Beware: Neethlingshof

The farm on today's agenda is Neethlingshof. I must urge caution when tasting at this farm as I was offered 3 oxidised wines (that I picked up), so make sure that the person serving you knows about the wine, and it might be a better idea to go in the afternoon of a busier day (so that you have freshly opened bottles). I, on the other hand, went early on a Monday morning, so I had wines poured for me that were opened days before. Thank Bob I spotted them well before tasting them. The farm has quite a range of wines and a large tasting room that can support groups of people at the same time.

Although they are better-known for their red wines, they also have some interesting whites. The Sauv Blanc (R40) is great value for money - with strong grassy smells, as well as fig leaf, a hint of green pepper and a crisp granny smith apple tang on the palate. They also have an off-dry Gewurztraminer (R40) amongst the whites that they serve. This wine is more complex than the price tag suggests, with litchi, rose petals and a hint of exotic spices - very floral.

I started off the range of reds with the Merlot (R55) which is a merlot worth writing about - while the fruit wasn't particularly high quality, the use of oak was exactly what I enjoy in Merlot, with vanilla, mocha and a smooth chocolate aftertaste, although dark berries did come through, the fruit was smooth and simple. This wine is perfect for sharing with friends at a social evening. The Lord Neethling range is their premium wine range and consists of 5 wines. One of these was the Cab Franc (R95), which was incredibly smooth - possibly the smoothest Cab Franc ex-cellar that I've tasted so far. Incredibly complex with cedar, black berries, vanilla, mocha, caramel, chocolate and light red berries on the palate. The second was the Cab Sauv (R95) with a powerful black currant, black berry backbone and a hint of dried pine needles and a damp earth smell. They have a rather regal blend of Cab Sauv, Franc and Merlot called the Laurentius (R95) which is a bold, serious wine, begging for some bottle maturation. This wine has a pungent dark berry smell with black berry and mulberry coming to the front, and cedar, chocolate, mint and mocha. Open in 5-10 years on a special occassion, like a romantic dinner on your wedding anniversery - where you can spend hours in peaceful contemplative company.

The final wine was the award winning Noble Late Harvest (R85) made from Weisser Reisling. The attack on the nose was led by honey, with dried apricots, peaches, a hint of saltanas and a lingering taste of citrusy orange marmalade. Great level of sweetness and acidity - really well made and well-deserving of praise.

Over the next few weeks I'll be tasting various wines from different farms again, so I'm really looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll have another stack of notes in good detail that I'll be able to share with you.

Cheers!
Val

Assualt on Asara

Hey,

Having visited Asara a few weeks earlier with friends, I decided to pop round to taste all the wines properly this time. I was also fortunate enough to taste the flagship Avalon red wine (a pinotage made in an italian style, which I'll mention later). I look forward to checking out their new tasting room and hotel that they've built up, especially since reading about it in this months Wine Mag.

Asara has quite a long list of wines, so I'll be a bit selective and write about a handful of the better value and quality wines here. The Sauv Blanc (R55) was quite complex with gooseberry, fig, an overpowering green pepperiness and a slight lemon, citrusy finish. The Chardonnay Reserve (R75) is wooded just the way I like, with heavy butterscotch, almond nuttiness, toast and oranges - surprising light on the palate for such an intense wine and incredibly smooth.

The Cab Sauv (R85) had a bit of that green-ness that people have come to associate with SA Cab's, but it was very well handled - coming out as a bit of fynbos or tobacco - almost a bit tannic, but with black currant and black berries for fruit, the typical cedar, and a lovely dark chocolate finish, it actually made the wine a little more full and complete - great stuff! The Bell Tower (R150) is their Bordeaux blend (Cab driven with all 5 varietals) and showed all the smoothness that I believe Bordeaux's have to offer. This wine is certainly worth sipping with your eyes closed while feeling the warmth of a fire and the crackle of the wood on a late winter night, and will leave you with a smile on your face - I'm tempted to explain the wine, but this is one time where I don't want to ruin the experience, so I suggest getting the wine and trying it out - there is just so much to find in it. The final red was the one I've already spoke about, so I'll go onto it's description, as many of us will not be drinking R450 bottles of wine on a daily basis. The Avalon had a meatiness to it, bordering on salami or leather, with dark, sweet, rich berries, with a hint of banana and coffee on the palate - another well balanced red.

I will also attest to the quality of the dessert wines here, having enjoyed all three of them for different reasons. The Noble Late Harvest (R100) is a perfect show of fruit with tinned peachs, dried apricots and honey playing on your palate. The Spirit of Chenin (R80) is a white port that will go exceptionally well with pancakes (strangely enough), with that smooth macadamian nuttiness, cinnamon, vanilla ice-cream and chocolate powder flavours - completely delicious and a great introduction for non-wine drinkers to make their hearts melt. The last wine is the Pineau (R80) which was the wine I bought in my last trip out to Asara - spicy, chocolaty and berry berry nice (",) A perfect summer sundowner sipper.

I'll be just down the road from Asara over the next 3 days as I complete my course at Jordan (which is another farm that's on my list) so I wish the best for your weekend, and I'll get back to you in the new week, if all goes well.

A toast to your health!
Val

Can you say... Clos Malverne?

Hey Everyone,

I had such a great time at the Good Food and Wine Festival, and it was a real shame that I didn't see as many wine farms as I would've liked. Those of you who weren't there really missed out, it was such a great event, with a huge range of things to try out.

The next farm I visited was Clos Malverne, which is an idealic, romantic little farm - perfect for taking a date to and sharing a bottle on a picnic table under the trees. The Sauvignon Blanc (R58) has won many awards over the years, and well-deservedly so, as this rather robust wine was filled with green pepper, granny smith apples and fig flavours - this wine is one of their better sellers.

In the reds, the Cab Sauv/Shiraz (R55) blend (a growing trend, I've noticed) was heavily dominated by the Shiraz on the nose, with a fatty, meaty and dark peppery attack on the nose, but a smooth sensation given by the black currant flavour - well balanced, delightful wine for a weekend braai. The Shiraz (R64) had subtle meat and raspberry smells, with red currant and white pepper on the palate - obviously intended for a more delicate meat dish, like a carved roast meat or turkey. The Pinotage (R54) was recommended to me before, and I could see why - excellent value for money, with mocha, caramel smells and black berries, black currant and raison tastes, this Pinotage aims to be a bit more complex and different than the average at under average prices - great fireplace wine while you lay indoors with the rain beating on your roof. I truly wished I had the chance to taste their reserve Pinotage, and at only R84 a bottle, I probably should've bought some. Oh well, must leave something for next time.

The final wine I had here was the Auret blend of Cab, Pinotage and Merlot (R110). I also missed out the chance to taste the Cab Sauv as it was sold out - although it certainly seems to be a wine worth ageing, so if you do manage to get your hands on a bottle, make sure it sits in your cellar for at least five years. As for the award winning, flagship Auret, it scraped in as a Cape Blend with only 30% Pinotage, but their Pinotage certainly makes a fine companion to the typical Cab/Merlot blend - it had a mocha, fynbos, coffee beans smell as well as some excellent fruit, like black currants, black berries and a slight exotic spiciness - cloves by my judgement.

I hope to see many of you at the Wacky Wine Weekend, which I'm hoping to attend (the schedule is very tight at the moment) and hopefully I'll have the chance to email before than - although with all the workshops and wines I'll be tasting over the next few weeks it might not be a very coherent email.

All the best,
Val.

Hi ho Sylvanvale! Away!

Hi,

It's been a good while since I've sat behind my PC and emailed, and it certainly has been long overdue. Today's farm is Sylvanvale. Although it doesn't have much of a tasting room, as most of it is now occupied by the Restaurant staff, it certainly has a wide range of brandies, ports, and other quality liquors available to buy by the glassful. I did manage to taste quite a few of their wines, but I'll try and be highly selective and stick with those I truly enjoyed.

With winter time well on it's way, it's great to know that the red wines really did well here. The first that stood out was the Pinotage Reserve 2002 (R55). Having been in the bottle for quite some time, this is a great value wine, with prominent leather, mulberry and stewed fruits, it also had notes of raisons and green banana - still a bit astringent, certainly a wine that deserves time in the bottle. The Cab Sauv (R65) was remarkably smooth and ready to drink even though the smell had me thinking it was going to be a serious, heavy Cab - with coffee, leather and a hint of cedar, it was the black currant, plum and raspberry flavours that dissolved so deliciously on the tongue - absolutely perfect for a delicate red meat dish. The Shiraz (R60) was fruit-driven with a delicate white pepper spiciness, it was all blueberries and raspberries and certainly had that jammy quality that gives a good wine some depth.

