Here in Helshoogte

Hi everyone,

Due to some bad planning on my behalf, I ended up going to this area only on Wednesday. I've already booked accomodation and organised transport to go wine tasting in Robertson for almost the whole of next week, so it's gonna be a while before I get a chance to write an exceptionally long email about all the farms there. I'm considering taking a second book, just so that I can write down some of the details to help me remember - but I'm sure enough pics will help my memory out too.

On todays list of farms, I managed to only visit 6 farms (disappointing I know :) and I ended earlier than usual. The first farm I visited was Rustenberg. Perhaps a farm more well known for its cows than its grapes, it is a very picturesque farm to visit with a very interesting shiny tasting room. Unfortunately the tasting room did have a smell of musty,moldy cardboard, which is a definite fashion no-no (since that's the typical smell of a corked wine). As for the wines... well, you'll just have to taste them for yourself... Oh, ok, I'll guess I'll tell you about them (geez, you didn't have to keep nagging me about it).

From the Brampton range, I started off with the Sauv Blanc (R38), with loads of freshly cut grass, greenpepper and gooseberry, this Sauv has a good high acidity, giving it a clean, clear finish. I must admit, fans of Sauv Blanc are certainly not at a loss for finding good Sauv Blanc these days. Unfortunately they didn't have any chenin for tasting, so I moved onto the unwooded Chard. Again, a high acidity leading to a crisp finish, I got a very different experience from this wine than the tasting notes (which suggest pears, peachs, melon and ginger). I instead got much more citrus - peach was a given, but lemons, pineapple and nartjie was apparant to me. Then again, after my next wine (the Viognier) I began to wonder if my nose was up to scratch today. A deliciously wooded Viognier (R48) the first smell I picked up was, strangely enough, mushroom - which is certainly not a white wine smell, but is a smell I pick up extremely well (as I cook a lot with mushrooms). That aside it had floral-perfumed smells, as is typical of Viognier, with some added peachs, white pepper, and a hint of orange peel - very much a showcase wine to open up and enjoy with people who are fans of wooded whites (like me). Changing over to pink wine, the Rose (R30) is made from a huge range of reds (5 different reds), and for some strange reason, with all this variety in, well, varietals, they still decided to stick with strawberries, cherries and rose petals... it's like an eskimo who has won the home make-over award, and can have a house built from anything he wants, but still chooses packed snow... Ok, it was a little more complex than that, I did pick up a hint of instant coffee as well, and there certainly was more there for the finding.

I started off the reds with the OVR - old vines red - blend of Cab Sauv, Shiraz and Merlot (with the equivalent of a single drop of Cab Franc and Petit Verdot in each glass). I'm glad I relied on my own senses here, because it appears the attendee gave me the completely wrong info on the blend of this wine. I picked up on the fresh shoe leather (especially on the aftertaste, which was quite off-putting), and the filter coffee, with a backbone of blue and rasp-berry. Next was the meaty Merlot (R38), which would make a good table wine for a function - with a range of berries, from the very light, sweet and fruity cranberry, to black berries and dark cherries, as well as fynbos and a hint of milk chocolate, this merlot really runs the gambit and seems to be a little wild and unfocused. The Cab Sauv (R48) had a little bit of merlot and cab franc in it, and it is a great value-for-money Cab, with black currant, vanilla, mocha, milk chocolate, mulberries and other dark berries - definitely worth buying a bottle, opening and drinking now (it'll surprise you to find wine of this quality for such a low price). Next up came the John X Merrimen (R115) blend - which is a wine that should go straight into the cellar. Needless to say, it's got superb potential - with all five bourdeaux varietals! Expect dark berries, black currant, mocha, pencil shavings, cigar box, and cherry tobacco. Keep it safe for at least five years, and you'll be in for a treat. And to end things off with a bang, I had their traditional port - with Tinta Barocca, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacionale. Fruit cake, dried prunes and raisons, but still a delightful bite of walnuts/pecan nuts and incredibly velvety.

