Rustenberg John X Merriman 2003, Cape Province
28th March 2008
A little over twenty years ago, a friend took me along to a family drinks party. The host was his uncle, an English lawyer who for many years had served as a judge in Rhodesia. After Rhodesia became Zimbabwe the uncle returned to the UK. Now he was lecturing at a British university.
The uncle was a pleasant, urbane character, and he served us very good wine. But the moment he revealed its origin, it turned to vinegar in my mouth.
“South African. I brought a large amount home with me. I expect it’ll keep me going for years.”
At that time South Africa was under P.W. Botha, and apartheid was going strong. I was something of a lefty, and like most such young men, a prig. The thought that I might be enjoying the fruits of racism and exploitation was hideously distressing to me. At the same time I was far too well mannered to offend my hosts, who were extremely nice people, in their evil, mindlessly fascistic way.
So I spent the rest of the evening pretending to drink my wine without actually doing so, and devising elaborate stratagems for avoiding refills. This was, to say the least, hard work. Like so many British social agonies it was an entirely private form of hell, undetected by anyone else in the room.
Well, the world has moved on. My politics have not so much changed as evaporated. Apartheid is now one of those faraway bits of history, like witchcraft trials and droit de seigneur, which most of us look back upon with baffled shrugs. And it is now permissible to enjoy South African wine.
Not only permissible but obligatory, if this example is anything to go by. The Rustenberg estate lies in Stellenbosch, in the Cape Province. It has been making wine since the late 1600s, and its present owners, the Barlow family, have owned the place for the last 60 years. You would expect their wines to have pedigree, and you would not be disappointed.
John X Merriman was a previous owner of the estate who went on to become Prime Minister of the Cape. The wine named after him is dark, dense and strong, made up of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Its aromas are of coffee and spice; its flavours suggest toasted nuts, cocoa and cloves. It is a wine of character, and worth every penny of the $29 (£10) they are charging for it. I wonder if this was the wine our host was serving us that night, all those years ago. If so, I was a double fool.
