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.
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