The final wine was the Family Reserve (R85) which, sadly, did not impress me as much as it should've. It reminded me of biltong, with its dried meat and coriander smell, but ultimately the Cab Sauv prevailed in the blend, with black currant, mocha, cedar, plum and prunes.

I hope to get a chance to write again soon, although next week is almost a complete write-off for me with all the workshops that I'll be attending. Time is really tight at the moment, but have faith, my passion for wine shall overcome all! Hey, at least you still got wads of my old notes to read through in the meantime.

Val

The House that J.C. Le Roux Built

To celebrate the success of my trips around Robertson, I decided that my first stop back would be a JC LeRoux, as no celebration is complete without a glass of good bubbly. So while I sip down my Almond Grove NLH from Robertson winery, which has opened up just beautifully I might add, I'll write down my experiences of good ol' JC (no, not that JC - this one can only turn grape juice into wine - not water).

Of the bubblies, three really stood out for me, so I'll only talk about those three. The first was the Pinot Noir MCC (R70) which had a mixture of fresh baked bread and yeast smells with an undercurrant of soft pear. It was lively, friendly and crisp - the perfect MCC for someone looking for something special without boaring a hole in their wallet. The next was the Pinot Noir Rose MCC (R94) which had the smell of moldy yeast as well as a good amount of berries on the taste - particularly strawberries and cherries, giving it the illusion of being sweeter than it really was - well-balanced, delicate and delicious. And plus, I've always liked a pink bubbly - it gives it a sense of fun and excitement.

The final MCC and my particular favorite was the Scintilla (R121). It's definitely moving onto the more expensive side of MCC, but it is a hot contender as my favorite MCC, and certainly is in my top 3 of off-the-shelf MCC. The moment you place this bubbly in your mouth, you know you are tasting something special and with freshly baked bread crust smells, an after taste of melons, and a hint of chocolate powder, this larger than life sparkling will make you celebrate the joys of being alive and well. The perfect way to stun people into silence at a party and even the look of the bottle gives it a sense of nobility and opulence.

With the last drop of sweet wine left in my glass, I'll toast to all of you, my readers, who have somehow managed to read this far into my emails... I hope that you all will know the pleasures of good wine and good friends as I have!

Val

Bergsig is nie erg nie

Hi everyone,

Sorry for being rather slow with these things at the moment, but my studies are kicking in to full force, so time has been a bit scarce for staring at words beyond my studies. Today I will write about the very last farm we visited in our trip to Robertson - Bergsig. And, boy, did we have a rather odd incident there. In one of those Pulp Fiction style conversations, we began talking about melons (no, not those kind you sick people), which moved onto eating the seeds of paw-paw - which are surprisingly spicy - try them and see for yourself - and somehow this moved onto a conversation about prickly pear fruit (which have loads of tiny little seeds), and Andre admitted having never eaten prickly pear fruit before - at which point the tasting room attendant says she'll go get us a few... which she did... what are the odds of that??? Geez, don't start working the odds out now... that was a rhetorical question. Moral of the story: Go get some free prickly pears at Bergsig... oh, and eat some paw-paw seeds (apparantly they're good for digestion).

As for the wines in Bergsig, these wines were certainly some of the best value for money wines we came across, as they still managed to have some gems amongst the well-priced wines, specifically the Chardonnay and Cape Vintage Port, but I'm getting ahead of myself. In the whites we tasted a Chenin Blanc (R26,50) with soft summer fruit - a quaffer for the summer (which sparked our conversation). The Sauv Blanc (R32,50) was herbaceous with granny smith apple and a heavy smell of freshly-cut pear coming through - great food wine. The Chardonnay (R47,50) had butterscotch, pear, granadilla and a lovely aftertaste of vanilla - a perfect introduction wine to Chardonnay. The off-dry Gewurztraminer (R32,50) was a great example of this cultivar - and if you are a fan of the German varietal, then this will leave you smiling, with a processed lime (like the sweets) smell, litchi and a perfumed rose petal floral smell, and a wine that just glides down easily - certainly a wine to share with a loved one while talking the night away on the couch. The Rose, made from Shiraz (R27) was quite standard, with candy floss, cranberry and cherry sensations.

The reds included 2 vintages of both Pinotage and Cab Sauv, which were certainly different in style. The 04 Pinotage (R48) had ripe banana smells with light red berries on the palate and a lingering taste of coffee at the back of the tongue, whereas the 05 gave a sweeter sensation with more lucious fruit - candy floss, cherries, vanilla, strawberries and raspberries, and soft plum - much more ready to drink, especially with a light meal.

The Cab Sauv 04 (R48) had a strong fresh, clean leather smell (like I walked into a store that sold leather jackets) with cedar and a smooth black currant on the palate. The 05 was more upfront with it's fruit, with overwhelming black currant and it had a sublime finish of caramel and chocolate... mmmm... another great introduction wine for Cab Sauv that isn't dark and heavy (even though I do enjoy the dark and heavy ones ever so much). From there we went on to a great pizza/pasta wine - the Touriga Nacional, with mushrooms, turkish delight and chocolate - this was bottled under their second label - Bain's Kloof, but for R25 a bottle, it certainly reached super-quaffer status in my eyes. The Icarus red blend (R100) is their flagship wine, with a whole lot of Cab Sauv with solid support from Touriga Nacional and a splash of Shiraz - the Cab Sauv still completely dominated, but it became quite soft and elegant with the help of its friends. Expect loads of berries, with black currant, strawberries and raspberries, but also a bit of cedar to let you know that there is some seriousness in this wine. Many of the red wines are made more in a ready to drink style, so don't feel shy to buy a bottle of it and open it up on the
same night.

Finally, we ended off with the ports. The Cape Ruby Port (R39,50) was delicious with treacle, plum, raisons and strawberry jam - certainly quite unique and superbly valued - well worth buying. Unfortunately I struggled a bit with the Late Bottled Vintage - it was freshly opened and the alcohol was attacking me, and we were a bit rushed at this point - it being well past closing time, so I did the smartest thing I could - which is buy a bottle at R48,50, and keep it until I could open it properly and give it a chance to breathe. What I did manage to pick up was a lovely bit of nuttiness, which promises to go well with blue cheeses. The final port was the Cape Vintage Port (R60) which was also a great cheese port, with whiffs of marzipan and walnuts and a smooth, succulent prune taste. Along with the Chardonnay, the ports are definitely worthy of cellar space.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the email today, and I hope that I'll see some of you at the Cheese Festival this weekend!

Val.

Oppad tot Opstal

Howdy!

The third wine farm within wine spitting distance, we did manage to get a little confused when we entered into restaurant tables with no immediate sight of the tasting room. Fortunately our confusion was short lived as we found our way through the back-door. The Sauv Blanc (R44) was very fruity, with predominant green apples with hints of grass and fig leaf on the senses. The Chenin Blanc (R35) lead to an interesting argument between us, because of its sweet fruitness with sharp acidity - well-balanced, but easily-spotted. It had sweet melon, paw-paw smells on the nose with fruit salad flavours coming through on the palate. This wine is perfectly balanced to accompany food - especially something a bit fattier like a creamy pasta or chicken. The Viognier (R55) was very close to textbook, with peachs, rose petals, orange blossom and a slight spiciness on the palate - they manage to keep it quite dry, but left it with a bit of a high alcohol instead.

The Syrah/Viognier (R55) had more than a dab of Viognier, and so it came out looking very much like Rose. This wine was absolutely gorgeous - with a meaty/mushroom nose, peach, guava, and floral smells, and a lively white pepper on the palate. It was suggested to have this wine chilled, and so I imagine this wine to be an excellent picnic wine - especially with pesto,
cold meats, cheese and freshly baked bread... mmmm... I'm starting to get hungry. The Cab Sauv (R58) was quite typical and ready-to-drink, with black currant, chocolate/mocha flavours and cedar and dark berries on the smell and taste as well. The last wine we tasted here was the Hanepoot (R35) which was laden with honey smells, saltanas and dried fruit sweetness on the
palate - a bit too cloying for my tastes, but if you have a sweet tooth, I suggest that you don't drink this wine, because it'll probably cause your last tooth to rot off 8^)

Well, another day and another entry into the diary of wine.

Val.

Slurring at Slanghoek

Greetings to all you winelovers,

From Jason's Hill we went a little further on to Slanghoek. And with wine this affordable (which seems to be the usual way of things around here), you'll be slurring in no time. Starting with the Chenin Blanc (R17), we picked up pear, canned peaches and sweet melon - certainly a fruit salad mix and good value. The Sauv Blanc (R23) was also an interesting mix of green pepper, fig leaf and grassy qualities with an unmistakable pinch of lemon on the finish, giving it a clean, crisp finish.

