Stellies the Second

On Friday, I managed to visit 8 farms... yes... eight farms - which I think is a new record for me. I made sure that I had food ready the day before, and that I got an early start, as I had 7 farms which I planned on going to (somehow an extra farm snuck in there on the day though).

My first stop was at the very beautiful farm and tasting room of Hazendal, which immediately gave a sense of history and grandness to me. They had an MCC, which, unfortunately, was not available for tasting, so I started off with a very tropical Sauv Blanc, which was actually quite pleasant for what it was. I followed this with their Konynwijn - a semi-sweet wine, which was incredibly smooth and easy going, which is perfect for a casual evening with people that aren't avid wine-drinkers, or a nice relaxed day out in the gardens or forest or around the pool. They had a bush vine chenin blanc, which I wasn't that impressed with (it was ok), but had a lot of promise as a sweet wine (which they also do make). They had a blanc de noir made with pinot noir, which made a very pleasing picnic style wine. Not really as serious a rose as I would've liked, but a nice dainty wine. They had a Reserve Red blend, which is completely unwooded, and had me surprised as I find it also very soft and quite pleasant, although it was very much a wine to be drunk now. Again, a lovely wine to share with people who aren't really into their wine. They had a good Cab Sauv/Merlot blend which was very light and fruity. The final wine was the Straw Wine, which was the bushvine chenin sweet. It really was superb, with lovely tastes of cooked prune, honey and sultanas, but ultimately it wasn't worth the price, as just down the road was a wine that was almost every bit as good and half the cost.

The next stop was Kaapzicht, which had a very family-orientated feel to it's tasting room. It had much more of a home kind of feel to it. I wasn't impressed with their whites at all, which were all very shy on the nose, and very young on the palate. Only the Chardonnay stood out a bit on the nose (although I didn't like the hint of marzipan, which was a very sharp jarring smell), but again, very disappointing on the palate. Where the whites failed, however, the reds did a phenomenal job. They had three red blends, the Classic Red, the estate red, and the bin 3. All of them were created with the same vision - which was to create a smooth, elegant and complex wine, all of them with there own distinctive character, but they all still left you with the feeling that you just drank a good wine. Their pinotage had a sweaty leather, kind of wet dog nose, which I'm sure you would've loved. The Shiraz was a bit young still, but it was delicious and showed loads of potential. The Cab Sauv was also subtle and elegant (which I think added alot to all of the blends), but unfortunately the nose immediately gave a whiff of high alcohol. It should be superb in a few years tho, and should mature into a very regal wine. Their natural sweet was much the same as the previous farms (they are neighbouring farms, and pretty much use the same technique), but the price was only R40 for a bottle - very tempting I must tell you. Finally, they had an almost-10 year old (1999) brandy there for tasting, and although they only pour a single taste of it (cos it goes for R300 a bottle), it was spectacular, and easily the best brandy I've tasted to date (not that I've tasted much). A brandy-drinker would probably differ on that opinion, but for a non-brandy drinker it was fantastic. Smooth and what an initial taste on the palate, I really wished I had more than one taste to describe it.

Following from there, I went down the road to Mooiplaas. Upon entering the tasting room, you are greeted by a caution sign warning you that the floor is uneven. Thank goodness for that warning, otherwise I might have thought I'd gotten quite drunk off of that brandy from the last farm. That aside, they did have some enjoyable olives for tasting, not too sweet, not too bitter. As for their wines, they had a largely unwooded pinotage (the wood coming from 10% Cab Sauv they put in). Wasn't really my taste in wine, but I could appreciate it. They had a very herbaceous Cab Sauv with very green, fresh forest smells to it. Their Rosalind blend was Cab Franc driven and was a dark, intense wine and was thoroughly satisfying - a glass of this and you'd be happy all day.

Moving on from Mooiplaas, the next stop was Groenland, where I was astounded by their security gate, apparently installed after the owner got robbed at gun-point, after being followed from the bank with the farm's wages. Their available wines for tasting were very small (only 3 wines), so it was over before I'd even realised it. Their reserve range was not for tasting, but all of the wines I did taste were all above average and very well priced. The three wines available for tasting were a Shiraz, a Cab Sauv and red blend called Antoinette Marie (a very dutch name). They also make a port, which I wasn't able to taste :(

