Cap Classique is South Africa’s Reply to Inexpensive Champagne

South Africa’s grape-growing historical past dates again greater than 350 years, however its glowing wine manufacturing is a mere half-century previous. Produced equally to Champagne utilizing the standard technique, or méthode Champenoise, Cap Classique is a tribute to the legendary French bubbles. 

However whereas South African sparklers are in style in upscale wine bars and eating places in Cape City, or on safari throughout sundowners within the bush, they haven’t acquired the identical consideration internationally as different glowing wines like Prosecco or Cava. However that’s beginning to change. 

The nation is getting extra inventive with its glowing wine manufacturing. Winemakers are crafting Méthode Cap Classique or MCC wines in sudden areas like Cape Agulhas, essentially the most southerly a part of Africa, and dealing with the nation’s star grape, Chenin Blanc, to provide bubbles that really feel as South African as prized liqueurs like creamy Amarula.  

“Our producers, not like our Champagne-based counterparts, have the liberty to mess around with different varietals,” says Lloyd Jusa, wine program supervisor at Saxon Lodge, Villas and Spa in Johannesburg. “This creates wines of startling originality, layered with texture, lifted by vibrant acidity and infused with a way of place that’s unmistakably South African.”

What’s Cap Classique?

The primary traditional-method sparkler in South Africa was born within the early Seventies at Stellenbosch property Simonsig Household Vineyards after founder Frans Malan returned from a visit to Champagne. 

Dubbed Kaapse Vonkel, which interprets to “Cape Sparkle,” the glowing wine was initially crafted from Chenin Blanc. At the moment, the nation’s estimated 225-plus Cap Classique producers lean extra towards Champagne’s conventional grapes to craft a mixture of types like blanc de blancs and rosé that vary from zero-dosage to brut and demi-sec. 

“Repositioned [more recently] as ‘Cap Classique,’ particularly to focus on its high quality, if you see a glowing wine bottle with this label, you may be assured you’re ingesting a product made utilizing the standard technique, a way honed by time,” says Jusa.

Cap Classique undergoes conventional bottle fermentation and is required, by regulation, to spend a minimal of 12 months on the lees. Nonetheless, most producers mature their Cap Classique wines even longer to create richer, complicated profiles. 

“In contrast to many glowing wines globally that use shortcuts, true Cap Classique is about persistence,” says Jusa. “What’s thrilling is how our winemakers are actually pushing the envelope utilizing amphora, native yeasts, and low-intervention strategies, creating Cap Classiques with uncooked, textural class.”

The method of creating Cap Classique

“In relation to winemaking practices within the cellar, many carefully mirror Champagne,” says Wayve Kolevsohn, group beverage supervisor of The Royal Portfolio, which incorporates La Residence within the Franschhoek Valley. “Night time or very early morning harvesting, use of conventional Champagne grapes solely, prolonged lees contacts, prolonged bottle ageing, and all for a really cheap price ticket.” 

A number of the extra prestigious cuvées in South Africa spend so long as 10 years on the lees at estates like 300-year-old Twee Jonge Gezellen in Tulbagh, which produces vintage-only Krone Cap Classique.

“An increasing number of fantastic examples are coming to the U.S., like Pieter Ferreira Blanc de Blancs and Rosé, that are a minimal of six years on the lees,” says Ann Ferreira, who works alongside her husband, “bubble grasp” Pieter, on the boutique Pieter Ferreira Cap Classique label. 

The grapes utilized in Cap Classique wines

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the signature grapes in Cap Classique wines, with Pinot Meunier often making an look. 

“Most of our premium South African Cap Classiques are on the similar high quality degree as a few of the greatest Champagnes on the earth, since they’re produced in the identical manner from the identical grapes,” says Kolevsohn. “What makes Cap Classique completely different when it comes to taste is that, like most different South African wines, it has this glorious, vivid, and juicy fruit character ensuing from our heat and sunny rising season.” 

The Western Cape, flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the Indian Ocean within the south, receives cooling maritime breezes that sweep throughout the slopes and maintain grapes from getting scorched. 

“Whereas Champagne is so particular and so distinctive due to its chalky soil and distinctive terroir, there are undoubtedly pockets within the Cape Winelands which might be very excessive in limestone, which add this unbelievable, contemporary mineral character to the wines,” says Kolevsohn. 

At One & Solely Cape City, the place the wine checklist highlights each wine-producing area and space within the Western Cape, with a capability for over 5,000 bottles onsite, head sommelier Luvo Ntezo says that he’s seeing a lot of producers shifting away from typical Cap Classique grapes. As a substitute, they’re returning to the glowing wine’s roots. They’re working with Chenin Blanc — the most-planted grape selection within the nation, accountable for greater than half of the world’s manufacturing — and Pinotage, a South African-bred cross of Cinsault and Pinot Noir.

