“I like on the table, when we’re speaking, the light of a bottle of intelligent wine.”
No truer words than Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s Ode to Wine could, perhaps, capture the enjoyment one gets with good food, good conversation and most of all, good wine. And all these we got to experience at a wine and food pairing event at Planet Grapes (over at Shangri-La Mall along EDSA) with British winemaker Alex Dale as guest.
The founder of The Winery of Good Hope in Stellenbosch in South Africa, Alex has been instrumental in giving South African wines the international recognition they so richly deserve, with discerning wine drinkers in Manila discovering with great pleasure that a lot of South African wines go very well even with the most ordinary comfort food like squid balls, siomai, or even chicharon.
Born into a family of wine merchants and importers in Great Britain, the Oxford-educated Alex was captivated by the great wines of Burgundy while studying French literature at Dijon University in France, and this paved the way for his great fascination with wine making. “I was a young man who didn’t know what I was doing,” he tells us, referring to his decision to move to South Africa in 1994 – following the historic win of the late Nelson Mandela as the first black president of South Africa – convinced that the diversity of the geology and the climatic conditions particularly in the Stellenbosch region (which resembled those of the Rhone Valley) offered so much potential for wine making. Along with his drinking buddy Ben Radford, Alex founded The Winery of Good Hope, eventually transforming the Radford Dale into one of the very best wine names in South Africa.
A well built man (who reminded us so much of South African actor Arnold Vosloo), it was fascinating to hear Alex talk about the good points of the various wines produced by The Winery of Good Hope – for instance The Renaissance of Chenin Blanc 2012, Unoaked Chardonnay 2013, Mountainside Shiraz 2012, Vinum Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 and that “uniquely” South African wine (also known as the “angry grape”) Bush Vine Pinotage 2012 – and why they go so well with Filipino food.
It was, however, his revelation that, while The Winery of Good Hope is a business, the focus is on “wine making with a conscience” that got our attention, especially so when we discovered that many of those he employs in his winery are the “previously disadvantaged people” or what are also known as “people of color.” The employees of The Winery of Good Hope are considered stakeholders, individuals who have important roles in the company – from picking grapes to wine pressing or bottling. Alex established the Land of Hope, a trust that provides funding for education among the children of the workers. Quoting Nelson Mandela, Alex reiterates that “one cannot build a society with uneducated children.”
While apartheid may have officially ended over two decades ago, social inequality still prevails in South Africa, he lamented. The trust is the wine company’s contribution to the social development and economic upliftment of the employees, and become a positive instrument that would help children have a brighter future. It goes without saying that a main objective is also to help improve the working conditions of those employed in the agricultural industry in South Africa.
There are several things that make our wines different, the affable man discloses. One, The Winery of Good Hope “questions everything” – meaning they don’t just do things the way they have always been done. On the contrary, they do whatever is needed to make a wine that speaks for itself and where it’s from. Two, land decides which kind of grape must be grown in a particular terrain, which is why not all the grapes are grown in the property.
For Alex, it’s not a simple matter of growing grapes and turning them into wine – it is hard work, and one that takes into account the care of the land and the people, as seen in the Land of Hope range where 50 percent of gross profit redound to the previously disadvantaged employees and their children. All wines are eco friendly, he adds.
I ask Alex to explain his statement about not entering competitions. “If I look at the wine producers in the world that I really admire, I cannot think of a single one of them who entered a competition. If you want to be the strongest wine, enter a competition. If you want to make cerebral, elegant and sophisticated wines, don’t enter a competition because you will not win. It’s as simple as that. I don’t make wine to enter a competition and if I did, I wouldn’t work the way I did,” he says, referring to the natural process employed to make the excellent wines produced by The Winery of Good Hope – all of which are loved by consumers for their attitude and taste.
Which goes to show that one can drink wine, indeed, with a good conscience.
For good food and “wine without the drama,” log on to planetgrapes.com.ph. To know more about The Winery of Good Hope, you may visit www.thewineryofgoodhope.com.