of deliciously tasting and deliciously presentable ways to enjoy bubbly, with a little help from its friends.

The generic word for drinks comprising a partnership between two or more liquid ingredients is, of course, a cocktail. But this I find too blunt a term when Cap Classique is involved. The noun ‘cocktail’ evokes images of variously shaped glasses filled with multi- coloured elixirs in which high-alcohol spirits play a commanding role, the primary purpose of the cocktail being to shield the alcohol by adding syrups, juices and freshly plucked greenery.

Cap Classique blends with other flavours in a more gracious, subtle and elegant manner, the additional ingredients chosen rather to broaden the dimension of the wine’s inherent taste and create a drink of sensory allure and variety, but one still rooted in the classy, classic wine that is Cap Classique.

And when creating a Cap Classique combination, it is of the utmost importance to use a wine of integrity and of the quality one would also drink in its pure, unfettered format.

Remember the adage for creating dishes with wine? If the wine is not good for drinking, it won’t do for cooking. The same applies for mixing Cap Classique with other flavours.

When recommending Cap Classiques for blended creations I tend to stick to those made by one or more of the incredible female winemakers who focus on this style of wine. In their feminine wisdom, they are far more appreciative of a mixed Cap Classique drink than their male counterparts, whose egos look upon adulterated wines with disdain.

I was almost mustered into combat once by a male Cap Classique producer from Robertson when I suggested his wine makes for good drinking when accompanied by a few cubes of ice.

MIX AND MATCH

Chardonnay is one of the traditional Champagne grapes and is often blended with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier to make the final product. A 100% Chardonnay Cap Classique, however, allows the multi-layered flavour and textural elements of this noble grape to come to the fore after it has undergone the Cap Classique treatment.

A Sunrise Mimosa is a sunny twist on the classic brunch cocktail: bright, citrusy and with a little extra kick. Here’s how to make a batch for flve people (about one large flute each).

EMILE’S SUNRISE CAP CLASSIQUE MIMOSA

Note the glowing sunrise palette as the Boschendal Mountain Rose Cap Classique settles into the orange juice, and that the wine has enough body and spine to ensure the three- way cocktail remains true to the taste of good sparkling wine.

This involves making a bright, fresh wine with mouth-puckering acidity. This wine is then bottled for between 12 and 18 months to undergo the magical process of secondary fermentation. This is when the fine bubbles develop, like stars entering a moonless night, and the wine soaks up flavour from the spent yeast cells caused by the secondary fermentation. The result is as good as it sounds: a Cap Classique with cool slivers of citrus peel, a maritime salinity and a slight hint of freshly baked sourdough bread.

I select this wine to make a simple, yet stupendous, fruit punch. Though not really a punch; simply two ripe strawberries sliced in half and dropped into a glass that is then filled with Steenberg 1682 Cap Classique. Once the foam has settled, give the strawberries two minutes to begin talking to the wine, then drink. The berries add perfume and the flavour of a spring countryside to the Cap Classique, maintaining the wine’s integrity, yet giving it a delicious extra dimension.

Refill the glass three or four times to continue slaking your bubbly thirst and, when done, stylishly remove the strawberries and eat them. Just like that. To up the ante a bit – and venture into cocktail territory – I select a pink Cap Classique from Boschendal, the farm situated in the Drakenstein region between Paarl and Franschhoek that this year celebrates 340 years of heritage.

And then there is the Black Velvet, my personal favourite Cap Classique combo, perhaps a result of my Irish heritage … and you just have to glance at the glass to know where the name Black Velvet originates.

Boschendal is also one of the pioneers of Cap Classique, the legendary maestro Achim von Arnim having introduced this range of wines under the Boschendal label in the 1980s. Danielle Coetsee is the current Boschendal winemaker responsible for all things fizz, overseeing a broad range of Cap Classiques ranging from superior, luxuriously extended lees-aged wines to perky quaffers.

For cocktail purposes I am eyeing the Boschendal Mountain Rose Brut Rosé Cap Classique, a lovely pink sparkle with an eye-catching salmon hue, given lots of berry fruit and texture on the palate as a result of it being made exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes.

In making the base wine, the juice is allowed a brief period of exposure to the red-skinned Pinot Noir grapes before fermentation begins.

The base wine goes to bottle, with sparkle and structure formed over a five-year period. The result is a Cap Classique of layered complexity and a firm, crunchy red-fruited flavour profile. The Mountain Rose is also an ideal wine for my Sunrise Cap Classique Mimosa, a drink where the traditional Mimosa – sparkling wine and orange juice – gets a heady lift.

One of the newer wineries that has surged to the fore in the Cap Classique stakes is Le Grand Domaine, perched at the top of Devon Valley in Stellenbosch. That this cellar makes, along with its other offerings, fine Cap Classique should come as no surprise, as its leading wine lady is Debbie Thompson, who formerly plied her bubbly trade at Simonsig Estate. Simonsig, of course, is known for being the true pioneer of Cap Classique; its late proprietor, Frans Malan, was the first to make this style of wine here in South Africa.

Le Grand Domaine’s Grand Vin de Stellenbosch MCC Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2020 is a classic blend of the two traditional Champagne grapes, with Thompson taking a no-nonsense approach in the cellar by keeping her Cap Classique method simple and effective – as old hands are known to do.

All the grapes are handpicked and the whole bunches are gently pressed in a pneumatic press to collect the purest juice, named cuvée. After two days of settling, the juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks at 15–17°C, with specially selected yeast strains. To preserve the freshness of the wine, there is no malolactic fermentation, and meticulous blending is carried out before the wine is bottled. After fermentation in the bottle, it is aged on the lees for at least 12 months prior to disgorgement.

And that’s all. The result is a lovely sparkling wine with classic notes of brioche, citrus and green apple, with a glowing richness and a creamy mouthfeel. With a name like Le Grand Domaine, this Cap Classique deserves the traditional treatment when it comes to creating a mixed drink, and what is more traditional than Kir Royale? Purists will appreciate this concoction too, as Kir Royale is to be found in the glittering halls of Paris, held deftly in the manicured hands of the most discerning French elite.

And it’s simple really, only requiring a glass of Cap Classique – Le Grand Domaine in this instance – and a dash of Crème de Cassis liqueur, made from blackcurrants and readily available in South Africa.

A simple splash of Crème de Cassis is dropped into the glass, which is then topped up with cold Cap Classique. (The recommended ratio of fizz to liqueur is 9 to 1.) Give it a gentle stir to allow the liqueur to blend with the sparkling wine, and then sip the sensual, evocative and very delicious mixture of dark berry-infused sparkling wine.

As for the name ‘Kir’: it originated in the Second World War when the Nazis stole all Burgundy’s famous red wine, leaving the locals with only the white. Félix Kir, a wine lover and member of the French resistance, came to the aid of his local Burgundians by suggesting they add Crème de Cassis to the white wines – blackcurrant also being a famed fruit from Burgundy – to create a wine of the requisite red hue. The drink became known as Kir and, quite rightly, developed into Kir Royale when the Champenoise discovered how a touch of cassis can add an extra dimension to their famed sparkling elixir.

And then there is the Black Velvet, my personal favourite Cap Classique combo, perhaps a result of my Irish heritage. For this, take Pongrácz Cap Classique – my house staple – and a chilled bottle of Guinness or Castle Milk Stout.

Then half fill a beer glass with Cap Classique and top up with the stout – and you just have to glance at the glass to know where the name Black Velvet originates. The Pongrácz perks up the dark, velvety stout, making a drink that is rich and satisfying, yet with a brightly glowing Cap Classique heart. V