Car City Varietals and Big Blend Believers

Port Elizabeth is the Detroit of SA, so when the “Palate behind Platter“, Angela Lloyd, noted recently on her Grape blog that “carcity” is the reason Pinot Noir commands such high prices, PE as an appellation was thrown into the vinous spotlight.

I’d already heard from DP Burger at Glenwood in the rainy Robertsvlei valley outside Franschhoek, that pioneer garagiste Cathy Marshall is sourcing Sauvignon Blanc from the Gamtoos River Valley just outside the Friendly City. Angela’s affirmation of the quality of grapes from car city, confirms Nelson Mandela Bay as an up-and-coming appellation worth watching.

Of course whether varietal wines like those made from Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are the best styles for car city, is a moot point. Swartland superstar Eben Sadie, for one, would argue that blends are the way to go in warmer and maritime appellations. As UK wine writer Jancis Robinson reports, Eben holds that “in warmer and maritime climates where the growing season is relatively short, so wines made from a single vine variety, so-called varietal wines, are necessarily less interesting and nuanced than a blend of different varieties.” Essentially a rerun of the June interview with Tim Atkin in Decanter that makes the same point.

Big Blend Believers: Adi, Eben and Callie