I’ve always had a sweet tooth, but have long believed that sweet wine is, well… a little bit shit. Oh, how wrong I’ve been. For the record, I do think the whole sweet wine scene, especially in South Africa, is all a bit confusing to most people.
From what I can gather, there are two main categories: fortified and unfortified sweet wines. Port and Sherry fall into the fortified category, although we are no longer allowed to call them that in South Africa due to European Union regulations. If you look closely at a bottle of Sedgewick’s Old Brown you will notice the word “Sherry” no longer appears on the bottle.
Late Harvest, Hanepoot and Muscadel wines fall into the unfortified category. If a wine is fortified it means that a distilled spirit, typically brandy, is added during the wine making process to halt fermentation and drive up the sugar content. Unfortified sweet wines such as Klein Constantia’s world-famous Vin de Constance, achieve their sweetness by leaving grapes on the vine longer to dry and thus concentrate the sugars.
The Badenhorst Family have almost single handedly taken it upon themselves to do the work of drumming up interest in fortified wine with a new generation of drinkers. Boasting a selection of well-loved and well-praised wines and an almost cult following, one could argue that there are few people better placed to do the job.
While they have a very large selection of sherry style wines under the Saldanha Wine & Spirit Co. banner, they sell out very quickly. As a result I only have only sampled one: the Cape Vintage 2018. This is technically a port style fortified wine, using Portuguese varietals Tinta Barocca and Touriga Nacional.
The apparent major difference between port and sherry is that for port, brandy is added while fermentation is still occurring, whereas for sherry, brandy is added after the wine has fully fermented. At any rate, The Cape Vintage 2018 is now sold out, but the Cape Vintage 2024 promises to be equally as good. I can highly recommend sampling this with fresh Saldanha Bay oysters or some creamy gorgonzola.
If you are looking for something easier to get your hands on, Boplaas’ Cape Tawny is also a port style wine made from the same classic Portuguese grape varietals Tinta Barocca and Touriga Nacional. These grapes are hand harvested at optimum ripeness and barrel matured in oak for between eight to ten years. This is an easy, sippable wine that is incredibly versatile and extremely well priced considering the time and effort that goes into making it. Lovely as an aperitif or paired with a cheese board, I personally enjoy it most as a digestive after a big meal. Serve chilled and enjoy slowly.
Be warned: There may be worse hangovers than the incessant pounding that comes with overindulging in fortified wine, but I don’t know of one. On the flip side, there is little that is more enjoyable than a glass of ice-cold port after a good meal.
Drinking alcohol is illegal for those under the age of 18. Do not drink and drive.