Of the reds, I enjoyed the Camerca blend (R20), which is an equal blend of Cab Sauv and Merlot, with strong mocha and cigar box smells and smooth black currant and dark berries on the palate, this wine is ready to drink at night around the braai-place after a satisfying meal. The Shiraz also stood out (R27) with a roasted meat nose and a subtle smoky, freshly opened jar of coffee smell with red berries on the palate alongside some cinnamon, cloves and white pepper - surprisingly complex for such a well-priced wine - although, again, better drink this one now than much later. The Cab Sauv (R29) was also quite deliciously complex with black currants, coffee, blackberry jam, pencil shavings, dried pine needles and fynbos to be found - this one can lay down a while, maybe an extra year or three might do it some service. At such a good price, it may be worth your time to buy a case or three of it and try storing it well to see how it develops (and drink a few bottles of it while you wait).

Finally, we tasted two natural sweet wines, starting with the Creme de Chenin which had some quite unique characters with fresh over-ripe peach and guava smells (like they'd just fallen off the tree and had been baking in the sun for hours), saltanas and dried fruit smells. Certainly very pleasing at R22 a bottle and something I'd easily buy to help convert people to the wonders of wine. The last wine we tasted was the Noble Late Harvest (R95) which is mostly Chenin with a touch of Hanepoot, and certainly was a much more typical sweet dessert wine with honey, dried apricot and peachs dominating the wine.

Catch you all later,
Val

Chasin Thrills at Jason's Hill

Hi everyone,

Next on our list was a farm run by a passionate woman wine-maker who started making wine in true garagiste fashion and has been improving the quality of her wines ever since (this farm has only been producing wines since 2002). It was a lovely sight to see the pumps in action and Ivy rushing around, giving you the sense of a real work in progress. This cellar has a small cozy upstairs bistro that makes awesome well-valued food (certainly the best food we had in the area by miles) - I'd highly recommend anyone to stop there for breakfast while their in the winelands. Nothing like fresh, crisp farmland food to get you going in the morning.

The list is surprisingly long for such a young farm, and so I'll skip a few of their wines along the way. The Chardonnay (R29) had butterscotch, granadilla, lemon and lanolin smells, slightly crisp for a chardonnay, but went down well. The Wooded Chenin (R29) was highly undervalued, with guava, paw-paw, sweet melon fruit in the smell, and a slight lanolin, buttered toastiness lingering on the palate. Well worth the price. The Ivy du Toit white blend of Sauv Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay (R39) had a very unique smell as well that both me and Andre picked up, but couldn't place our collective fingers on, until we were guided by the tasting assistant to peppadews (to which we smacked ourselves on the forehead, having eaten a huge amount of peppadews the night before). It also had green pepper and a slight cashew nuttiness to it's finish. If you can get your hands on a bottle, do try it out. The recently-added wooded Viognier (R29) was quite typical of it's varietal with floral smells, guava and peach smells giving it a very fragrant nose.

In the Reds, the Pinotage (R29) was exceptionally fruity with blackberry jam and mulberry, and plum and a hint of mocha taking root on your tongue. The Shiraz (R38) was an equally fruity version with cranberry and raspberries flavours, nothing too special, but worthwhile as a simple food-going wine. The Cab Sauv (R39) was very typical and had the three c's - cedar, cassis
and coffee in the smell and taste - again, something to buy for tonights dinner with friends. The final wine was the Ivy Du Toit Pinotage (R49), which had a pungent nose of green bananas, mocha and leather and all the robustness of a pinotage - not something we should've been drinking on a hot summers day.

Unfortunately, their better known Noble Late Harvest was not available for tasting 8'( so this is where this story ends.

Well, my Stellies course starts today, so I've got enough reading to do for a while - raise a glass to my success and you'll hear from me again.

Val.

Worcester Vines and Wines at Du Toitskloof

Du Toitskloof is another farm with a huge range of wines, including many box wines, so we were very selective on what we tasted here. We started by tasting the Reserve Sauv Blanc (R48) which was a G wine - green pepper, fresh cut grass, guava and gooseberry - very enjoyable if you like a slightly tropical style of Sauv Blanc. The Reserve Chardonnay/Viognier (R48) was a very interesting wine that would be perfect for a fruit and spicy chicken pizza, and it was a very fragrant wine with some tropical fruit, freshly cut sweet melon, rose petal and peach with lively white pepper on the palate. It's always great to find a good white wine with a strong spiciness coming through.

We decided to taste a few rarer varietals, starting with the Ruby Cab (just shy of R20), which had quite a bit of barrel (or wood chip/staves) flavours like mocha, cocoa and dark chocolate, with a raspberry, dark cherry bit of fruitiness to it - despite the description, it was a bit sharp and tannic - a wine made without much thought. The next was an Italian varietal (we really should have more Italian varietals growing in SA) called Nebbiolo (R40) - the description mentions violets, but I think that is really grasping at straws. Having tasted this wine a second time at a later tasting, my first impression held through (and was shared). The first sensation I got when smelling this wine was a strong sense of tobacco - particularly like that found in cigarettes. Not surprisingly, someone at the tasting said that the wine gave her a sensation that someone had dropped their cigarette in her glass. That aside, I also picked up the smell of wood chips, cocoa, hazelnuts and fresh fynbos. Definitely needs a lot more work to make it work, but it is something quite different. Next was the Dimension Red - a blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, Shiraz and a dash of Petit Verdot (R63) and this blend was far more enjoyable, with dark berries, floral and coconut smells, and a lingering taste of milk chocolate - yum!

And wine-tasting always ends nicely with a glass of something sweet - in this case it was a Noble Late Harvest (R42) which is a new addition to their range and completely delicious with fresh peach and granadilla, saltanas and an overwhelming passion fruit - something truly different and special from this estate that does very well with its sweet wines.

Well, I'll return to my port (I love that winter is round the corner... all those ports and red wines are looking very ready for drinking...) I hope you have a good day at work or where-ever you are.

Val.

Two please, Du Preez

Hi!

The next stop for the two of us was Du Preez Estate, which maintains remarkably low prices on all of its wines. Unfortunately my memory is a bit fuzzy on the farm itself, so obviously it didn't impress me much (I blame the haste, the wine, and the poor photographs).

Regardless, we tasted most of the range. We started off with the Sauv Blanc (R25) which had granny smith apple smells along with grass and fig leaf. Good acidity, and very good price. The unwooded Chardonnay (R25) had a heavy smell of guava, along with pineapple and lemon - a simple, easy going wine perfect for a hot summer day. The Polla's Red (R39) is a Pinotage based
blend, with Cab Sauv, Petit Verdot and Shiraz lending it support. The barrel contributed the most, with chocolate and mocha flavors coming through, a slight sawdust quality along with white pepper and red berries on the palate - meant as a food wine, it certainly accomplishes that goal.

The Cab Sauv (R39) was surprisingly delightful, and tasted like it was worth twice what it was actually priced as, with mint, black currants, cranberries, cigar box and chocolate smells, and a smooth fruity palate of mulberry and raspberry. Ready to drink and enjoy, and a surprisingly easy-going Cab. The Shiraz, valued at the same, was nothing special. Roasted pork, blue gum, and white pepper. The Merlot (also R39) was a bit more interesting with those heart-warming coffee and chocolate notes along with ripe red berries on the palate - another good food wine to go alongside a lighter home-cooked lunch.

The Hendrik Lodewyk Petit Verdot (R60) immediately leapt out the glass with strong leather whiffs that slowly succumbed to more fruity smells of darker berries, raspberry jam and black pepper. It needed a while to open up, but it was enjoyable when it did. Not the best Petit Verdot I've had, but worth the price. The final wine was the Hanepoot, valued at R35. With honey, orange and saltanas stepping to the frontlines of your tastebuds, this wine is perfect to go alongside that citrus sponge-cake at desert time.

Well, that's all I got for today.

Keep in good health!
Val

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Deetlefs

Hello there,

One farm on a day would not do, nohow. Even on a day when we set up camp. Contrariwise we still managed to visit quite a few. And the list of wines at this farm was as long as Tweedledum and Tweedledee's poem (which spanned a good few pages). Funnily enough, the symbol of Deetlefs estate is a key, which is exactly what Alice found once she went down the rabbit hole. And I couldn't help but feel that we had gone down into a magical little world after her and found it filled with beautiful bottles labeled 'Drink me'.

Children's literature aside, we tasted about a dozen different wines here, although we only tasted one of the Familie range (which is their premium range). A real shame about that too, because I would've loved to taste the Semillon/Sauv Blanc blend after tasting each seperately and seeing the potential in blending them. The Sauv Blanc (R50) was tropical and had good fruit flavours as well. The Semillon (R75) was unwooded white suited perfectly for food (specifically a mushroom-sauce pasta) with strong minerality coming through and white pepper and honeycomb (well spotted on the tasting notes) - a pity that it's bit expensive (especially considering it hasn't seen the inside of a barrel). The Chardonnay (R50) was well balanced between barrel flavours and summer fruits. The Weisser Reisling (R50) is another great food wine - again I think it'll go well with creamy pastas with its peach and rose petal smells - although I would like to experiment with it alongside a stir-fry.

