Bottle me up in Bottelary Hills

Heya

After my local garage was nice enough to fix my garage for free, I managed to get back on the road for some more wine tasting. This time I went to 6 farms in the Greater Simonsberg and Bottelary Hills - which made for a great time on Friday.

The first farm I went to was Villiera (which kind of sounds like some sort of disease involving mosquitos). With a large selection of famous bubblies, whites, reds, sweets and ports and even some wines from the South of France, this farm is a must visit - especially if you are on a student's budget. They have three brut MCCs - all of which had deliciously yeasty nose and a smell like the crust of a freshly baked bread. Their Flagship MCC - the Monro Brut was exceptionally lively and vivacious (my word of the day) and, best of all, very affordable. The final MCC I tasted was the Brut Rose, which was filled with light berries, which reminded me mostly of freshly picked cherries and raspberries. Extremely good value-for-money bubblies.

Although the farm is known for it's bubblies, the rest of their range is every bit as good. The bush-vine sauv blanc was filled with green peppers and was surprisingly not so strapping and brash, despite it's youth and intensity of colour. The chenin blanc was a typical sweet-melon type of chenin, but they also had a toasty-good wooded chenin (The Cellardoor) at incredible value and taste - not the best I've had, but definitely good to open up for a good meal looking for a bit of romantic charm (if I recall correctly they said a curry, although I was more thinking chicken, especially in a white-sauce pasta). I had the pleasure of trying one of their french wines - a blend of Maccabeu and Viognier, which had an excellent blend of minerality and fruitiness - really perfectly blended to the last %. The next two red blends I had were also french in origin. The L'Aqueduc - a name taken from a nearby aqueduct to their farm in France, was a blend of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah, filled with dark cherries, black currant, and other dark, lush berries with juices bursting at the seams. Along with the Galamus (named after the nearby valley and monastery), these wines were incredibly smooth and elegant reds, ready to glide down like a sheet of the finest Chinese silk. Of the local reds, I fancied their Merlot, which was fruity, filled with ripe plums and cherries and it gave a great full mouth feel, perfect balance between fruit and acidity. My final note on this farm will be on the sweet wines, which included a pair of very different Noble Late Harvest - the Cellar Door (Rhine Riesling) which I expected immense honey tones, but found a surprising amount of fruitiness especially fresh apricots and saltanas with a minimal hint of honey. The Inspiration NLH, on the other hand (you have different fingers), was made from Chenin Blanc, and was aptly labeled with a bee, as it reeked of honey and was awfully sweet - I think it was still to early in the morning for that. Their port - named Fired Earth, was enjoyable, but not really noteworthy - a good standard balanced port, not too fruity, not too nutty, but tasted a bit of rotting raisons and prunes (sounds delicious, doesn't it?)

Moving on - to Koelenhof, where they also showcase some Ernst & Co wines. I visited this farm because of it's port. Although Platter seems to dislike it, I haven't found a port at this price that goes so well with cheeses of all kinds. I was told that the previous year's one was much nuttier than the latest release, the Pino Porto had a great nose and taste of raisons and nuts (more a kind of shelled nut, like walnut). I'm jumping ahead of myself again. They also have bubbly here, although not made in the traditional method, they have a Vin-Sec Sauv Blanc (which was exactly what you'd expect - sauv blanc with bubbles), and a Vin-Sec Pinotage Rose sparkling, which was better than I expected, with hints of freshly cleaned and cut strawberries. The semi-sweet Koelnektar (a gewurz) was an easy-drinking very affordable white wine - perfect for those summer days stretched out on the lawn with a big hat you've convinced yourself looks good on you. In the reds, I tasted the Ernst & Co merlot which was a textbook merlot - plum, coffee, milk chocolate. The only other one I'll mention from this farm is the Sangiovese (cos you don't see much of it around), which was filled with fresh leathery smells (like I just got into a recently cleaned luxory car) - interesting, but not really my taste in wine.