From there, I moved to the tasting room at Delaire. High up on the hills, and with a commanding view of the area, this is a beautiful farm to visit - take a picnic basket or buy a cheese platter there and enjoy the outdoor sunshine on the lawn or on a bench, while enjoying a wine or two. It appears that there is a new tasting room under construction here, which, in my opinion, may be a shame, as the farm very much reminds me of a quaint little lodge, kind of like a chalot. The new tasting room is probably going to follow the example of the nearby farms and transform into a shiny new modernised tasting room. Of the 5 wines I had there, I started with the Sauv Blanc (R59), which was filled with apples, clean, canned peas, and a hint of gooseberry and green pepper. The unwooded Chardonnay had golden delicious apple (maybe pear) peach, nartjie, granadilla and a hint of grapefruit. The wooded version (R69) was another yummy example of what I like in a Chard. Not as overpowering as the Durbanville Hills Rhinofields I commented on the other day, it had some very similar characteristics - butterscotch, a hint of vanilla, macadamian & brazil nut, lemon and grapefruit - another wine that a fan of a wooded white would love. The first red on my list was a merlot (R39), which is definitely closer to my style of merlot (except for a little too much tannin) - filter coffee, dark chocolate, spearmint, fynbos, dark plum and dark berries - a good use of wood - and ridiculously cheap. The final wine was the red blend called "Driven by Cab". Mostly Cab Sauv, but with some merlot and cab franc giving it a bit of complexity, this wine has a range of smells and flavours, including saddle leather, pencil shavings, cedar, black currant, mulberry, and a hint of mocha and spearmint. All in all, a marvellous farm to visit with some very affordable wines.

From Delaire you could see my next stop, Tokara. With a huge range and free tastings (for everything except the brandy), this is a great spot for students to go to (or people on a tight budget). It is a beautifully modern tasting room (it's so shiny), and they also have olives and olive oil for tasting as well as making dark chocolate, and various bits of art for display - definitely the kind of place I can imagine taking corporate business people to. They have 3 Sauvignon Blancs - the Zondernaam, the Walker Bay, and the Elgin. The Zondernaam is their second label and their everyday drinking range. The Zondernaam isn't as full or crisp as the other two, and the Walker Bay had to be the one which I prefered - with canned peas, fresh-cut grass, asparagus and a pleasing clean, crisp mineral finish (which is a crisp finish I can enjoy). I enjoyed the ZN Chenin (R50), which is slightly wooded, and has a hint of fennel/aniseed, as well as stoned fruit (peach/apricot) and buttered toast, not the best value for money wooded Chenin I've found, but still worthwhile. The Tokara White is a blend of Sauv with some wooded Semillon - an expensive wine at R125, but I can't fault it on quality - tinned peas, minerality, slight vanilla, and some golden fruit flavours like gooseberry, pineapple and granadilla. Well worth tasting. The 2 Chardonnays were very different in style - the ZN was very fruity with peach, pineapple and lemon grass, wheras the Tokara was a fuller-bodied Chardonnay with buttered toast, butterscotch and a citrus, lemon zest to it. The ZN Shiraz was very fruity with light red berries and black currant, but also a hint of fresh meat. The ZN Cab Sauv (R62) had a whole range of woodland smells, tobacco, cigar box, cedar, dried pine needles, but also some superb fruitiness with black currant and blue berries, well worth buying a bottle to open and enjoy on a cool winter's evening. The Tokara Red 2003 is a bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cab Sauv and Petit Verdot - remarkably complex (and expensive) with rich intense red berries (maybe that's why it's expensive), mocha, dark chocolate, and fresh woodland smells. A bottle to be laid down for a few years, then opened up and drunk with an expensive meal. By the way, did I mention it was expensive... well, in case I didn't, it's expensive (R150). They have the Tokara Red 2004 available for tasting as well, which is also a bordeaux blend, but this time it's based on Cab Sauv, with Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cab Franc giving it a whole lot of support. Personally I prefered the 2003, since this was even more expensive (I did mention the last one was expensive, didn't I?) at R180, this one struggled to get away from it's Cab Sauv inheritance - with cedar, mocha, black currant and dark berries as part of its legacy. The final thing I tasted there was the 5 year potstill brandy (R300). As I'm utterly useless when it comes to smelling and tasting brandy, I'll give you a rundown of what they say you'll find in the brandy - which is incredibly complex - dried fig, peach, raison, pot-pourri, saffron, spicy pepper, vanilla, jasmine and orange blossom. I'll fully admit that this is only the second brandy I've come across that I could actually imagine buying (looking at it in hindsight) as it had a perfect, smooth and lingering aftertaste and I could pick up an strong, unmistakeable flavour of oranges. Hopefully, after my trip to Robertson, I'll not only be able to appreciate brandies more than I do now, but I'll also find more that I do enjoy.