From there, we moved onto the reds. We started with the Merlot (R63), and what a place to start, as this merlot was a great example of its varietal, at least for my tastes. Although I have come to appreciate Merlot in its infantlike cherubic beauty with it's fruit-foot forward, this one had pulled all those delicious flavours from the barrel, and it's description reads more like Shiraz than Merlot, with meaty, mushroom smells, black pepper and cloves for spices, a depth of plum on the palate and a delicious dark chocolate, mocha finish. Very well priced as well. The other red wine that really stood out for me was the Cab Sauv (R95). It certainly spanned the range of flavours, with pencil shavings, cedar and black currant smells, a taste of cloves at the back of the tongue and a finish of freshly ground coffee. Serious, dark and inviting.

We tasted two sweet wines, the first which was the Hanepoot (R75) which had that typical muscadel smell, with raisons and dried fruit smells, and an unmistakable taste of prunes. The final was one of the premium wines - the Familie Noble Late Harvest (R300). Well deserving of status above the ordinary, this wine was made from Semillon. The first smells were honey, fresh apricot and peachs, with a bit of dried pear for some added complexity. Needless to say, this had a perfect finish that allowed you to finish a whole bottle without even realising it. A pity to taste a bottle of this while it is so young (2005), as it deserves at least 10 years in the bottle, especially considering its hefty price tag.

Sadly, the MCC (which also goes for R300) was the only one on their list that was sold out - preventing us from celebrating this occassion by shouting out "Champagne" while filling up a glass of bubbly. Sounds quite interesting though, as it's a blend of Chardonnay, Weisser Reisling and Semillon - not something you see everyday.

Well, hopefully next time you are near a bottle of bubbly, you'll think of me, shout "Champagne" and toast to the region that gave us such a remarkable style of wine.

Val.

Das Wine is good ja, in Daschbosch

Hi everyone,

Well, with Robertson behind us, Andre and I decided to move on to Worcester and the nearby farms around Rawsonville. The first farm we visited there was high on our list of must visits - simply because Andre had previously had a food pairing with one of their sweet wines that was simply inspired. The farm was Daschbosch, the wine was the Nectar de Provision White, and the food was a home-baked apple cake. Having had this pairing since then, I can attest to its greatness. Daschbosch came highly recommended to us as a wine farm that has excellent value-for-money wines.

With a large range of wines (from sparkling to dry whites and reds, roses, semi-sweets, dessert wines and fortified wines), any style of wine drinker is catered for. Instead of writing about all of them, I'll select a few that we truly enjoyed. The first was the Chardonnay, which had a buttered toast, citrusy lemon and a firm butterscotch finish - delightful at only R25 a bottle. Certainly an everyday drinker. The Groot Eiland Shiraz/Pinotage (R48) also stood out, mostly because it was a bit of a strange combination that they managed to get right, with a smell of banana medicine, caramel, vanilla, mocha and black pepper, the palate was surprisingly fruity, with a nice complement of berries on the palate.

There are two versions of the Nectar De Provision. The white, which is colombar fortified with brandy, is the one that matches very well with deserts, and with honey, apricots and saltanas on the palate, would you expect anything less of this wine. The Red is made from merlot fortified with brandy, and had the distinctive smell of damp, rotting earth, along with some pleasing smells of candyfloss and strawberries. Either of these goes for R29.50 for a 375ml bottle, so they are well worth buying and trying. Well, after having a heated debate between us on whether one of their wines was off, and just what was wrong with it, we decided to pick up the pace, and move onto the next farm...

...which will be the topic for the next blog.

Val

Everything is Rustic at Rusticus

The last farm we visited on the Friday was probably the single highlight of our entire journey. While it may not have had the best wines we've tasted, the quality was definitely very high, and all this considering the rather antique methods they use in producing the wine. From using old-basket presses to motor-driven destalkers (no electricity), this farm is nothing short of a working museum, and tries to return back to the old fashioned way of producing wine with minimal interference of modern technology.

As the story goes, the wine-maker, Pat Busch, is a collector of old machinery and has been slowly collecting odds and ends from nearby farms. One night, in a somewhat jovial and drunken state, he was having a conversation with a friend of his who happened to be an engineer, and in this conversation he mentioned that he'd just about collected every bit of machinery needed (and once used) to produce wine in the antique fashion. Needless to say, he was challenged to try make wine, and a steep challenge it was, as some of the machinery he had collected was not in working condition. This, however, was not a problem to his friend who was able to fix it with his skills as an engineer. Sure enough, once everything was working, Pat tried his hand at making wine, using the knowledge that he had gained from many of his friends in surrounding wine farms. And the rest is, as they say, history (or living history, as the case may be).

And the wines that are being produced here are nothing short of being special. Without a doubt this place is a must-visit if you are ever in the area. We started off with the Viognier (R70), which did have a bit of an alcholic punch to it, but once it opened up, it had a smell of fresh peachs, gooseberry and lanolin, with guava and buttered toast sensations on the tongue. Definite potential in their recently released and only white wine. Needless to say, this is quite amazing, especially if you begin to imagine the difficulty they must face in one of the warmer wine regions with keeping their white wine cool without the use of modern machinery.

As for the reds, the first one we tasted was the Tilled Earth Red blend (R55) of Cab Sauv, Merlot and Shiraz. Each component in this wine stood out as it was a complex blend of fresh meat, ceder, black currant, plum, dark berries with a heavy mocha/chocolate finish. We followed this with the Pinotage (R45) with green banana, plum, succulent mulberries and white pepper on the palate. This last two red wines were both Shiraz from two different vintages - the 2003 and the limited release 2004. And they were significantly different with the 03 (R45) showing more fruit and the barrel character of mocha, while the o4 (R65) had a very intense pepperiness on the palate, as well as the smell of roasted beef and a whiff of turkish delight to go alongside the dark berries and mocha that was also evident in the older vintage.

Needless to say, this farm left us on a high note for the rest of the evening, and it was a pleasant way to end of our week in Robertson, as the next morning had us travel to the nearby Worcester to set up our camping spot at Ramfest and visit a few other farms in the area.

More on that later,
Val.

Another at Ashton Kelder

Going through the list again, I realised I accidentily left out Ashton Cellars, which was the first farm we visited on the Friday. The tasting room is well-kept and very inviting with some warm artwork along the walls, this is a farm that is quite stylish without becoming snobbish.

Starting with the Pascali Brut (R25), this wine was quite crisp and refreshing this early in the morning with a smell of fresh yeast and a green apple taste in the mouth. This is a sparkling well-suited for use in cocktails and mixers. The Winemakers Choice Sauv Blanc (R25) was good value-for-money. With flavours like asparagus, grass, granny smith apples and green pepper, this wine is well-suited as an easy-drinking summer time wine for sunset evenings by the beach. We tasted the Colombar (R13) hoping to become more familiar with this varietal, and, while shy, we picked up fresh peach, a floral smell (maybe rose petal), guava and granadilla. The Chardonnay Reserve (R19) had the smell of musk, yeast, marzipan and processed lemon (like the sweets). It did leave a pleasing nutty butterscotch aftertaste that lingered in the mouth. I'd say it's worth more than it's price tag, but not by all too much.

The Pinot Noir Limited Release (R35) was really not my style in red wines at all, with prunes and stewed fruits being the most pronounced smells, but also with some dark berries, rotting leaves and fresh leather adding a bit of complexity to it. The Cab Sauv/Merlot (R27,50), however, was a big winner. For its price tag, it completely outdid itself with cedar, dried pinecone and cigar box smells dominating, with black currant, black berries, mulberries giving it an enjoyable fruitiness and a delightful dark chocolate and mocha finish. I'd generally expect to pay at least R50 a bottle for wine like this. The Reserve Shiraz (R50) was quite typical for this area, as it was quite fruity with big bold blueberry jamminess, vanilla, candied apple and white pepper. The final surprise at this farm was the Port (R30) which was a keeper as it had hints of fruitcake, prune, treacle and walnut, making it perfect for warm dessert fruit-cakes served with a helping of custard.

All-in-all, these wines are generally underpriced and so they make good value for money and all of them are ready to drink now - don't expect any miracles though.

Bye,
Val

Longing for Langverwacht

Hi,

The next farm on the list is Langverwacht. On a side note, I learnt in my wine tasting trip yesterday that there is a farm in Paarl - Ridgeback - whose farm name is also Langverwacht. Unfortunately it was a rather rushed visit for us (we didn't even take any photos).

