3 days ago
Wines inspired by an adventurous cow
SA's indigenous Nguni cattle are known for their adaptability to different, often harsh, environments and their resilience to pests and diseases, as well as being particularly beautiful animals with their distinctive horns and wide variety of coat colours and patterns.
What might these cows and wine have in common though?
There's the adaptability of grape vines to different wine-growing regions; the fascinating variety of grapes, winemaking styles and blends; and the resilience required of both vines and winemakers to survive in a business subject to the vagaries of weather, pests, red tape and Trump tariffs, and still produce an intriguing, beautiful product.
Which makes Survivor a pretty apt name for a wine brand whose story starts with an Nguni cow.
The story goes that this particular cow was being transported through the Swartland on the back of a truck when she spotted a chance at freedom and leapt from the truck into a vineyard alongside the road.
The unsuspecting cattle farmer discovered her escape only some kilometres later and was in search of the wayward bovine when he encountered the grape farmer who had just found the surprise of an unknown cow happily grazing in his vineyard.
The cow, uninjured by her gymnastic feat, was gifted to the grape farmer, who named her Survivor and then offered her name to a winemaking customer looking for a name for a new wine brand, and Survivor Wines was born in 2014.
Sadly, Survivor departed her happy existence last year, but she lives on in the names and labels of Survivor wines.
Cellarmaster Pierre Wahl, in the Bay recently to share some of the latest releases, sources grapes from a diversity of wine-growing regions — from the arid Swartland to cool-climate Elgin — making some into terroir-specific wines and also using the diverse building blocks in his love of complex and intriguing blends.
You could say the Survivor range is as diverse and distinctive as the patterns unique to each Nguni's hide.
In the Survivor Terroir range, Swartland Chenin (R160 ex-cellar), half of it wild-fermented and matured in barrels before blending, is juicy and crisp, peachy in flavour with the zing of pineapple for bright acidity and a mineral streak to finish.
By contrast, Survivor Reserve Chenin (R350), from old, low-yielding bushvines in a different Swartland site, is 100% barrel fermented and aged for 11 months.
Here the characteristic pineapple turns grilled and caramelised, the wine fragrant with lemon grass, citrus zest, delicate nuttiness — a delicious wine of complexity and depth.
The Survivor Cellar Master Chardonnay, from Tradouw outside Barrydale, (±R400), is creamy and full-bodied, but fresh with ripe yellow fruit, vanilla notes and a zingy citrus finish and a touch of cool-climate minerality.
Partly wooded in untoasted and older barrels, the oak influence just lending structure and texture.
Pinotage, with which Wahl put Rijk's in Tulbagh on the map, is a strong feature through the ranges.
Survivor Terroir Pinotage, from the cooler Swartland area of Darling (R200), has juicy black cherries with savoury, spicy notes blended with delicate florals; fresh, flavourful easy drinking.
The Reserve Pinotage (R465) is a decadent exploration of the grape's darker side — deep, rich and full-bodied, with inky dark fruit, salted liquorice and cigarbox spice, the layers unfold and shift with every sip.
The first, and well deserved, Platter's 5* for Survivor.
The pinnacle of Wahl's love of pinotage and of blending comes in the Cellar Master Reunion (R515), uniting pinotage with its parent grapes of pinot noir and cinsault in blend that combines vibrant fresh cherries and strawberries with finely woven layers of darker fruits, spice, flintiness and earthy mushroomy umami notes, all integrated into a harmonious whole; a rare and very desirable treat.
Just for some more fun- and pun-filled survivalist cow antics, search Google or YouTube for 'cows with guns' and have a laugh at the graphics and lyrics, which play very well with a glass of Survivor Pinotage.
