A South African wine unlike any other – its existence hardly acknowledged by the lawmen but delicious nevertheless

THERE ARE THOSE who gripe that it isn’t the real deal, that it isn’t made like it is in Europe and Canada where the Icewine or Eiswein process involves harvesting grapes that have frozen on the vines at the onset of winter. But there’s nothing else like it among the unfortified, sweet dessert wines in South Africa, it comes from one of the country’s Top 100 cellars and it tastes rather good! “As far as we know it’s the only South African ‘Ice Wine’!” – Danie Steytler, Kaapzicht Estate, Bottelary, Stellenbosch.
 
Kaapzicht Ice 2009 – R150 per 375ml bottle ex-cellar – is certified by the Wine & Spirit Board as a Straw Wine, but it isn’t really. The 2009 vintage is a blend of Noble Late Harvest (involving grapes affected by Botrytis mould), Straw Wine (involving grapes dried on mats) and Ice Wine – 50% Riesling, 25% Chenin, 25% Hanepoot. The 2011 and 2012 vintages are 100% Ice Wine – a type/method not officially recognised in South Africa, which is why the Steytlers went the uncertified route…
 
Just a barrel of each was made. The grapes from bush vines ranging between 23 and 63 years old were put into a container set at minus 20ºC and pressing a ton of the rock-hard fruit resulted in 200 litres of juice. As the winemaker explains: “The water molecules in the grape juice freeze first at between zero and minus 1 degree; the sugar, acidity and flavour is still in a liquid state and becomes even more concentrated at around -5º Celsius… Very slowly, over six hours of pressing, we finally fill one barrel of very concentrated juice. The sugar is so high that our balling meter dances… unable to give a reading as it’s too sweet for us to measure…” Then, after about nine months’ fermentation, the wine spends 18 months in barrel before being racked, filtered and bottled.
 
The sensory experience, according to Steytler: “Dried apricots, peach and stone fruit, with underlying cedar and vanilla tones…” He estimates that it will age well for at least 30 years. The “perfect end to a great meal.”
 
 
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