Cinsault: South Africa’s new star from old vines

Once just an understudy to more noble French grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, South African Cinsault is finally having its time in the limelight.

Cinsault (also spelled Cinsaut) has its origins in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Thanks to its ability to tolerate extreme temperatures, resist drought and disease, and give large yields, it quickly became an important variety in hot, arid wine regions – including South Africa.

Historians think it arrived in the Cape in the 1850s, under the name Hermitage. It wasn’t until almost a century later that ampelographers confirmed it was the same grape as Cinsault.

Scroll down for tasting notes of 26 South African Cinsault wines to try

In 1925 (when still called Hermitage) Professor Abraham Perold, head of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, crossed the grape with Pinot Noir to give South Africa’s indigenous Pinotage.

For years Cinsault was the backbone of much of the Cape’s wine industry, used for red wine production as well as brandy distillation. By the 1970s, it was South Africa’s most widely planted grape.

Cinsault’s fortunes changed with the increasing popularity of Bordeaux varieties. Growers grubbed up many established old bushvine vineyards in favour of the more noble Cabernet Sauvignon.

What vineyards were left were used for blending – as a cheap way to bulk out expensive varietal-labelled Cabernet and to soften its harsher tannins.

The pale-coloured juice from Cinsault’s huge berries, as well as its aromatic candy-floss, floral and crunchy red berry fruit profile, light-to-medium body and softer tannins were never considered worthy as a varietal wine when big, dark extracted reds were the fashion.

Fast forward to today, and lighter-style reds are very much what wine lovers are clamouring for. And South Africa’s winemakers are on top of the trend.

Terroir-driven

Eben Sadie of The Sadie Family wines was the first to put Cinsault back on the map as a premium variety. He released South Africa’s first single-vineyard Cinsault, Pofadder, in 2009.

Before long, more producers were reclaiming old, dry-farmed bushvine vineyards to make single-varietal and single-vineyard wines of their own.

‘Cinsault is by far the grape that is best suited to the Cape,’ Sadie told Decanter in 2018. ‘It has a great affinity and just loves the soil here.’

Not only does it express its terroir well, he says, but it’s a variety that perfectly suits today’s drinking culture. ‘We live in a time where people don’t age wines and Cinsault is perfect for drinking early – but can also age.’

Alex Milner of Natte Valleij is another fascinated by Cinsault and how terroir-driven it can be. For his Cinsault Collective, he creates varietal wines from Simonsberg, Darling, Stellenbosch and Swartland that each have a distinct identity.

As with many Cape winemakers creating varietal Cinsaults today, he likes to use whole-bunch fermentation and avoid oak.

‘I like to call Cinsault the “working man’s Pinot”,’ he told Decanter in 2018. ‘One needs to treat it with huge respect. I don’t believe it needs oak – perhaps the environment of a seasoned barrel, but lashings of oak is unsympathetic.’

Daniel Grigg of Dorset-based importer and merchant Museum Wines has worked with Milner since 2018, describing him as ‘the Cinsault whisperer’.

While the variety remains a hand-sell (‘I can count on zero hands how often people ask us for Cinsault’), Grigg says once customers taste it, they’re converts.

‘I’ve suggested it to more than one customer understandably loathe to pay £30 for mediocre Beaune, which has resulted in our sales team now regularly being asked for South African Cinsault,’ he explains.

The Cape’s red Burgundy

Cape winemakers make the comparison with Pinot Noir often – on both wine style and value.

‘I love lighter reds and I love Pinot Noir, but I don’t have the guts to try it here in Swartland. And nor do I think anyone should,’ explains Donovan Rall of Rall Wines.

‘But we have so much of this old bushvine Cinsault around, why not make a fresh Beaujolais-style wine from it, or emulate those old, elegant Chateau Libertas-style wines that still drink beautifully after 20, 30, 40 years?

‘Cinsault has structure and elegance, and keeping the stems on with whole-bunch fermentation gives fine, feminine tannins. When fully ripe, the alcohol naturally sits around 12.5% and, when not dominated by oak, they are such vibrant, lighter-style reds.