Just up the road was my find of the day, Thelema. The reason why is because they had the most unique wines of the day (while still being very enjoyable, unlike the uniqueness of Zorgvliet, which I'll mention later). The tasting room is also a modern looking tasting room, with a great balcony area, perfect for taking a group of friends for a relaxing afternoon, and a lovely indoor fireplace to keep the room warm during winter, and designed to make sure that the fire-smoke won't ruin your ability to smell the wines. Of the wines, the Sutherland Sauv Blanc (which originates from Elgin), was quite unique with strong watermelon smells as well as grassy and apple smells. The unwooded Sutherland Chardonnay was filled with citrus notes, especially lime and pineapple. There was two wooded Chardonnay, still had the similar tropical citrus notes that the unwooded had, except that it was a slightly more processed smell like a grated lemon/lime/orange peel and of course, for the obvious smell of buttered toast. The white that took me by complete surprise here was the Ed's Reserve Chardonnay (R75). This is a wine I'd struggle to describe, and I suggest tasting it yourself if you know your wines well. I picked up orange peel (almost like a bathroom spray) and a bit of a floral smell, with the pineapple, granadilla and a soft buttered toast smell coming through. This white wine is excellently balanced between fruit and oak and a superior finish - a wine that I would label as dangerous - as you could accidentily finish a bottle of it on your own without realising. The final white wine I tasted here was the off-dry Sutherland Rhine Riesling (also from the Elgin area) which had a floral nose, but also contained some summer citrus fruit smells and no minerality at all to it - all the attractive smells you could want in a Rhine Riesling for only R45 a bottle - and I would love to see this as a sweet wine.

The red wines at this farm gave me equal pause as some were quite outside of what you would normally experience. The Pinotage (R45) is a real bargain, with banana peel, coffee, dark berries, and a smell of sweaty leather (it even tasted a bit like licking a car seat) - however it was only a slight hint of it on the aftertaste, so hardly off-putting. From there I moved on to the Mountain Red which is a Cab sauv-driven blend with Shiraz, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot. It was also quite unique with red berries, prunes, raisons, cedar and a processed meat (like marmite) smell. This is more of a tasting wine for a late winter's evening, or an intellectual social event like a debate, auction or award ceremony. The Merlot Reserve (R225) was an exceptionally well made Merlot, since it is one that is capable of putting alongside some of the best roasted beef or venison you can find, and it will still shine. A pity it is so expensive, but with the selection process and very small quantity of it available, it makes perfectly good sense, as this is a wine meant for only the best of occasions. This merlot has a lovely meaty nose, with peppermint and a dark plum gently caressing your sense of smell and a strong backbone of mocha and dark chocolate to give it a depth of character few Merlots achieve. A sterling example. I moved on to the two Shirazs - The Arumdale Shiraz (also from Elgin) was filled with smells like fresh meat, vanilla, white pepper and dark rotting plum and berries. The Thelema Shiraz, on the other hand, had more of the barrel's vanilla coming through with candy floss, prune, plum and white pepper and a dark, deep, rich body and long finish. The last three red's were all Cab Sauv's. The Arumdale (R90) was a more typical fruity Cab with black currant, raisons and mulberry/blueberry/blackberry on the palate, but a bit of mintiness was definitely there along with cedar and cigar box smells. Another good wine to have with food. The Thelema opened up with a smell of fresh meat, although that did pass in moments, and soon the smell was replaced with all the woodland smells I associate with Cab's, cigar box, pencil shavings, and dry pine needles, which came out as mocha on the taste mixed with ripe black currant. The final wine here was "The Mint" Cabernet Sauvignon (R180). While I've definitely tasted far more minty wines than this, the taste and smell of spearming is very powerful in this wine - mixed in with dark chocolate and black currant, this wine has the ability to make people weep and reminds me of a good dark chocolate with mint and raisons. This is a wine I can easily imagine people jealously guarding, although others may completely hate it (we have a name for those people - 'insane').

That was the end of the good part of my trip - and things pretty much went downhill from there. The next farm I visited was Camberley - which was largely disappointing, though not through any major fault of their own. Unfortunately, their attendee has temporarily left for a week, and so the wines were served in very poor condition. To begin with, the glasses looked pretty disgusting, and I started off being served by a farm hand (and told that I could pour the wine for myself, because he had no clue how tastings worked) and the wine was served far too warm, having not been cooled at all (a huge let-down on such a hot day). Although my comments are pretty scathing of this farm, I completely understand (and actually pity) the poor state the tasting room was in. Unfortunately, because of this, my comments on the farm and its wines will not really be accurate enough to be worth sharing. All I can say, is that the wines were a bit on the expensive side, the tasting room gives you a definite sense of pride (even though at the moment it's a bit run-down) and the winemaker, who came in half-way through my tasting, is a very friendly, social person, well worth meeting and talking to. What I can say of the wines is this: The pinotage is a very robust, new-world style of red, which means very punchy over-powering smells that grab you by the nose, and the port is quite fruity, but still retains a bit of nuttiness. I will revisit this farm sometime in the distant future, and then I'll give a proper write-up of it's wines.

