Why do particular varieties get planted in specific places?  The assumption most wine drinkers will have is that growers in the well-known regions of France, Italy or Spain spent centuries experimenting with different grapes until they worked out which made the best wines.  The truth is probably more prosaic; there were limited local varieties available, often arriving from somewhere else, and some from that local pot were given pre-eminence – usually based on their ability to give high yields within the specific ecosystem.

But when you get to other parts of the world the ‘why is it here’ question is open to much more random answers – as a recent tasting of wines from Calitzdorp in South Africa revealed.

In case your initial response is ‘where Calitzdorp?’ then no, I hadn’t heard of it before now either.  Calitzdorp is a small town in the Klein Karoo; a hot, dry area inland in the Western Cape of South Africa, traditionally know for grapes which went to making fortified wines and brandy.  I was recently tasting the wines from the region – a first for me, as it is hardly known outside the country, and came across its interesting story. 

Calitzdorp now has its own regional designation in South Africa – and this is partly due to its focus on Portuguese grapes.  My introduction to it was an alvarinho – the Portuguese white grape mainly responsible for vinho verde – and a very good wine it was.  I got talking with the producer showing it (it was not his own wine).  Naturally I wanted to know how a fairly localised Portuguese grape had ended up in the South African outback and the producer presenting the wine – Boets Nel – gave me the history.  Essentially, red Portuguese grapes were planted by mistake.  His father had wanted shiraz, went over to the Swartland near the Atlantic coast in the 1970s, and came back in error (a genuine mistake – or was he tricked?) with tinta barroca, which originates in the Douro Valley.  Rather than cursing their luck they decided to capitalise on this, and brought in other varieties – tinta roriz and touriga naçional – later the white alvarinho, which was made into this wine which I tasted by Boet’s cousin.  Boet then showed me his red wine, made from these grapes – and very good it was too.

No plan, a chance mistake – though grapes which work perfectly in that environment.  There are now seven producers in the area which use these varieties, with a rule that to label the wines as Calitzdorp at least 70% must come from these (originally) Portuguese grapes.  Based on the two wines I saw it works.