“From my private standpoint, I’ve seen how Chenin Blanc produces a rare Cap Classique, because the grape appears to do no mistaken, having the ability to create each variant from a dry, unwooded white wine to full-bodied all the way in which to noble late harvest and pure sweets,” says Ntezo. “Due to this, we’ve seen it seem an increasing number of in our native glowing wines, permitting us to take a centuries-old technique and make it actually our personal, one thing proudly South African.”

Why Cap Classique is misunderstood

Cap Classique’s extra reasonably priced price ticket in relation to its premium European counterparts provides wine drinkers the impression that it’s decrease in high quality, which is unfaithful. 

“Folks usually suppose Cap Classique is a less expensive Champagne imitation, a grave false impression which fully misses the purpose,” says Jusa. “Cap Classique is a class that displays South Africa’s altitude, daylight, and soul. We don’t replicate Champagne, we reinterpret the tactic via African terroir and creativity.” 

Melissa Genevieve Nelsen, founding father of Genevieve Méthode Cap Classique, recognized for minimal intervention and crisp blanc de blancs, provides that most individuals don’t understand the complexity of crafting a Cap Classique. “They should be entire bunch-pressed, which produces decrease juice yields however provides to the distinct taste profile,” she says.

One of the simplest ways to drink Cap Classique wines

Cooks and sommeliers agree that Cap Classique is among the many most versatile to pair with meals. “It has wonderful acidity and cleaning bubbles, as a result of it usually has lees-derived flavors and that further contact of fruit, providing a range of additional flavors,” says Kolevsohn.

A blanc de blancs is the right go-to for oysters, the brininess complemented by the acidity of the glowing wine. “Brisker bubbles are additionally a fantastic combo with fried meals, whereas extra complicated Cap Classiques can tackle creamier dishes, enhancing the lavishness of each,” says Nelsen.

Cap Classique wines which have spent extra time maturing on the lees additionally pair effectively with crispy roast rooster, since their “wealthy flavors virtually mirror one another,” provides Kolevsohn. 

A easy dessert of contemporary berries and cream served with a Pinot Noir-driven Cap Classique would intensify the purple berry notes within the wine.

“With rosé, you possibly can go for bolder pairings, like duck and quail, and even purple meats,” says Ferreira. “A demi-sec can be nice with fried rooster or any dessert.”

South African Cap Classique wines to strive

2018 Graham Beck Cuvée Clive ($70)

One among South Africa’s premium Cap Classiques, this bottle rivals a few of the high Champagnes in the marketplace. Aromas of white peach and toasted almond mix fantastically with notes of zesty citrus and pear on the palate, giving this sparkler unbelievable depth and depth that may pair with wealthy dishes.

2018 Pieter Ferreira Birdsong Rosé ($45)

Thought of the godfather of Cap Classique, Pieter Ferreira, who spent greater than three a long time on the helm of Graham Beck, produces a 100% Pinot Noir-based rosé that’s probably the most elegant expressions within the nation, full of notes of purple berries, peaches, and petals. It’s full-bodied and concentrated, with balanced acidity and a vivid end.

2022 Krone Amphora Blanc de Blancs ($41)

Sourced from a high-elevation winery in Elandskloof, one of many defining options of the Chardonnay used on this wine is a wild sage observe, which acts because the spine for this small-batch blanc de blancs. Naturally fermented in clay amphora with zero dosage and bottled unfiltered on the lees, it’s each contemporary and savory, with elegant bubbles and terroir-specific traits like lemon rind and lime blossom that shine brighter with each sip.

2018 Silverthorn Jewel Field Brut ($54)

Winemaker John Loubser, half the duo behind the husband-and-wife-run Silverthorn Wines, modeled Jewel Field on his favourite Champagnes: Krug and Bollinger. Identified to be innovators in texture and precision, this mix of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir is the right instance of their mastery of the Cap Classique approach. It’s wealthy and opulent, with a complexity of aromas that marries notes of roasted almonds and marzipan with hints of strawberry and cherry compote.

Colmant Brut Reserve NV ($40)

Colmant’s Brut Reserve is an equal mix of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grown in a few of the Western Cape’s high wine-producing areas like Franschhoek and Elgin. Contemporary and crisp, with notes of brioche and mature stone fruit, this sparkler can maintain its personal as an aperitif but in addition pairs splendidly with seafood like langoustines, shrimp, or lobster, its fruitiness enhancing the pure sweetness of the shellfish.