Next on my list was Hoopenburg - which got a recommendation from the first farm. When I arrived here, I realised I left my notebook behind in the last farm - cos I was too focused on taking the port with me and thinking of all the chevins, bree, camemburts (I hope I spelt those right) and other delicious blue cheeses I'd eat with the port. SOOOO I rushed back to fetch my book, and forgot to fetch my pen as well. At least Hoopenburg was so nice that they gave me a pen (which was exactly like the one I lost). So if you are looking to get some free pens - here's the place to go. They have an unwooded Chardonnay, but I was far more interested in their Integer wooded Chardonnay - which boasts a gold award from the 2007 IWC (no, not idiotic wine contest - it's the International Wine Challenge) in London last year. While I usually don't place too much stock in competitions of this kind, I must admit that the wine-maker did get this Chardonnay just right - although I'd put this into the textbook Chardonnay category - it'd be in the textbook on how to get wooded Chardonnay to be phenomenal - all those lovely wood characteristics of butterscotch and cookie-dough (on the nose), with a great citrus (pineapple and lime) tone. It has perfect acidity (which I believe was all-natural) and so it'll not only age exceptionally in my books, but will leave a long lingering taste in your mouth reminding you of the great wine you just finished. The tremendous chardonnay aside, this farm also has a light, fruity Pinot Noir at a very affordable price - especially for Pinot - a great elegant and charming wine if you want to drink a little something special on a relaxed afternoon (after a good massage). The Cab Sauv followed suit and was a medium-bodied red filled with dark berry-jammy goodness, with a bit of fynbos - reminding me of tea-time with black rooibos tea and jam-filled scones. My last wine here was a sweet Sauvignon-Blanc (first sparkling, now sweet, next they'll be making port from this!). This had an odd extra-toasted on the verge of glue nose to it, which was labeled as 'minerality'. A late harvest wine that would go fantastically with some of those brees at Anura, or any other light, sweet cheese with a bit of backbone.

The final farm in the Greater Simonsberg was De Meye (another recommended farm). I came at a bad time of year, however, as they had two sold out wines. They had a delightful family-owned farm feel to their tasting room, cob-webs and all. Unfortunately, I wasn't really impressed with their wines. There was nothing wrong with them technically, but there was nothing really special about them either. Decent value-for-money wines. The only exception (to me) was the Shiraz, which had a rich mushroom nose, with a perfectly layered pepperiness (black pepper and cloves) and fruitness (dark cherries, plums and especially freshly picked black berries). A real shame that the two sold out wines was a Shiraz Rose and a Cab Sauv/Shiraz blend, as I'd expect them to be fabulous.

Onto a farm that has become synonymous with Pinotage - Beyerskloof. They have a new tasting room, so expect a much more modernised and trendy experience here (I mean, all the kids are doing it these days!). The Pinotage Sparkling Brut Rose had lovely tones of strawberries, as did the Pinotage Rose, which was a well-balanced rose, not too light, fruity and playful, but not too serious and overpowering as a Pinotage can be. Their regular range of Pinotages are interesting, but have nothing on their reserve range (which nearly made me cry when I saw that their 2003 Reserve Pinotage is going for nearly R250). Their 2006 is readily available, and promises to be superb given a nap (lasting a few years), as it's filled with rich berries (those blue & black berries again) with a jammy quality to it, and milk chocolate - can't wait to open a bottle of this on my 30th. The Synergy Cape-blend had more of a light berry palate with a dose of white pepper (which I'm starting to pick out quite well, if the tasting notes are anything to go by). I would love to have someone else nose this wine, as I picked up an odd smell in it (Head-ache tablet) - it was quite weird. The field blend was also a remarkable wine, but unfortunately, after all the pinotage, my taste buds weren't as sharp, and their were no crackers to neutralise my palate with :( This is the wine I'm leaving behind for next time - and I'll look forward too it, as it is a complex wine worthy of contemplation and deep thought.

No time to rest for the tongue-weary, as my last stop was Louiesenhof. A very small, natural farm, with absolutely beautiful surroundings - it's a real shame that the tasting counter is so small and cramped and the attendee seemed more pre-occupied with moving boxes around than having a dialogue. Still, this was the only the 2nd farm I've been to that has Pinot Grigio, and one of the small handful that make a straight Tinta Barroca (although they haven't produced it as a straight varietal in a while). I could see why Pinot Grigio (as a varietal) is breaking some ground overseas, as this was a light, fruity white with notes of peach and litchi. Mmmm good. The Rouge is a red blend driven mostly by Tinta Barroca with a dab of merlot for extra fruit. This gave off wads of prunes and fruit cake, and made the port look very promising, especially since it was made in a cognac style. Needless to say, the port was terrific with all that fruit cake and prunes, but also filled with dark, shelled nuts. I wanted to take this home and have it with some bol de mel (literally translated into honey cake - a traditional christmas cake in Madeira made with treacle, walnuts, prunes and honey). I can see why this kind of cake became so popular their as it goes beautifully with a good port. They also have a very reasonably priced 16-yr potstill brandy (only R250), which utterly killed my taste-buds, so it was a good thing I ended here. Sadly, this farm doesn't always have all its various wines available for tasting, so you have to play lucky packet and hope you get a good set on the day. Still, the lady did hand me a great big wad of free tasting comps and this place does look like it would be great to visit when it is busier, or as a birthday/engagement party function, when they use their full tasting room, have their chef's in and all their wines open.

Well, that's all I have for you today, although I should be writing another (much smaller) email on Monday as I will be wine-tasting tomorrow with family. Until then, visit a farm and have some fun!

Val.