The last farm of the voyage was Zorgvliet. Arriving there to the sound of dozens of Americans talking amongst each other, this farm looked quite popular. The farm didn't particularly stand out for me, except for the friendly and helpful attendee, who was obviously interested in promoting wine by being socialable to people (which is great for taking groups of people). As for the wines, all 3 of the Sauv Blancs were sold out, so I moved straight onto the Silvermyn Viognier (R69), which is 50% wooded. This was a tasty wine and a perfect textbook example of viognier, with a floral nose, lime, lanolin, peach, apricot, spiciness, and even kiwi (which I don't think I've ever used as a descriptor for anything other than a Gewurz) - delightful and great to showcase this varietal. The SM Chardonnay was almost entirely unwooded, with stone fruit and granadilla, and the lightest hint of butterscotch. A neither here-nor-there wine, suitable to buy for a summer day to share, when you know that people will have differing tastes in wine and want a decent table wine. The Silvermyn white bordeaux blend was a mixture of Sauv Blanc and Semillon, and called, you guessed it White. Yes, I sat there for a moment going, "Bordeaux has a white blend?" since it's not that often you come across them - although it only took me a moment to click what the hell they were talking about. Still, the Sauv Blanc definitely overpowered the Semillon, with green pepper, fresh-cut grass and green apples (geez, I should really cut-and-paste this description for Sauv Blanc by now), although the acid wasn't as sharp, and it did have a pleasing, clean mineral finish (well, pleasing for me, cos I like that Sauv taste to be gone as soon as possible :)

Onto their long, long range of Red wine. I had very mixed feelings about the reds here. Some were very enjoyable, others just seemed like ordinary every-day plonk - which I *hate* to use to describe any SA wine. Starting at the heart-break wine of Pinot Noir (R85), I was pleased with this wine, and not only because it was under R100 a bottle, but also because it had some very pleasing tastes and was a medium-bodied pinot. It had black currant, cranberry, milk chocolate, mocha and candy floss. The SM Cab Franc was not my taste of red wine, with stewed fruit, prunes and leather (almost an old, tawny style). The Le Pommier Cab Franc (R55) was cheaper and, in my opinion, better, as it had more fresh fruity smells like dark berries, black pepper, cinnamon and cloves with a hint of stewed fruit. The SM Merlot/Cab Franc blend was a mixture of dark berries and prune with more stewed fruit... disappointing. I was looking forward to the next wine - the Petit Verdot (R85), which is the wine to add when you want to add some colour and fruit to a blend (and your lips and teeth when you drink it!) I enjoyed this Petit Verdot, with blackberry/blueberry jam quality to it, which was 100% Yum! Perfect to go with a tomato-based pasta/pizza, especially if it has some high-quality olives. The Zorgvliet Shiraz (R150) was also disappointing - I think the wine maker has something about stewed fruit, a taste which I personally dislike in wines (but which I find lovely in a port). It had dark red berries, stewed fruit, pepper (couldn't really tell if it was white or black, but it was spicy) and cloves. They have 4 Cab Sauvs available - the SM was very fruity with only a bit of cherry tobacco giving it a bit of woodland characters. The Le Pommier also had the typical Cab Sauv fruitiness except for a bit of fynbos and, maybe a blue gum, maybe a lavender smell to it. The Zorgvliet was more pleasing with mocha and pine cones adding some complexity to the typical black currant fruit. Overall, though, it was the Le Pommier Cab Sauv Reserve (R60) which impressed me the most of the Cab Sauvs. Cheaper than the other ranges Cab Sauv's this one had the complexity that the others lacked. While it may not age as well as the others (although I wouldn't say that the others are even worth keeping that long), this Cab Sauv is meant to be drunk sooner rather than later. It had a more unique nose to it, with the typical black currant and black berry, a delightful spiciness of a ground black pepper, cloves, but also a very farmyard smell, almost manure, but also sheepskin. Yes, manure... I did say that as a positive thing... what... it's unique... At least it faded into the sheepskin smell pretty quickly. Oh, and if you do go to this farm (and god knows why you would) at least mention that you want to learn more about wine and be inquisitive about the wines - if you're not in too large a group, they'll probably let you get away with paying a tasting fee at all - a great tip for students or people on a tight budget. Needless to say, I'm sure I'll look for one of these wines on a shopping shelf somewhere, buy it and try it, just to see if I really do hate it as much as I did when I was there.

Well, that's all for today. You can go about your normal everyday life now. Goodbye. Cheers. Ta-ta now. Fair-thee-well. God-speed (thats 180km/hour). Until later. See you soon. Ciao. Erm... yes, you! You can go now.

Val.