‘Plus, Pinot Noir grapes are three to four times the price of old-vine Cinsault, so we could make wines on a big scale at a reasonable price. So much we ship overseas as bulk wine.’

‘10 years ago I don’t think there were even 10 varietal Cinsaults in South Africa; now look. If the market catches on to how good our Cinsault is, we could make incredible wines!’

Duncan Savage agrees: ‘We have a wealth of old-vine Cinsault that has incredible complexity in the glass. I love elegance and purity, and Cinsault offers just this. And it punches above its weight for the price. Give top South African Cinsault to a few Burgundy lovers blind and you will surprise a lot of people!’

Rich past, bright future

For Ian Naude of Naude Wines and Corlea Fourie of Bosman Family Vineyards it is the special place in South Africa’s wine history – as a parent of Pinotage and the component of so many iconic blends – that makes Cinsault so special.

‘Cinsault has stood the test of time to be rediscovered by its makers,’ says Fourie. ‘That demonstrates the longevity of the vines and the stories they have to tell through their wines.’

Naude is also happy that Cinsault is again finding the fame it had a century ago. ‘We had these world-class wines made with Cinsault – a heritage wine; one of the oldest cultivars in South Africa – then just a few decades later we were using it to make cheap wines.

‘Today we can create something again with our old-vine Cinsault – light, summer, Mediterranean-style reds. We are the only country in the world that can capture that distinct rose petal and Turkish Delight character of Cinsault, along with its great ageing potential.’

Charlie Brain of Lubanzi Wines believes now is the perfect moment for Cinsault’s star to shine. ‘Stylistically, it suits the palates of modern, forward-thinking wine drinkers. Cinsault has got a bright future and, in time, will really come to be a variety that is synonymous with South African wine.’

Historic Cinsault

Stellenbosch’s Chateau Libertas is considered South Africa’s oldest dry red blend, first made in 1932 by American doctor William Charles Winshaw.

Lightly oaked and styled on European wines of the time, with about 11% or 12% alcohol, it would have had a large proportion of Cinsault in the blend – more than 30% in some cases (as did the historic wines of Zonnebloem and Lanzerac).

And the wines have incredible longevity: Greg Sherwood MW, Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Chair for South Africa, rated the 1957 a perfect 100 points when tasting it in 2018.

At another tasting in 2017 he tried a 1971 Oude Libertas Cinsault and a 1974 Stellenbosch Cinsault, both from Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery, rating each 93 points.

South African Cinsault: the facts

At 1,701ha, Cinsault is South Africa’s sixth most-planted red grape. So, more than Pinot Noir (1,198ha) but well behind Cabernet Sauvignon with over 10,000ha. It represents 1.8% of the total South African vineyard area, with an annual crush of 21,000 tons.

Of South Africa’s 3,693ha of old-vine vineyards (35 years old or more), there are about 130ha of Cinsault. Pinotage, with 139ha, is the only other red variety with more ancient vineyards. Some of the oldest Cinsault blocks include the Basson vineyard in Wellington, planted in 1900, and the Lötter vineyard in Franschhoek, planted in 1932.

(Source: SAWIS 2020)

Other top Cape Cinsaults

• AA Badenhorst, Ringmuur Cinsault, Swartland
• Alheit, Flotsam & Jetsam Stalwart Cinsault, Darling
• Blankbottle, Pseudonym, Darling
• Craven, Cinsault, Stellenbosch
• De Kleine Wijn Koop, Ou Treffer Cinsault, Stellenbosch
• Leeu Passant, Old Vines Basson Cinsault, Wellington
• Leeu Passant, Old Vines Lötter Cinsault, Franschhoek
• Lukas von Loggerenberg, Geronimo
• Natte Valleij, Cinsault, Simonsberg-Paarl
• Natte Valleij, Cinsault, Swartland
• Savage, Follow the Line
• Silwervis, Cinsault, Swartland
• The Sadie Family, Pofadder, Swartland
  

Cinsault: 26 South African wines to try

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