Wines That Made History

June 26, 2024

Wines That Made History

Savour the wines that changed history, shaped entire wine industries and made grapes into icons that would endure through generations.

Wines are an infinite source of culinary pleasure for gourmands, muse for artists and pursuit of perfection for winemakers. Few varietals and styles though have an even higher calling card for recognition as enduring landmarks in history that changed the fortunes and raised the profile in some cases while fundamentally changing the approach of a whole nation to winemaking laws in one particularly game changing phase. The adventurous and liberal new world brims with exciting ones – New Zealand’s re-invention and firing up of Sauvignon Blanc that made the grape an international phenomenon, California accent to wine royalty at the Paris Tasting in 1977 and Argentina’s creation of an indigenous white grape Torrontes. Not the old world was quite on the revolutionary front. Modern Italian wine will forever be defined by the Super Tuscan revolution while Bordeaux’s off-appellation garage wine enjoy cult status and command top dollar.

The Judgment Of Paris

What happened in Paris on boozy afternoon in 1976 had its ripples transform the wine industry of an entire country across the Atlantic and in a single day compelled the orthodox and traditional old world to tip the hat in recognition of the bold new world. May 24th, 1976 witnessed a historic blind tasting where the best of Burgundy and Bordeaux wines went to head to head in a blind tasting against California’s finest. Organised by wine merchant and critic Steven Spurrier, the tasting featured six Californians Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines as well as four Bordeaux and four white Burgundy. The wines were tastes blind by some of France’s most acclaimed tasters who were aghast at the results that saw some Californian wines best the top French estates. The tasting came to be known as the Judgement Of Paris and began a renaissance in Californian wine at an epic scale. The event sparked the rise and dominance of an entire generation of high end boutique wine estates that coaxed greatness out of Californian terroir and showed the Bordelais how good a straight ‘Cab’ could be and went toe to toe with Burgundy in making age worth barrel matured Chardonnay.

Super Tuscans

The Super Tuscan revolution transformed Italian wine that had till the 1980s been rooted in rigorously traditional approach much like neighbouring France. Only local grapes were permitted so much so that winemakers couldn’t even plant grapes originating from neighbouring regions. Fed up with this hyper-local approach, some bold oenologists rebelled and planted French noble grapes and blended them with the Tuscan super grape Sangiovese. And such was the stratospheric success of the Super Tuscans the world over, commanding prices on par with Brunello and Chianti, that the Italian wine administration recognized the phenomenon with a specific classification and peer region like Piedmont and Verona followed Tuscany’s lead. The Super Tuscan phenomenon charges on and stands as a compelling inspiration to rule breaking winemakers

New Zealand Super Sauv

The New World has a significant trove of successes to talk up in the five or so decades of its modern industry and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc almost certainly sits at the very top. New Zealand winemakers took a chance on planting Sauvignon Blanc vines in one Marlborough region on South Island in 1974. What gave was a harvest of fruit that would come to define Marlborough and eternal national pride. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or Kiwi Savvy B as the local dotingly call the white wine thrived in Marlborough’s generous sunshine, vitally cool nights and hardy, loam soils. The iconic NZ Sauvignon Palate that critics call the ‘fruit bomb’ is a literal rush of intense tropical fruit and touch of pepper and grass. While recent styles have toned down the vigor a bit, the Kiwi Savvy B’s still got it.

Made In South Africa

South Africa has notched up many an achievement on its vinous journey though nothing comes close to its invention of Pinotage. This red grape is a triumphant milestone for South Africa — the only grape of international profile to have been created in the 20th century. South Africa’s first ever viticulture professor and scientist Abraham Izak created Pinotage by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsault. This offspring of a Burgundian and Southern Rhone grape captivated palates, sparked debates and challenged winemakers for many a vintage, still going strong in South Africa Pinotage is not shy on the nose with lush and jammy notes buzzing up the nose and tasting the wine reveals a plethora of blackberry, passion fruit and plum, finishing with tannins that grip. The Western Cape Pinotage, especially the Stellenbosh expression is regarded as the gold standard.