We tasted 5 wines while we were there. The first was the Colombar (R16), which had some tropical summer fruits, especially a good whiff of guava and a crisp lemon finish - overall quite shy though. The chardonnay (R18) which was very lightly wooded, had a very fruity palate - with mango, paw-paw, peach, pear and custard apple sensations coming to the front - definitely a grape with some potential in it.

The Ruby Cabernet (R18) was our first red at the farm, and it had mulberry and raspberry jam bringing forward the fruits, as well as a light touch of cedar, cigar box and mocha to show some wood character. It also had a bit of pepperiness on the palate which made it a good wine to match with pizza. The Shiraz (R23) also had raspberry jam and stewed fruit smells, with filter coffee, black pepper and cloves on the tastebuds. Not my style of Shiraz, but decent value-for-money. The final wine wine we tasted was the Cab Sauv (R24) which also had that stewed fruits smell along with warm over-ripe black currants, cedar, mocha and a very plummy finish. Drink now, because it's not really worth keeping for long, but it might work as a quaffer with friends.

All-in-all, this farm appears to be primarily interested in keeping costs low while still keeping a good quality of lifestyle wine, and I certainly expect to find this wine drunk in student's digs around the Western Cape.

Cheers!
Val

Beautiful Bonnievale

Howdy y'all,

Today's topic: Bonnievale Wine Cellar! And since they only have 3 Premium Wines, this should be a very short email (for a change). The premium range is the Vertex range and consists of a Chardonnay, a Cab Sauv and a Shiraz. Before going on to the wines, I'd just like to remark at how beautiful the landscape is in Bonnievale, not only do the gentle hills and outstretching winelands give the land a sense of wealth and nobility, but there are numerous areas where the sides of the streets are lined by row-after-row of beautiful flower hedges. If you've never been out to this part of the world, I highly recommend going out here during the warm seasons for a truly inspirational landscape that will make you proud to be a South African.

As for the wines in this cellar, the Vertex Chardonnay (R45) had a lot more of that barrel coming through with those rich tones of butterscotch, marzipan and vanilla coming through, but not so much as to overwhelm the soft and juicy peach smells and tastes. The Vertex Cab Sauv (R60) was also a very well-balanced wine, with overtones of black currant, but lovely nuances of raspberries and mulberries, with mocha and cedar giving it a bit of strength and weight to the taste. The final wine was the Vertex Shiraz (R60) which was more my style of shiraz, with fresh meat smells mixed with vanilla and hints of candy floss - and to finish off, it had a bite of black pepper and cloves on the taste, and left with a final taste of instant coffee along with ripe berries. Great value for money and a perfect wine to take along to a braai.

Well, that's the end for today. I'm hoping to have a bit of time next week to do some serious blogging, especially since I'm at least 30 farms behind now (I've been solidly tasting this week). Although once I'm done with that, I'll be pretty silent.

Until later,
Val

The Jokes on Jonkheer

Hey,

Well, the next farm had us completely lost at least 3 times, and we were about to give up our search when I managed to spot a sign at the corner of my eye (and in the far off distance) for Jonkheer. As the range of wines was rather pitiful, and the wines long past any chance of being drinkable by anyone trying to achieve anything more than getting drunk, we moved onto the single port they had available for tasting which was simply labeled Old Port. As I didn't even manage to get a tasting list for the place I can't even give you an exact price on the port, other than to say it was cheap. Still, it did manage to surprise both me and Andre in it's quality, which was well above it's price tag, and a great port to buy to go alongside a heavy cheese - as it had that familiar nuttiness to it, with a bit of banana and vanilla to it as well. Well worth purchasing.

From there we went to the easier-to-find Bonnievale Wine Cellar. We decided not to waste any time here and stick with their reserve Vertex range, which consisted of 3 wines. The first was the Chardonnay (R45) which had a good balance of fruit and wood, with that pleasing taste of butterscotch, vanilla and peach, this is a textbook dream for any chardonnay lover. The Cab Sauv (R60) was equally well balanced, with black currant and juicy red berries coming through on the nose, along with some cedar, cigar box and mocha. It was a slightly softer style of Cab Sauv that would be more well suited to your everyday hunk o' meat than a finely roasted steak. The final wine here was the Shiraz (R60) which, in my opinion, was quite a find, as it was quite a complex package, and I would expect to pay at least R20 more for this wine. It was everything I look for in a Shiraz and more, with fresh meat smells as well as black pepper and cloves to give it that great braai wine quality. Along with this was mocha, vanilla and a slight candy floss (maybe turkish delight?) to really give it that little something extra, and to make it a well-rounded wine.

Well, it's a bit of a short one today, it being Easter weekend and all, but I do wish everyone a super holiday, and I hope you enjoy all that chocolate that this season brings round.

Enjoy!

Val

Weird Weltevrede Wines

Hi,

Weltevrede had one of the strangest tasting lists I've seen in a while. The wines were not all in the right order, causing us to go the wrong way in some of our tastings at times. Not only that, but some of the descriptions seemed more like trips of fancy than real descriptions (though, thankfully, this was only a few times). We were also fortunate enough to find another funny wine here, which my gut immediately told me was wrong - a moment later a fresh bottle was opened, and the tasting attendant immediately picked up the difference.


We started off by tasting the ultra-crisp Philip Jonker Brut (R70), which tasted of lemons and smelt of very fresh yeast - this is a bubbly that will wake you up in an instant and make you want to go out and party. Of the Sauv Blancs, I personally prefered the Travelling Stone (R44) with it's grassy, fig leaf, asparagus and a herbaceous tones. The Chardonnays ranged from the unwooded Rivers edge (Guava, granadilla, paw-paw and pineapple) to the balanced, complex Place of Rocks, which was the one I spotted was funny, (Lemon, lanolin, nartjie peel, honey and pineapple) and Rusted Soil (buttered toast, pineapple, butterscotch, butterscotch finish). While the unwooded will cost you R32 a bottle, and will work great in a white sauce pasta, the price quickly leapt up to R60-R70 for the wooded Chardonnays. The off-dry/semi-sweet Gewurz (R44) is quite a popular item and quite typical for its varietal with strong lime, litchi and rose petal smells. The Rhine Riesling sweet wine (R36) had an almost fortified quality to it, with dried fruits, prunes and saltanas leaping out of the glass.


The red blend was called Tricolore and was quite a surprise (Merlot/Syrah/Cab Sauv) as it had such a strong green smell to it with menthal, eucalyptus and lavender notes, but it kept a very fruity palate of dark berries and plums, making it the perfect food wine to go with that horribly stinky meats you carnivores so love, particularly lamb. The River's Edge Shiraz (R39) was also a step into the interesting with worn leather and roasted meat combined with heavy aniseed smells, and dark berries, black pepper and cloves on the palate. The Bedrock Black Syrah (R70) was an intensely fruity, dark, brooding red with just enough white pepper characteristics to remind you that you are drinking a shiraz (well worth the two cows they traded to get the basket-press to make the wine).


Finally, the two Dessert wines belonged to Ouma and Oupa. Ouma wanted some glazed/tinned apples and dried fruit smells and tastes in her wine to go with her sweet apple crumble pie, or as a summer drink (with a block of ice) to go with her big gardening hat. Oupa, on the other hand, prefered his wine to be blood red, and wanted something to go with his stinky blue cheeses he so loved, and so he got a red muscadel filled with raisons, saltanas, strawberries and glazed cherries.


Chat soon!
Val.

Good times at Goedverwacht

Well, Goedverwacht proved to be a fun-filled place to visit. With a rather spectacular entrance where you pass between red flowers on your right and white flowers on your left (as shown in the picture below), we made our way down this dirt road to find Goedverwacht. In a small tasting room that reeks of character (could be that musty, dusty smell of old vintage bottles they have on display, or it could be the bowl of freshly picked limes on the table), we decided to try out their variety of whites and reds.

Despite two mishaps, we had a great time there. The first mishap being the failure at multi-tasking when the attendent hit the attendee (that's me for legal purposes) on the nose with the spittoon. Needless to say, I spat out a nice neat line along the counter. Moral of the story: make sure when you take the spittoon to empty it that there isn't someone busy spitting in it at the time. I'm still waiting on my million dollar lawsuit - I'm claiming emotional damage as people kept on mistaking me for Michael Jackson afterwards (I was holding on to my nose and I had my usual funky fedora hat on my head).

