Razvan Macici – Nederburgin Cellarmaster

Razvan Macici on Nederburg-viinien pääviinintekijä, cellarmaster. Vuodesta 2001 hän on jatkanut Nederburgin voittokulkua palkinnosta toiseen.

Razvan Macici syntyi Romaniassa vuonna 1968 ja on arvostetun viinintekijän ja hänen viininviljelijävaimonsa poika. Viini siis virtaa veressä jo useissa sukupolvissa. Hänellä on viinialan maisterin koulutus. Työskenneltyään muttaman vuoden Euroopassa, hän muutti Etelä-Afrikkaan vuonna 1997 ja nimitettiin Etelä-Afrikan arvostetuimman viinitalon pääviinintekijäksi vuonna 2001.

Razvan Macici on ensi vaikutelmalta leppoisa ja mukava mies, mutta pinnan alla kuohuu Nederburgin viinintekofilosofiaan keskeisesti liittyvä kunnianhimo ja eteenpäin pyrkiminen. Hän itse sanoo haluavansa olla paras kaikessa mihin ryhtyy. Innovaatio, uuden luominen, on Razvanille tärkeää, mutta samalla hän pitää huolen siitä, että Nederburgin tunnetut ja rakastetut viinit pitävät laatunsa ja makunsa vuodesta toiseen. Tähän tarvitaan aimo annos tarkkaavaisuutta ja yksityiskohtien hiomista jokaisessa viininteon vaiheessa.

 

Tapaa viinintekijä!

Oheisessa filmissä tapaat itse cellarmaster Razvanin omalla viinitilallaan ja viinikellarissaan. Katso video tästä.

 

Viinintekijän vastaukset

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Question

Pairing with smoked turkey

Answer

The slight and very appealing traces of smoke in the Nederburg Shiraz will complement smoked turkey but for those looking for a fruitier option, the Nederburg Sauvignon Blanc will provide an interesting contrast. Both should work very successfully.

Razvan

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Question

What is the best wine for lasagne?

Answer

The ideal choice would very much depend on your ingredients. If your recipe is gently flavoured with tomato, you could try a soft-textured red wine, such as the Nederburg Edelrood.  However, if the tomato is more prominent, you might want to select our Sauvignon Blanc. The acidity of the tomato will be well matched by the acidity in the wine.

Razvan

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Question

What are the main reasons, in viticulturally and vinificationally point of view, that some wines age in bottle for years (and years) and some not?

Answer

Many of today’s red wines are released into the market for immediate drinking. However, many reds are made with sufficient structure and tannins to age for several years, sometimes even several decades.

Tannins, derived mostly from grape skins and pips, as well as the wood in which wines are aged, are a group of polyphenols that are anti-oxidants, acting as a preservative and thus playing an important role in ageing wine. Not exclusive to red wine grapes or wood, these chemical compounds are also found in a variety of fruits and also in tea.

Although we tend to describe tannins as producing bitter or astringent flavours, you can’t really taste or even smell them. They actually produce a tactile sensation that affects the mouthfeel of wine.  Essentially, tannins bind with salivary proteins in the mouth, affecting lubrication to create a puckering sensation on the tongue and the inside of the cheeks.

During ageing, tannins link with each other to form long polymer chains.  When that happens, a red wine will lose its harsh and astringent qualities and assume a softer texture.

A soft, easy-drinking wine with low astringency levels meant to be enjoyed within a year or two of making, calls for a very light touch in the cellar.  What you are looking for is a vibrant nose and palate, where aroma and fruitiness are in inverse proportion to tannin levels.

But when you are making wines intended for maturation in wood and further cellaring, you need a higher concentration of tannins to stabilise colour and ensure the wine much of its structure and staying power. You also need to bear in mind that to suit the modern palate you have to find just the right balance between varietal fruit character, richness of tannins and a supple texture.

Regular racking of wines, when they are pumped out of their barrels and then returned can impact on tannins, to make them softer as the exposure to oxygen during this process acts as a catalyst for the polymerisation of the tannins.  The age of the oak barrels, they way they have been seasoned, their size and even the species of oak from which they are made will also have an effect.

Every winemaker will follow a slightly different approach, depending on the style of wine and the grape variety or blend of varieties being used.

If the label suggests ageing of the wine you are buying, and gives a time frame within which to enjoy it, provided a good quality, healthy cork or other closure has been used to seal it, and as long as you store the bottle on its side to keep the cork moist, so it doesn’t dry out, your patience should be rewarded with a smooth-textured and satisfying wine, where the fruit and wood characters are in harmony. It is also advisable to keep the bottle stored away from extreme temperatures, in a cool, dark environment and where the temperature remains relatively constant.  A kitchen is not a good choice because ambient temperatures fluctuate all the time.

Razvan

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Question

Is there a wine for children?

Answer

In South Africa the legal drinking age is 18 years, so we do not produce any wines for children in this country.  Moreover, the EU does not permit the manufacture or marketing of alcoholic beverages for children.  However, there are many companies in South Africa producing grape juice as a way of introducing the youth to some of the joys of the vine.

Razvan

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Question

Hi!
How much does Your House bottle wine last year (2007)?

Answer

2007 was one of the best vintages in recent history in South Africa. Wines with ripe fruit,lots of flavour, good tannin and generally good ageing potential.

Manor House Sauvignon blanc 2007: 3-5 years
Manor House Shiraz 2007: 7-10 years
Manor House Cabernet Sauvignon 2007: 10 years +

Regards,

Razvan

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Question

Nederburg Sauvignon Blanc is my all time favorite wine. What makes it so special? Do
you personally prefer red or white wine, and why?

Answer

Firstly, my apologies for not having replied sooner.  I have recently been involved in judging wines for a national competition (Sauvignon Blanc included!) and visiting various parts of the country to promote our new vintage wines.

That’s wonderful to hear Sauvignon Blanc is your favourite.  It is a very popular variety savoured for its crisp, vibrant and refreshing qualities and its prominent fruit flavours that range from herbaceous, almost freshly cut-grass characters to richer, fuller tastes of gooseberry and even fig.  It is also such a versatile cultivar and makes a delicious match with seafood, poultry, salads and cheeses, especially soft goat’s cheeses such as chevin.

You’ll be pleased to hear that Sauvignon Blanc is the special favourite of Tariro Masayiti, who makes our white wines. He admires, as do I, its purity of fruit expression and its ability to reflect its origins so very clearly.  A cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc will have a completely different profile from one made from grapes grown in a slightly warmer climate with the former having more of the herbaceous aromas and flavours, while the latter will show stronger tropical dimensions.  We will often blend from a variety of vineyards, established in different meso- or micro-climatic conditions to give us a multilayering, depth and complexity.

I must say, I am extremely fond of it too.  You ask me which is my favourite wine grape.  That is a very difficult question to answer.  It will all depend on the situation: the weather, the meal and the company.  As much as I enjoy Sauvignon Blanc, I also have a very special place for Chardonnay, for the nuancing in flavour that it permits depending on how it is treated in the cellar, and also for Chenin Blanc, which is South Africa’s most widely planted grape, yet is only now developing a following amongst serious winelovers for its capacity to make wines of great complexity.

Amongst reds, I am especially fond of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz but I have great pleasure in creating our Italian blend from Sangiovese, Barbera and Nebbiolo and we are also starting to explore Mediterranean varieties such as Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan, Tannat and Tempranillo.

Razvan

Lue lisää osoitteesta www.nederburg.co.za.