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.