First things first, that isn't a typo on our label.
“But isn’t there an L missing in Cinsaut?”
Yes, well spotted! You know your stuff. The traditional French spelling, for the less wine-geeky among us, is Cinsault. But in South Africa, you are legally allowed to label this grape as Cinsaut, and this is how it has been spelled for many years. So that’s the way we chose to spell it for our first collaboration with South African winemaker, Alex McFarlane, who is passionate about reviving this heritage variety.
But what’s in a (grape) name?
Cinsaut has long played a significant role in the South African wine industry. I was once told by a winemaker that back when it was still a state-owned monopoly (we’re going back to pre-Apartheid days, when the KWV* ran the show), Cinsaut was one of the most widely planted and used varieties in the Cape wine industry. Early winemaking machinery was crude. When it came to processing grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, with its very tiny berries, thick skin, and small amounts of juice, this machinery struggled to pump and push the thick, solid mush from one vessel to another. Cinsaut, on the other hand, was the opposite: big, fat berries, thin skins, and lots of juice. Therefore, early on in the processing of the fruit (usually after removing the stems), winemakers would add crates of Cinsaut to the Cabernet Sauvignon to act almost as a lubricant for the freshly destemmed and crushed berries. This was also at a time before today’s strict regulating bodies existed, and the rules surrounding how wines could be made, and what needed to be on labels, were loose and just an idea. This meant that often, wines labelled "Cabernet Sauvignon" on the bottle actually had an enormous chunk of Cinsaut kicking about it in the final make up of them.
And this is where things get interesting. When sommeliers, journalists, winemakers and collectors do decide to blow off the dust and cobwebs on these very old bottles, it is often remarked that they have aged extremely well. This raises a very important question in the context of these wines today. If it is indeed true that a lot of the early Cab Sauvs and Merlots of the 50s, 60s and 70s are actually made up of a huge portion of Cinsaut, then perhaps we should be turning our attention to this grape variety with more enthusiasm. Perhaps within this grape lies a lost secret, hidden in the old vines that weren’t ripped up in favour of replanting the more trendy Sauvignon Blancs of the world: the magic foundation of wines that are made to be long lived.
Happily, in a modern South African context, Cinsaut is having a renaissance. Many producers are now turning their attention once more to the old vines that have been forgotten and abandoned over time, and seeing them as a source of complex fruit, capable of producing vibrant and refreshing red wines. Wines that are delicious as the foundation to other reds, but are even more fantastic when enjoyed as a pure expression of the grape, as it is today. We’re talking light, bright wines, with a concentration of fruit that is generous, but not overwhelming. A wine that does not need any supporting acts to be superb.
Our first collaboration with Alex McFarlane, we believe, is exactly this.
The fruit is sourced from an old vineyard in Darling, an area up the west coast of South Africa that has long been known for producing bulk wines, but that has some real gems dotted throughout the landscape, producing exquisite grapes. This pure Cinsaut is best served chilled and, ideally, drunk in the sunshine paired with some flame grilled seafood. Once you try it, there’s no going back.
*The KWV (Ko-operatiewe Wijnbowers Vereneging van Zuid-Afrika) was created in 1918 as a co-operative of wine growers. Until its conversion to a stand alone producer in 1997, the KWV functioned as a producer, marketing body and government control board, with sweeping powers to fix wine prices and control production quota limits.
