Berger: South Africa haunted by past

Tasting through a lineup of South African wines the other day with the importer’s representative, I realized why so little recognition is paid to a country with such a rich history of making fine wine.

The country is far removed from the world stage as a result of its racial policies of the past, which led to more than 30 years of international boycotts of the nation and emotional isolation from the rest of the world.

And even though it has been two decades since the country ended Apartheid, it remains in the minds of some people a nation with a stain on its heritage.

As a result, many wine people consider the South Africa wine industry a New World industry. It was, after all, one of the six countries involved in the Six Nations Wine Challenge staged each year in Sydney. Yet compared with Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and the United States, the other Six Nations countries, South Africa is an old-world wine country.

It started making wine through the auspices of the Dutch East India Co. centered on Cape Town in 1659. In the 355 years since grapes were first crushed in South Africa, a lot has been improved, but much of it has been in isolation.

The main reason South African wines are still yet to be widely seen in the northern hemisphere is that the vacuum forced on it by Apartheid has left the country with a lot of grape varieties that have virtually no public image here.

Among them are chenin blanc (once popular here, now made by only a handful of California wineries) and pinotage (a red wine made from a grape that’s a cross between pinot noir and cinsault). Most wineries make either chenin blanc or pinotage; neither sells well here.

When more recognized grapes were planted decades ago, such as cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and sauvignon blanc, I thought exporting the wines would have been a high priority.

So 20 years ago, as Apartheid was ending, I interviewed one of the more adventurous South African wine importers. I knew KWV was the country’s largest wine company and contender for the largest producer in the world, so I asked the importer if we would see any of the better KWV wines any time soon.

His reply: “I doubt it. The company president doesn’t speak any English. He speaks only Afrikaans,” a Germanic tongue.

Vineyard Brands, an adventurous importer of wines from many countries, has in the last two decades done more to popularize South African wines here, featuring wines from superb wine makers Charles Back, Fairview, Starke-Conde, and Boukenhoutskloof.

Southern Starz, another import company, brings in eight different South African brands including Tamboerskloof, Black Wolf, David Frost, and Edgebaston.

Now Atlanta-based Pacific Highway Wines & Spirits is bringing in a line of excellent wines from DGB, a large South African winery whose wine maker, Niel Groenwald is an insightful man who keeps fruit in his wines prominent.

One of the more stylish efforts is a delightful white wine called Citrus Grove. It’s a 2013 wine made from chenin blanc and sells for $13. Like a cross between a vouvray and a savennieres, it is screwcapped, and fresh and easy to drink.

A more “serious” effort is 2013 Bellingham Chenin Blanc, Old Vines, The Bernard Series ($22), which a slight amount of oak aging and has an aroma of honey, melon and tea.

The 2013 Mocha Java Merlot from the Coastal Region ($15) is an overtly fruity, easy-to-quaff red.

The 2013 Rib Shack Red says “Wood Matured, Extra Smooth” on the front label, and it actually tastes better than it looks from the kitschy label. It is 60% Pinotage, 40% Syrah.

One of the best wines in the portfolio is 2012 Bellingham Pinotage “Bush Vine,” Western Cape ($40), which offers the best qualities of Pinot Noir with the dark red berry fruit of the Cinsault.

Pacific Highway shipped all these wines to its United States warehouses months ago and distribution has been good.