Farm no. 5 was Goede Hoop, were I was served by the wine maker (who didn't tell me he was the wine-maker). I must of made such a fool of myself there, but the guy was so open and friendly that I actually don't mind. Really, this wine-maker was so charismatic that I almost feel like dropping by there with a great bottle of wine someday to share with him. He gave me the chance to smell and taste a corked pinotage, as well as an oxidised merlot and pinotage. Surprisingly the corked pinotage smelt more like damp cardboard and a musty attic, than the smells I normally associate with a corked wine, and I don't know if I would've picked it up on the nose as corked. Although it was a give-away on the palate, I still would've guessed oxidised and not corked. It was one place that I was really impressed with the Chardonnay (which apparantly aged very well from one year to the next) and it was filled perfectly with all the tertiary smells and tastes I do so love, butterscotch and toasty goodness, but remarkable still had a good tropical fruit kick to it, with peaches and melons coming through quite prominently. A perfect textbook example of a good Chardonnay. Their household/table wine red blend I thought would be spectacular to cook with, especially given its very good price. The merlot/cab sauv blend was very well-blended and complex, and complemented each other perfectly to give a real full-mouth feel. The final wine to impress me here was the Shiraz, it's seen lots of oak, and came across as almost everything but a shiraz, a pleasing smokiness bouquet filled with light red berries, although it did have a bit of the characteristic pepperiness to its nose and palate (ground cloves and black pepper, if memory serves). And I got the tasting glass for only R5 instead of R10 (cos he didn't have change and neither did I).

The next farm was a fort upon the hill. Yes, it was Fort Simon. Pity that I wasn't so impressed with the wines, save for the wooded chenin which was really gorgeous and reminded me why I love wooded chenins so much. While there was nothing wrong with the rest of the wines, and their reds, they didn't really have anything that stood out for me. They also have a Viognier Sweet, but, yes, you know it, it wasn't available for tasting.

Getting later into the afternoon, I stopped by at Bellevue, which had a very unique tasting room, filled with booths and in the same room that once had their vats filled with grapes sitting on their skins. The guy who served me couldn't believe I was from South Africa and Cape Town, and sincerely asked if I spent a few years in the States or somewhere else in the world. I actually got asked that sort of question alot (where are you from? with surprised looks when I said I've lived in Cape Town all my life). I know I'm very English, but I didn't realise my accent was that warped. Anyway, they had a huge range of wines here, and some very interesting wines to boot. They had three pinotages which were all hugely different, but all of them had their own strengths and pleasing points. The first was the Sizanami, which is their B.E.E. range, and was a very affordable and accessible pinotage. The second is the Morkel, which I bought a bottle of, just so that you could smell and taste it when you get back. It absolutely reeks of banana and vanilla - which means it must be divinely made. The final was the PK Morkel which was incredibly complex and layered, definitely well beyond what my taste-buds were capable of right then. They had several red blends (the Rozanne, the Tumara, and the Atticus), all of which were great, balanced and full-bodied red blends. They had an unfiltered Shiraz, which almost made me laugh, because they were the only ones around that I actually saw that used a proper burgandy bottle for their shiraz, instead of the claret that everybody else seemed to prefer. No shoulder to catch any of that sediment at all. All-in-all, not a particularly astounding shiraz, but as full-bodied as you'd expect an unfiltered wine to be. They also had a petit verdot which reminded me of chocolate strawberries, pretty good in my books. The Malbec was the red I really enjoyed there, and I rated it as excellent. It took me ages to pick up one of the smells, which the attendee picked up for me - cranberries, but it also had a eucalyptus nose to it which was quite remarkable, and some pencil shavings on the nose (and palate, don't ask me how I know that - I guess I just chewed too many pencils in my day).

The final, rather rushed stop was at Hartenburg, which I would like to revisit (mostly because I was a bit rushed). The attendee there was very friendly, and wasn't all to bothered about my late turn-up (especially since they had such a long list of wines, and I managed to get a few tastings that's not normally available). I tasted the Weisser Reisling, and while I wasn't too impressed with it (as it did have a parafin nose, which they denied it had), it did still have some nice peachy/apricoty and very strong honey nose (and a high alcohol level). I could already tell that it would make a remarkable sweet wine. They also had an excellent chardonnay, which was very well balanced, although leaned slightly towards the barrel characteristics I so love - buttered toast and a slight yeastiness, it was still fruity, and it had such a long finish, real great acidity. To be honest I didn't really enjoy many of the reds that I was served, mostly because I found them to be quite oxidised, but I didn't bother saying anything, because it's not like they'd open up a whole bottle just for me at the end of the day. I did manage to taste two of their premium range of wines - The Stork and The Mackenzie, both of which were charming and regal wines, really filling your mouth with flavours, and asking to be laid to rest for a few years to come back with astounding grace. But at R250 a bottle, I'll think I'll pass up on buying a bottle for now. The last two wines I tasted here were very interesting - the first was the off-list Zinfindel Natural Sweet - a very, very peculiar attempt - I was given the very special price of R20 for a bottle, so I bought one without hesitation - although I have absolutely no space for it and I'm hoping it'll be fine until Monday sitting on a shelf next to the Vin de Constance. What was truly amazing about the Zinfindel was its finish, which was remarkable dry. This is probably the only sweet wine I could imagine drinking lots of in a go, and not be completely overpowered by its sweetness. The final wine I had was the L'Estreux which was a natural sweet made from Weisser Reisling. It did, in fact, make a very good sweet wine that was complex and could go well with a nice strong blue cheese, and was incredibly affordable (R35 a bottle).

So that's a run-down of the farms I visited on Friday. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Keep well and enjoy a good bottle of wine for me!

Val.