Well, onto the whites (you'll get the second story when I talk about the reds - be patient). The sparkling Suiderkruis Vonkel (R35) is made from an equal helping of Sauv Blanc and Colombar. It had a smell of freshly-cut apples, green pepper, sweet melon and mango - quite refreshing and certainly an everyday summer sparkling. The Sauv Blanc (R35) was quite unique here, with an herbaceous smell, asparagus and some tropical notes to it (could be guava). It certainly stood out for the region. The Great Expectations Chardonnay (R35) was a well-balanced, and well-priced, delicious Chardonnay with buttered toast, lime, lemon, peach and a delightful splash of butterscotch on the palate - truly an everyday wine that will make everyday special. Moving up a weight class, the Maxim Chardonnay (R100) offers interesting complexity and a unique style, with dried toast smells, a variety of citrus including nartjie, pear and guava. This is a kind of wine that will cover your tongue in velvet blankets, whereupon your tongue will just want to curl up and sleep in that flavour forever. Good thing it has a long-lasting finish that will remind you of what you drank hours later.

From the whites to the pinks, the Shiraz Rose (R25) was a simple-style of rose, with glazed cherries, strawberries, candy floss and a sweet herbaceous smell (my memory is a bit foggy on this point - maybe it was aniseed or something more like caraway seeds). We started at the reds, and if it wasn't for the sharp eyes of Andre, our merlot would've had a distinctive miggie (is that how you spell it?), fruit fly flavour - especially since we had about 20 of them in our glasses (which was poured straight from the bottle). The exchange went a little something like this:

Andre: There is something funny with your wine.
Attendent: What? Like corked?
Andre: No, there's stuff floating in it.
Attendent: I'm sure it's fine, it's probably just sediment.
Andre: I don't think sediment normally has wings. Unless you've been adding Red Bull to your wines, I think that's not supposed to be there.

A few short seconds later, and a fresh bottle was opened up for us - obviously someone had taken the old bottle outside and left it unsealed for a little too long. Like many of the wines here, the Merlot (R30) was also quite unique and interesting, with red spices coming out, along with the more standard mulberry and mocha, and a smell of fresh leather - I imagine having this at our regular sunday family meal, alongside the rice, potatoes and chicken (of which I eat none, of course). The Shiraz (R50) was getting closer to the style of shiraz I enjoy, with roasted meat on the nose, dark berries, plum and white pepper all coming through in the taste. While it still had that Robertson fruitiness, it did have a bit more backbone to it without relying to heavily on the oak to give it some complexity. Next up was the Triangle blend of Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot (R50) which has good structure with delectable dark chocolate and mocha, elegant black
currant and dark berries, serious cedar, cigar box and pencil shavings, all giving it a richness well over it's value. The final wine was the flagship Maxim Cab Sauv (R100). Again, another well-balanced wine with excellent potential - it is everything a cab sauv should be - black currant, mulberry, chocolates, cedar and cigar box.

Needless to say, from my descriptions you should be able to tell that I thoroughly enjoyed the wines here, despite the mishaps. Which, in my opinion, just add extra character to the farm, especially since they were handled reasonably professionally. I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed the wines.

Val.

First on Friday

Hello,

Friday had us starting our wine journey at De Wetshof - a farm made famous for it's Chardonnay. The tasting room is in this grand, ornate building that makes you feel like you've gone back to the days of merchant princes, barons and governers. This farm was on my list of must-visit farms (especially since I'm a fan of chardonnay). We started off by tasting the Sauv Blanc (R53), which had that Robertson minerality along with gooseberry, green apples and green pepper on the finish.

From there, we moved on to 5 different chardonnays, 2 unwooded and 3 wooded. The Bon Vallon (R51) was unwooded, matured on the lees to give it a slight buttered toast and almond nuttiness alongside a heavy citrus nose of lime, lemon and a slight gooseberry. The Danie De Wet Limestone Hill (R52) has strong citrus nose (lemon zest, pineapple and granadilla) with a hint of almond. The Finesse (R62) was lightly wooded with honey and lanolin smells mixed with citrus rind smells - a wine that might need a year or two to become an elegant, vastly enjoyable wine. The D'Honneur (R105) was a more complex and intense wine that deserves to be taken seriously. It was very well balanced with buttered toast, processed lemon and granadilla on the nose and a firm long-lasting butterscotch finish. The final Bateleur Chardonnay (R192) is hand picked from the start, from the land to the grapes to the barrels. This degree of careful selection is what accounts for it's high cost, and you certainly get a sense of the winemakers love for this grape in this wine. Complex and well balanced with buttered toast and processed lemon (and level after level of citrus) this is a Chardonnay that I felt terrible about drinking now, as it would age perfectly for a year or three. This is a bottle I'd buy and keep for the 2010 World Cup - you won't be disappointed.

The red wines consisted of a Cab Sauv (as all others were sold out or not for tasting). At R75 a bottle, the Danie De Wet Naissance is quite a well-rounded little package with cedar, cloves and a slight herbaceous note adding another dimension to a whole range of berry flavours including black currant, mulberry, blueberry and plum. We finished off with delicious Muscadel (R47 for 750ml) with saltanas, dried fruit and processed orange on the nose, it glided down easily and was on the border of sweetness without getting cloying - a wine to be enjoyed with a spongy, fruity sweet cake.

Unfortunately I've been suffering quite terribly with bouts of colds, allergies and headaches recently which has caused me to slow down on wine-tasting and on writing about wine-tasting. Hopefully I'll be able to write about my next farm before the end of today.

Until then,
Val.

Bon Courage

Now that I've got this blog thing going, it's time to test out if it works. I'm hoping it will automatically update like it's supposed to.

I realised I accidently left out a farm I visited on Thursday. Initially we had skipped the farm because it was packed to the brim with tourists (the same tourists who followed us through to Viljoensdrift). On our return, we stopped in, and although we were there a short while before they closed up, we did manage to taste a fair amount of wines here. We started off with some bubbly, the Brut Reserve (R80). Although it was mostly Pinot Noir, it still had a good helping of Chardonnay in the traditional Burgundy fashion. The MCC smelt like freshly made bread dough and the Chardonnay really dominated in the taste, with butterscotch and a bit of lemon zest. The Chardonnay Prestige Cuvee (R45) was well-balanced between fruit and wood, with buttered toast, brazil nuts and a bit of zesty lemon.

From the whites to the reds, we started with the Inkara Shiraz (R85), which was one of the few shiraz's in this region made in the style I enjoy. It was filled with mocha, black pepper and roasted meat smells. The Inkara Cab Sauv (R80) was ready to drink, but could do well with a few years of aging as well. With light red berries, black currant, cedar and cigar box smells it was an affordable and delightful red wine. I finished off with the Port, which was very fruity with prunes, raisons and saltanas. At R28 a bottle, it was great value for money if you are looking for a port to go with some fruit cake during an evening social meeting.

Well, that's all for today. I'm still busy with that Friday's wine tasting notes, and I still have the farms near Rawsonville, as well as my recent trip back to Stellies to write about. Hopefully I'll get something out tomorrow.

Signing off,

Val.

Wine in Wellington

Hey,

Well, here's a run-down of my wine tasting yesterday, when I decided to go to Wellington. It was one of the hottest days I've ever gone wine-tasting, I'm sure it reached 33/34 degrees. My car certainly didn't enjoy sitting outside in the sun.

After accidentily driving past Veenwouden which was supposed to be my first stop, I went to Wamakersvallei. While they had a tasting room here, the wine was poured for me and I was left to my own devices. Because I had gotten there so early on a Monday morning, all the bottles were freshly opened for me, and the whites were still a bit warm (which they apologized for). I started with a very fruity Brut Sparkling, which was interesting and easy-drinking. After the Sauv and Chenin, I tried their Viognier (unwooded) which had a fresh bacon strips kind of nose to it (interesting in a white), and I picked up light berries on the palate, a good wine for picnics, finger foods, or a light meal. I tasted their 33 degrees South Rose, a cheap Four Cousins type wine, very easy drinking and great for people who aren't into wine. Their La Cave Merlot was probably the most serious of their wines, it was full-bodied, earthy, had a bit of a mintiness and other green smells, but coffee/mocha on the palate. Finally, the Port and Jeripigo they have were both very cheap and easily accessible for most people. Both you could easily drink every day as a night-cap.

The next stop was Diemerfontein, where their marketing genius has made their pinotage a household name for all wine drinkers. They also had an extensive list like the last farm (over 10 wines), so I'll remark only on a handful of them. I enjoyed the wooded Chenin they have there, even though at tasting, it was one of the least impressive wooded Chenins I've tasted. The wood and varietal characteristics weren't integrated at all, and it definitely needs some bottle age to become a yummy, tasty wine. They have a second range here, called the Carpe Diem, which is their more everyday wines - usually the second/third fill barrels etc. Their Carpe Diem Shiraz was very nice, with dark berry overtones and a kind of smoked ham (maybe venison) smell - I couldn't quite place it. Their Carpe Diem Pinotage is the one everyone loves, but the coffee smells and tastes were so overpowering that I found it to be a novelty wine, but not much else. Then again, with all the hype about it, I was expecting it to be the wine that Jesus made from water. I actually prefered their normal Diemersfontein Pinotage, which came across as a more serious complex wine. Finally the last one I'll comment on is the Summer's Lease, which is a Shiraz-driven blend, and I enjoyed it because it was such a balanced wine, with a really excellent integrated nose that made me struggle to place the smells. I was very grateful for the tasting notes, which helped me pick up the caramel and cinnamon smells that I was struggling to place, but were prominently there.

