South Africa Spotlight: Napier Winery

Napier Winery is located in South Africa near a town called Wellington on the Western Cape and was founded in 1989 by Michael Loubser who transformed the once fruit farm into the world renown winery it is today.

The town of Wellington is named so after the Duke of Wellington (who fought and defeated Napoleon) and was christened such by Sir George Napier (hence the winery name) who was the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1837 to 1843 and was subsequently deported to India by the British government after abolishing slavery in South Africa.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to catch up with one of the now partners of the winery Wallie Du Toit who is also in charge of the sales and marketing for the winery. We sat down to taste the three wines from Napier that are available in Hong Kong through their exclusive importer Kerry Wines.

The winery itself hires a great many workers and more so during harvest and are fortunate enough to be able to harvest all their vines by hand because of the lower labour costs that are available in the country. They do however take social responsibility seriously and house their workers on the land and also educate them and their children whilst sponsoring the kids through school and, eventually, university in order to offer them a better life – and one that would surely not be possible without the employment of the winery.

The three wines available in Hong Kong are the Chardonnay (currently 2009), the Lions Creek Cabernet Sauvignon (currently 2010) and their world class red, The Red Medallion (currently the 2006 vintage). Tasting these wines yesterday was a real delight and begs the question once again as to why South African wines are so overlooked in the city.

Traditionally, South Africa is one of the “oldest new world producers” with a winemaking history stretching back over 350 years and surpassing the history of, for example, Australia by over 100 years. But yet the wines are still to find their place in the Hong Kong market and, although immensely popular in markets such as the UK, are still a tough sell here. 

My feelings on this is because most of the South African wines we see on Hong Kong’s commercial shop shelves are the mass-produced, lower quality wines that do not inspire and, subsequently create a bad image of South African wine.

These wines are different though. They are high quality wines made with care and passion in fairly low quantities (compared to others) and although there is the potential to make more wines Mr. Du Toit tells me that they are still heavily focused on quality more so that just making a lot of wine.

The wines themselves are almost entirely made from the free run juice of the grapes and although they do have the pneumatic press, they think the quality of the wines is better when the grapes are left to crush under their own weight. 

“We make wines with minimal intervention and try to express the terroir the best we can”, says Mr. Du Toit. “There is a golden thread running through all of our wines”.

The Red Medallion found fame recently through the very popular wine comic “Les Gouttes de Dieu” or Drops of God and has since found a place in markets such as Japan and Korea and is now making inroads into the Hong Kong and China markets. It has also been described by British wine expert Andrew Jefford as the “Latour of South Africa”.

The wine itself is a traditional Bordeaux blend and each year the blend changes slightly. I was fortunate to try the 2006 vintage which is available here and I also tried a barrel sample of the 2011 vintage which will be released in 2016 as they do not release the wines until 5 years after harvesting. 

It’s not as big and bold as traditional Bordeaux as they are not looking for a wine that cannot be drunk for decades, in my view it’s almost a cross between Bordeaux and Burgundy with plenty of red fruit but with fantastic tannins and a great back bone. The wine doesn’t need food per se, but would be a nice addition to any dinner table.

Younger and more in the entry level style is the Lions Creek Cabernet which, as well as coming in a screw cap as opposed to both the Chardonnay and the Red Medallion, is meant for everyday drinking. Personally, I found this wine most enjoyable with good tannins, a nice mouth feel, very approachable and not overly fruity. It has excellent balance and really is something that you can crack open on an everyday basis for just a glass or during a meal.

Finally, the Chardonnay, which was voted the best wine in the Wellington region in 2011, has great acidity and, even though oaked (you’d never think so) and a 2009 vintage, is fresh and has lovely aromas.

There really is a place for these wines on the Hong Kong market and, sadly, the most likely reason for people to try these wines is because of the fame it has found in the comic Drops of God. This is no bad thing however as this means that it will get tried and it will find its way into your homes. I can only but recommend that you give the wines a try for yourself and see that there really are great things (as if we didn’t already know) coming out of South Africa. Maybe, if our retailers begin to understand this our shops will have better wines from the country and they will find their presence here too eventually.

For now, you can get wines from Napier Winery from Kerry Wines by contacting Yuki Lo by e-mail on yuki.lo@kerrywines.com or give her a call for more information and ordering on 2820 0430.