About an hour and a half out of Cape Town on the N2 takes you to the foot of the Hottentots-Holland mountain range which, if you cross, leads you into the Elgin Valley - the gateway to the Overberg region on the south coast. The valley is cradled between the Groenland and Kogelberg mountains and the beauty of the place makes you question what inspired the Voortrekkers to venture any further (and having just climbed 1400 meters with just ox carts to get there)! Elgin Valley is pretty stunning with huge stretches of forest and endless mountain peaks. And you know that you're in apple country as you are surrounded by orchards. The cooler climate is ideal for growing grapes as well as they benefit from longer ripening periods. Many famous Walker Bay vineyards source their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from Elgin. The region is also famous for its roses (as in the flower not a pink wine)!
Slowine Chenin/Sauvignon, 2005 - Paul Cluver Estate, Grabouw, Elgin
Made from 70% Chenin and 25% Sauvignon and just a tiny bit of Semillion (5%), this is a big, dry white with aromas of guava, gooseberry and ripe tropical fruit. The palate is rich and exotic, with a titillating acidity which comes from the Sauvignon content.
Good food pairings would be roasted vegetables (especially butternut, grilled line fish, thyme-roasted chicken and soft cheeses). Fabulous on its own as well!
When Andries Burger, wine maker at Paul Cluver Estates, came to visit us in Devon in 2005 he brought with him some sample bottles of the first release of a new project that he and Paul Cluver had started over a year previously. The principals behind slowine, as Andries explained, are very much the same as those enshrined in the mission statement of Slow Food.
Founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986, Slow Food is an international association that promotes food and wine culture, but also defends food and agricultural biodiversity worldwide. It opposes the standardisation of taste, defends the need for consumer information, protects cultural identities tied to food and gastronomic traditions, safeguards foods and cultivation and processing techniques inherited from tradition and defends domestic and wild animal and vegetable species.
Andries and Paul wanted to create a small range of wines that reflected all this but, at the same time were affordable, even though, by definition, they could not be produced on a large-scale basis. As a result, the grapes have been sourced from growers, situated around the Overberg Mountain in Elgin, whose grapes are farmed eco-sensitively and who are involved in the maintenance of the Kogelberg Biosphere. This is a marine and floral reserve where the terrestrial and coastal environments are of international conservation importance and are fully protected. They are, however, unique categories of protected areas combining both conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
You will find a picture of a Parrot Beaked Tortoise on the wine's label. This rare tortoise is also known as the "padloper" and is mainly found in renosterveld patches in the Kogelberg. The males develop bright red / orange noses during the breeding season which makes them look like "boozy" old men! The tortoise emblem, of course, further accentuates the whole concept of 'slowness'!
We were exceptionally impressed by the quality of the four wines that were presented to us. At Cluver, Andries Burger has always been a wine maker who wants to make wines with an intense purity of fruit and this overall characteristic runs through as a central theme of slowine.
Pinot Noir, 2003 Paul Cluver Estate, Grabouw, Elgin
The wine has an excellent colour with lots of wild berry fruit on the nose complemented with hints of chocolate, violet and coffee aromas. The complex palate is brimming with sweet berry flavours that are long and lingering. The finish is typical of the varietal with a long velvety texture. The wine has tightly structured tannins ensuring that it will age, it can be enjoyed young but will gain complexity if cellared for a further 5 to 7 years.
Pinot Noir is most probably the most difficult red wine to make. Wherever you are in the world, winemakers that make Pinot Noir usually have a passion for it. At Paul Cluver Estate Wines they are not only passionate about Pinot Noir but also about winemaking.
Paul Cluver Wines are the result of a close-knit family who are dedicated to the holistic production of fine handcrafted wines. Guided by Dr Paul Clüver, Neurosurgeon, Apple farmer and chairman of Capespan and Vinfruco, the companies whose visionary and pioneering spirit created the foundation for Paul Cluver Wines.
Paul Clüver’s vision for the family run business is- "To combine the tremendous diversity of mesoclimates and soil of our farm and the passion of our family to develop great and distinctive wines."
This vision is ably carried by G.M. Paul Clüver junior, and Winemaker Andries Burger, married to one of the Clüver daughters Inge. Andries qualified in viticulture and oenology at Stellenbosch University. Andries Burger’s winegrowing credo is focused on expressing the Elgin Terroir through handcrafted individual wines with fruit intensity, balance and elegance. Dr Clüver’s wife Songvei and daughter Karin are deeply involved with the nurturing and upliftment of the De Rust farming community.
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