After Diemersfontein, I got quite hopelessly lost a few times in Wellington, and when I finally found the farm I was looking for, they were closed, and only opened up for appointments.

Another half-an-hour of getting lost, I finally found my way to the next farm along a long dirt-road - Nabygelegen, which I thought should be named Nabyniks because it really was in the middle of nowhere (although not as bad as the next farm.) Their Sauv Blanc had a very green Granny-smith peels nose and taste to it, without having the usual-accompanying grassy tones, which actually made it enjoyable. They had a lightly-wooded Chenin (which was already sold out and the next one will be out in 2 weeks) and a white blend, which was nothing special. They had two red blends. The Scaramanga, which initially had a bit of a rustiness to it, but it is a complex wine that needs to be laid down for a while, and the price was very reasonable. The 1712 is their flagship wine, and was very complex and layered - could lie down for a good few years, and become a very regal, powerful, smooth, and integrated wine - one to keep for the cellars. The final wine I had here was their natural sweet, which was still unlabelled. Made from 100% Harslevelu it certainly made an interesting sweet wine that had characteristics that go beyond your normal sweet (although the fresh apricot tone was still strongly present). It had a fruitiness to it that I struggled to pin down. I really should not have had that bit of chocolate mousse cake the day before, as it really hurt my taste and nose-buds.

The final farm of the day was Doolhof - A farm that was off-my-list and recommended to me. My car was really becoming unhappy with all the dirt roads (especially since the oil dried up - a problem I sorted out at the first petrol station). I went to the tasting room and buzzed the main house, where I was greeted by a very sleepy and bored voice. I took the few moments to take a few pictures of the area outside. Their wines were all very fruity, and where they were treated with some wood, they all had very little wood. They had a wooded and unwooded Chardonnay - which would've been great to show someone, who knew little about wines, the big difference that the barrel makes on a wine. I enjoyed their wooded Chardonnay - again, a good example of a textbook Chardonnay with butterscotchy, toasty goodness that doesn't overpower the citrus fruity characters of the wine. Their merlot was also fantastically fruity and was filled with all kinds of berries, light and dark, ranging from raspberries and cherries to a dark, juicy plum and black-currant nose. Not my style of merlot, but excellent if you enjoy a fruitier red wine. The last single varietal wine I'll comment on here is the Cab Sauv which I also found to be a great, chewy, full-mouth wine that glided down so easily. The one thing that really impressed me with the red wines at this farm was their colour and intensity. Almost all of them were pitch-black at their core, and with lovely auras of purples, magentas, rusty bronze or a rich ruby colour. I loved the colour of every single one of these wines. They had 3 blends, the Cape Roan, the Cape Boar, and the Renaissance, which were all great value-for-money red blends, that I would buy and enjoy if I was a bit strapped for cash and wanted a red wine blend that I could enjoy now.

Well, that was my trip.

Val.

Sipping Shirazs in Swartland is Sweeeeet

Welcome back to another round of.... Wine Tasting Notes. And here's your host... [drum roll]... Val!

Yesterday I went out to the Swartland, and I fell even more in love with their Shiraz wines. It's 100% amazing. I managed to visit 5 farms around Malmesbury and another 2 around Darling - 7 farms in 1 day. Really impressive since I wasn't travelling on my own, but with your mom as well. So, here's the route we took.

We started off at the Swartland Wine Cellar, after getting lost a few times. The Platter map is completely useless for that area. While I didn't taste their whole range (since we've visited the farm before) I did taste the whole Indalo range, 2 of their reserve range and a few others. This is a place with a huge wine list and free tastings, which is perfect with students on a tight budget, or for taking people with different tastes (there's bound to be something for everyone to enjoy). Their wines are also very affordable, making it good value-for-money wines that are a good few steps above plonk. Of the whites, as you know I'm not a big fan of strapping, fresh whites, of which there were plenty, and many of them were young wines making matters worse. They did, however, have a wooded Chenin, which, like most wooded chenins, I enjoyed, and I'd put it up with the Eikendal wooded chenin for an affordable everyday drinking white. Of the Indalo range the Pinotage stood out for me, and had a whiff of banana, which I'm quickly learning to pick up, but the Shiraz and Cab Sauv also were delicious. Their reserve Shiraz/Cabernet also stood out, and was a lovely blend and quite a complex nose and palate for such a low cost wine (only R35 a bottle). While you might not find the most superb wines you've ever tasted here, you'd easily be able to buy 2 bottles of these wines for the price of 1 bottle of good wine somewhere else, and the difference of quality would be very small. They also have 2 ports and 3 sweet wines available, and the ports were very tasty, again, great value for money.

After getting lost again, missing a few turn-offs, and generally wondering around like headless chickens, we managed to find our way to Lammershoek. And to make things so much better, along the dirt road inside the farm there is a fork in the road with a sign pointing to the tasting room on the right, and just behind it another sign saying Private Road (which translates to "If we catch you here we will shoot your ass full of holes" in my mind). Strike one. Then as we were going along the dirt road there was a big, fat-ass truck in the way, and it took a couple of minutes to move out of the way. Strike two. When we finally did get to the tasting room, it was empty, and the office next door was empty to. I went back to the car to grab the platter and a handy travel companion, both of which said they should be open, I took the phone number listed there and went back to the office door to give it a ring, and, as I predicted, the phone inside the office rang. After taking a quick look through the open cellar door on the left, and another look at the house on the right, we decided to leave... strike three, you're out...

Fortunately, as we were on our way out we were spotted and stopped, and called back in to the tasting room. Here we were hosted by the owner's daughter and we were very happy that we didn't rush off at the first sign of a closed tasting room. Their motto is "ergo bibamus vinum", which I think loosely translates to "Sorry we were late, therefore let us drink wine so we can forget about it." Their wines were excellent for such a young farm (although their vines had been growing for much longer). Of their whites they had a chenin blanc, which was oh-so-lightly wooded, which was great to just get that edge off of the fruitiness. They had their Roulette Blanc white blend (too many grapes to mention) which had a lovely toastiness which I really enjoyed (and I'm sure you would too). I was particularly impressed with their Aprilskloof (second label) Tinta Barocco, which was very affordable and a great wine to cook with, or to have with pasta, or any tomato-based food. The final note-worthy wine to taste was the Syrah. I could taste the potential greatness as it was a stunning Shiraz with some racy spiciness on the palate. Surprisingly, this farm also had a Zinfindel Sweet in its history (although it was a fortified, not a natural sweet), and I would've loved to taste it.

From there we went to the greatest place to find olives and olive products (well, at least for a wine farm) - Kloovenburg. They had a new olive product - olives that are barrel-fermented in Shiraz, which were absolutely amazing olives. As for their wines, their wooded Chardonnay was sold out, so no tasting of that (although I'm really glad to have a bottle of it in my collection). Their merlot was still as fruity as I remember it. Their Cab Sauv had a nose that reminded me of freshly-polished dark thick wooden furniture, and it is really excellent wine, despite what Platter may say about it. Their Shiraz 2006 has aged very well in the bottle, with fresh meaty smells, cloves and even a bit of light berrys. Their older 2004 Shiraz made me think of soft ostrich biltong (the actual meat not the spices, although there was hints of the spices). I took a bottle of the Cab Sauv without blinking, as I really enjoyed opening up the last bottle I had bought from them. This one I think I'll lie down for longer though.

Next up was Allesverloren and some of the best port in the country. The Touriga Nacional was filled with Raisons and Blackcurrant on the nose and on the palate - a very serious heavy wine, which was excellent offset with the next wine we tasted, the Tinta Barocca, which was a much smoother, elegant wine and very feminine. Allesverloren has another excellent example of a Swartland Shiraz, with dried mushrooms on the nose, and cloves and black peppers on the palate. Remarkable. I was astounded by their port, and after having tasted a lot more port I really could appreciate their port a lot more this time round as the balance between fruitiness and nuttiness was near-perfect. The history, beauty and uniqueness of the farm makes this cellar truly unique - a true must-visit place.

