OnTap Magazine

M aking champagne- style wine in South Africa 50 years ago has a surprising amount in common with being a craft brewer here in the early 2010s. Equipment was so tough to get hold of, it was easier to make your own, drinkers needed to be convinced to part with their extra rands for this unfamiliar beverage and every bottle sold needed to be explained to the customer. Of course, it was much more di cult for South Africa’s rst champagne-style winemaker than for our latter-day brewers. ere was virtually nobody locally that could o er any practical advice and in a pre-Google world, library books and pricey international phone calls were the main source of information. It was 1971 when Frans Malan rst forayed into making sparkling wine in the champagne style and the winery where it all started, Simonsig, is still going strong today. “Back then the varieties being grown here in South Africa were very limited,” says Johan Malan, Frans’ son, who has been making wines on the northern Stellenbosch farm since the 1980s. “My father loved travelling, particularly to see what was happening in other wine producing areas of the world. He visited Champagne and came back thinking ‘why not do that here?’” e hurdles were sizable. At the time the grapes typically used in champagne-style wines – Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – were not grown in South Africa, so Malan senior experimented with what was available. “ e very rst Kaapse Vonkel was made with Chenin Blanc,” says Johan, “but it was made in the méthode champenoise , meaning that it was bottle fermented. Sparkling wine had been produced in South Africa for a long time then but in the “Sodastream” style. A lot of it was very sweet and nobody was making anything resembling champagne.” TIME HONOURED TRADITION Parts of the champagne-making process would not be unfamiliar to a homebrewer. One of the crucial components is the secondary fermentation in the bottle – better known in brewing as bottle conditioning. And just as with beer, the prospect of having too much sugar or yeast in the bottle could be disastrous. “ ere’s a huge potential explosion in every bottle,” says Johan, going on to express just how important it is for a winemaker to fully understand the process before they attempt champagne-style wines. Champagne bottles are extremely strong to withstand the immense pressure within, but sourcing them was initially quite a challenge. “At rst my father couldn’t get the bottles with the lip, which is necessary for the crown cap which goes on during bottle fermentation,” says Johan. “ e only ones he could get were 800ml rather than 750ml Each bottle came in a gift box with an insert explaining the process From harvest to supermarket shelf, each vintage of Kaapse Vonkel is almost two years in the making The striking new packaging for the Satin Nectar duo pays homage to the Cape floral kingdom AGAINST THE GRAIN 34 | Winter 2021 | ontapmag.co.za