MICHAEL FRIDJHON: The wines of the fathers

There is little to substantiate the theory that skills such as painting or making fine wine are in any meaningful way inherited. Perhaps early exposure to the artistic side of creativity creates a focus that in time can be cultivated and then honed to the level of a craft.

Growing up with access to an artist’s studio or a winery should, at the very least, give the next generation a head start towards acquiring Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” of application necessary to achieve the requisite competence.

The case for genetics appears unsupported from an empirical perspective, notwithstanding a few exceptions: we have the Bruegels, who became something of a dynasty of painters. Interestingly, Pieter Bruegel the Elder died aged 45. The sons who succeeded him in “the family business” were both younger than five at the time of his death — so they could hardly have learnt their craft from their father.

But, curiously, when it comes to wine, there are dynasties like the Lurtons — proprietors, producers and hands-on winemakers across a couple of generations, as well as countless examples of multigenerational, family-owned, family-run wine estates. Here the argument must surely be nurture not nature. Until the second half of the 20th century and the era of specialisation, farmers farmed, and their offspring learnt from their parents and passed on the expertise to their children. The Antinoris and the Frescobaldis have been making wine in Tuscany since the 13th century. Some members of the families were bankers, others courtiers and soldiers. Many, no doubt, managed vineyards and wine cellars.

The second generation of Le Riches has now taken over the family wine business, with Christo running the cellar and his siblings active in the operations and administration. Father Etienne had previously spent two decades at Rustenberg, when he produced many fines wines, of which the most famous would be the cabernets from the 1980s. By the time he set out to establish his own enterprise at the end of the 1990s, it was a safe bet that his focus would be on reds (notwithstanding some very good Rustenberg chardonnays), and most particularly cabernet sauvignon.

I recently sampled the latest examples, from the reserve cabernet 2022, which is consistently one of the Cape’s most highly rated reds, through to some aged release wines. The last mentioned are made available partly for those who lacked the prescience to buy them young, but also to show theage-worthiness of the Le Riche style.

Unsurprisingly the reserve was the standout example — it is concentrated and muscular (nothing flimsy about it at all) but with a sweetness of fruit and just the right amount of leafiness to retain the essential savoury quality required for food-friendly wines. At about R1,150, it’s not intended for picnicking, but then the 2014 (shown at the same time) makes it clear it’s been built for the long haul.

For more approachable pricing — and drinkability — there’s always the standard release cabernet 2023 (R420) and the great-value, entry-level blend, the Richesse (cabernet sauvignon, cinsaut and cabernet franc), which is a real bargain at R240. And for those nostalgic for the Le Riche take on chardonnay, there’s a very elegant 2023 at R400/bottle.

The Le Riches source their fruit from many sites around Stellenbosch, including some at which Jocelyn Hogan (who at this stage makes no dynastic claims — at least not yet) has also been a purchaser. She shares with the Le Riches a wonderful cabernet franc site in the most maritime part of Stellenbosch. For aficionados of the cultivar, her 2024 is a must-buy at R400: spicy, bright, perfumed and elusive.

Also worth chasing down from Hogan is a profoundly good 2024 chardonnay (R300), luminous, textural and yet restrained, and a wonderful 2024 chenin blanc (R375). Fruit for the chenin comes from two old vine certified sites in the Paardeberg, the granitic soils of which have yielded a wine that is nutty, intense, tensioned as a clock spring and splendidly vibrant.