We were recommended to go a little futher into Riebeek-Kasteel and visit Pulpit Rock, which was off our plan, but, as you know I do like adventure, so we gave it a visit. The beauty of the architecture of the building was breath-taking, and I took some fantastic pictures of the building and surrounding area. The location is perfect for taking a few friends, and having a nice relaxing time in the shade on a hot summers day sipping on a glass of wine, and their wines reflect well for that purpose, with most of them being easy-drinking wines that are ready to drink now. The reds haven't seen that much barrel, so these are not wines to be laid down, except for their Premium wine range which had a few interesting wines. Their merlot had a nose of Eucalyptus, and (what I was told) bluegum trees. The attendee there said it was because the farm grew bluegum trees there for many years before the vines were planted and this had an effect on the wines. I don't buy it for a second, but I smiled and nodded at the time. Regardless, I would definitely think that it did made some difference to the wines as they definitely had a twang to them that I could only pin on the soil (as that dried green, almost minty/fynbos scent was in a few of their reds). The premium shiraz was good, but nothing fantastic as was the cab sauv. Not a place to go to for great wines, but a lovely place to chill out with friends in.

After a significantly long drive we made our way to Darling Cellars. The host here was very bubbly and friendly, with a good insight and feel for wines. They use bush vines on their farm, and I must admit that it gives their whites a bit of an enjoyable spiciness (white pepper), and some intriguing smells and tastes. At this point I was rushing a bit through the wines as I really wanted to get to the next farm before it got too late, which was a pity, as the wines here were very different, and I know I could spend hours trying to pick up the smells and tastes in the wine. This was another farm with very affordable prices for good wines. Their Sauv Blanc was a very typical green apple, fresh-cut grass strapping sauv that I love to hate, with a delightful streak of minerality that changed my opinion to "oh no, another crisp sauv" to "that's an interesting angle on a typical sauv". They had a very unique cinsaut/cab sauv blend, where I picked up caramel and turkish delight on the nose and palate. They had a good merlot, and a great Shiraz with those typical attractive fresh meat (on the side of pork) and black pepper sensations. The Cab Sauv here was also a very delicate, feminine red wine, with lots of fresh forest smells and dark berry, rooibos tea tastes.

Once we were finished we rushed off to Cloof, as we were already past their closing time at 4. We were very warmly greated by Suretha, who was such a vibrant and enthusiatic attendee, who knew alot about the ins and outs of the industry as well. They had a huge range, and we left well after 6 - which shows how much fun and enjoyment we had there. This place screams New World in their outlook and they really try to push the limits with wine, with some interesting blends, like the Cabernet/Pinotage/Shiraz blend, which was actually quite amazing for such a strange combination - not really my taste, but to get something palatable was superb in it's own right. But, I jump ahead of myself, in the whites I tasted an interesting unwooded Chardonnay which I liked, and that's pretty unusual in my books. Although I thought it was the first unwooded Chardonnay for me to enjoy, after looking through my cellar wines, I notice that I do have another one there. They had two unwooded Chardonnay's here, and I did prefer the younger of the two, but the bottle age seems to have imparted some very pleasing characteristics to the wine, including a very prominent almond taste to it (one that still has that brown skin on it), which almost bordered on the very-similar hazel-nut taste. This sort of nuttiness was also prominently evident in the Pinotage (along with a very green banana peel nose). The pinotage did have a bit of a shiraz character, which is why I thought the blends came out so well. They had some interesting blends, including a Merlot/Cab Franc blend, which reeked of fresh coffee, but was really delightful on the palate, the merlot fruitiness and the Cab Franc depth and seriousness making an excellent combination. The red blend called the 'Inkspot Vin Noir' was a combination of wooded and unwooded reds, and the Shiraz component (which was the wooded part) only consisted of a very small percentage, but man-o-man did it dominate the palate and nose with all the spicy, meaty goodness of a shiraz. Another of their blends - The Dark Side, is a blend of Cab and Shiraz. This time the cab character dominated as all the woodland smells and tastes took over, with tobacco, cigar box, cedar and dark berries making a strong showing. I left their 'The Very Sexy Shiraz' for a final mention of the reds, and again, I was in love with the Shiraz of this area. Really, it is tough to find shiraz of this quality in any other region. The final wine of this email is their chenin blanc sweet wine, which was not my style of a sweet wine at all, as the honey on the nose really over-powered many of the other favourable chenin sweet wine notes that I do so love (where is that lovely chenin fruitiness?). Needless to say, we left with very satisfied smiles on our faces.

Well, I hope you are looking forward to my next long-winded email, as my next planned trip is to Strand/Somerset West on Saturday, where I hope to taste some excellent port, and a whole bunch of great wines. It'll be a short trip this time, as I have an engagement party to be at, which starts promptly at 5. Only a few farms to visit, but a very long list of very good wines in a couple of them.

Chat soon,
Val.

Stunned at Stellenbosch Berg

And now... back to the game...

The final two farms I visited on Wednesday was Kleine Zalze and Blaauwklippen in the Stellenbosch Berg area. I visited these because I finished my original wine route early and didn't want to waste a second of time that could be spent wine tasting.

Kleine Zalze has a beautiful entrance and restaurant alongside it's unique and interesting tasting room - perfect for taking a group of good friends (or even family) sitting back with a few bottles of wine, chatting and relaxing your day away. This also happens to be the only farm I've every found a straight varietal Gamay Noir. It has a long list of wines, good, friendly service and very well-priced wine - an almost-perfect place to take your student-friends. I tasted both of the Sauv Blancs, the first was filled with fresh granny smith apples, whereas the Family Reserve was more complex with hints of fig leaf and green pepper - great for summer, especially if you enjoy a dry, crisp white wine. The Bush Vine Chenin Blanc which gave me the image of women in a full-bodied swimming costumes, wearing over-sized sunglasses and a wide-brim hat on a lounge-chair by the pool sipping on a glass. It had delicious notes of citrus and pine-apple. The wooded chenin is a perfect every-day drinking wine for summer time which still retained its pineapple nose, but had added flavours of paw-paw, with that slight hint of toastiness and a lovely deep straw colour that immediately gives it away that it's wooded. This wine is really my style of white wines that I do so love. They also have both an unwooded and wooded Chardonnay. The unwooded Chardonnay was quite interesting with gooseberry, peach skin, honey and a sharp note of lanolin. The wooded version had an added note of butterscotch (which was fantastic) and an almond finish that lingered on the palate. From there, I went onto the Gamay Noir Rose filled with ripe cherries, strawberries and raspberries, a great picnic wine at a great price. The Gamay Noir straight varietal retained the fruitness of the Rose with some added notes of mushrooms, a slight gamminess (like meat when it gets a bit clammy).

In the reds, I really enjoyed the Merlot here as well, with milk chocolate and dark cherries jumping up the glass - definitely my style of Merlot, and just what I look for when I want an easy-drinking smooth red wine. The Celler Pinotage smelled strongly of fresh banana with a spicy score of black pepper and cloves - an interesting pinotage and well worth the price tag. The Cab Sauv was a fruity version of what Cabs can offer with all the red berries really coming out in the wine - I'd love to taste a blend of this with the Merlot, as I think the softness of this Cab will make an extraordinary addition. The final wine I had here was another odd shiraz (the Family Reserve Shiraz) which had peculiar notes of Turkish Delight and Strawberries, but the palate had the added blackberries with vanilla and white pepper - very enjoyable. Another thing to remember is that this farm closes at 6, which is about an hour after everyone else closes down (I should've made it my last stop).

The final farm I visited on Wednesday was Blaauklippen. For the second time I arrived within minutes of their closing time, but they were nice enough to let me taste a handful of their wines. I began with the White Zinfandel (which is a new wine style for them, if I'm not mistaken) which was filled with peach, apricot and lemon grass, really delicious and quite different and a great rose-style wine. The next wine I had was the Zinfandel, in which I picked up lots of dried fruits - raisons, prunes, and a dark fruit cake (almost coffee/chocolate/treacle to it). I honestly think Zinfandel is the good American varietal, and I've enjoyed them every time I've tasted them. The Cabriolet is the blend I tried out here which is mostly Cab Franc and Cab Sauv with tiny amounts of Malbec and Merlot. I picked up tobacco and black currant predominently, and a bit of a methonal (maybe eucalyptus, lavender or mint) to it. I will definitely revisit this farm in one of my trips and get the full list of tasting. I really wish I made it at the right time last year (between October and November) when they had a sweet Zinfandel on offer, a style which is not likely to be repeated in the near future (from what I was told). Pity, because with all the scents and flavours I picked up from the Zinfandel, it would've made an excellent sweet wine or even port. A great range of wines here as well, and just across the road from Kleine Zalze makes this another great spot to go wine tasting, plus they have an interesting smell display set up for you to compare certain smells with certain wines - perfect for the novice wine taster (hey, I found it interesting as well).

Well, I feel releaved after writing about Wednesday's tasting. Now I need to get through the 6 farms I went to yesterday, and tomorrow will be another whole new set of farms to go to. Busy, busy, busy...

Val.