Bergsig is nie erg nie

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.

Oppad tot Opstal

Howdy!

The third wine farm within wine spitting distance, we did manage to get a little confused when we entered into restaurant tables with no immediate sight of the tasting room. Fortunately our confusion was short lived as we found our way through the back-door. The Sauv Blanc (R44) was very fruity, with predominant green apples with hints of grass and fig leaf on the senses. The Chenin Blanc (R35) lead to an interesting argument between us, because of its sweet fruitness with sharp acidity - well-balanced, but easily-spotted. It had sweet melon, paw-paw smells on the nose with fruit salad flavours coming through on the palate. This wine is perfectly balanced to accompany food - especially something a bit fattier like a creamy pasta or chicken. The Viognier (R55) was very close to textbook, with peachs, rose petals, orange blossom and a slight spiciness on the palate - they manage to keep it quite dry, but left it with a bit of a high alcohol instead.

The Syrah/Viognier (R55) had more than a dab of Viognier, and so it came out looking very much like Rose. This wine was absolutely gorgeous - with a meaty/mushroom nose, peach, guava, and floral smells, and a lively white pepper on the palate. It was suggested to have this wine chilled, and so I imagine this wine to be an excellent picnic wine - especially with pesto,
cold meats, cheese and freshly baked bread... mmmm... I'm starting to get hungry. The Cab Sauv (R58) was quite typical and ready-to-drink, with black currant, chocolate/mocha flavours and cedar and dark berries on the smell and taste as well. The last wine we tasted here was the Hanepoot (R35) which was laden with honey smells, saltanas and dried fruit sweetness on the
palate - a bit too cloying for my tastes, but if you have a sweet tooth, I suggest that you don't drink this wine, because it'll probably cause your last tooth to rot off 8^)

Well, another day and another entry into the diary of wine.

Val.

Slurring at Slanghoek

Greetings to all you winelovers,

From Jason's Hill we went a little further on to Slanghoek. And with wine this affordable (which seems to be the usual way of things around here), you'll be slurring in no time. Starting with the Chenin Blanc (R17), we picked up pear, canned peaches and sweet melon - certainly a fruit salad mix and good value. The Sauv Blanc (R23) was also an interesting mix of green pepper, fig leaf and grassy qualities with an unmistakable pinch of lemon on the finish, giving it a clean, crisp finish.

Of the reds, I enjoyed the Camerca blend (R20), which is an equal blend of Cab Sauv and Merlot, with strong mocha and cigar box smells and smooth black currant and dark berries on the palate, this wine is ready to drink at night around the braai-place after a satisfying meal. The Shiraz also stood out (R27) with a roasted meat nose and a subtle smoky, freshly opened jar of coffee smell with red berries on the palate alongside some cinnamon, cloves and white pepper - surprisingly complex for such a well-priced wine - although, again, better drink this one now than much later. The Cab Sauv (R29) was also quite deliciously complex with black currants, coffee, blackberry jam, pencil shavings, dried pine needles and fynbos to be found - this one can lay down a while, maybe an extra year or three might do it some service. At such a good price, it may be worth your time to buy a case or three of it and try storing it well to see how it develops (and drink a few bottles of it while you wait).

Finally, we tasted two natural sweet wines, starting with the Creme de Chenin which had some quite unique characters with fresh over-ripe peach and guava smells (like they'd just fallen off the tree and had been baking in the sun for hours), saltanas and dried fruit smells. Certainly very pleasing at R22 a bottle and something I'd easily buy to help convert people to the wonders of wine. The last wine we tasted was the Noble Late Harvest (R95) which is mostly Chenin with a touch of Hanepoot, and certainly was a much more typical sweet dessert wine with honey, dried apricot and peachs dominating the wine.

Catch you all later,
Val

Chasin Thrills at Jason's Hill

Hi everyone,

Next on our list was a farm run by a passionate woman wine-maker who started making wine in true garagiste fashion and has been improving the quality of her wines ever since (this farm has only been producing wines since 2002). It was a lovely sight to see the pumps in action and Ivy rushing around, giving you the sense of a real work in progress. This cellar has a small cozy upstairs bistro that makes awesome well-valued food (certainly the best food we had in the area by miles) - I'd highly recommend anyone to stop there for breakfast while their in the winelands. Nothing like fresh, crisp farmland food to get you going in the morning.

The list is surprisingly long for such a young farm, and so I'll skip a few of their wines along the way. The Chardonnay (R29) had butterscotch, granadilla, lemon and lanolin smells, slightly crisp for a chardonnay, but went down well. The Wooded Chenin (R29) was highly undervalued, with guava, paw-paw, sweet melon fruit in the smell, and a slight lanolin, buttered toastiness lingering on the palate. Well worth the price. The Ivy du Toit white blend of Sauv Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay (R39) had a very unique smell as well that both me and Andre picked up, but couldn't place our collective fingers on, until we were guided by the tasting assistant to peppadews (to which we smacked ourselves on the forehead, having eaten a huge amount of peppadews the night before). It also had green pepper and a slight cashew nuttiness to it's finish. If you can get your hands on a bottle, do try it out. The recently-added wooded Viognier (R29) was quite typical of it's varietal with floral smells, guava and peach smells giving it a very fragrant nose.

In the Reds, the Pinotage (R29) was exceptionally fruity with blackberry jam and mulberry, and plum and a hint of mocha taking root on your tongue. The Shiraz (R38) was an equally fruity version with cranberry and raspberries flavours, nothing too special, but worthwhile as a simple food-going wine. The Cab Sauv (R39) was very typical and had the three c's - cedar, cassis
and coffee in the smell and taste - again, something to buy for tonights dinner with friends. The final wine was the Ivy Du Toit Pinotage (R49), which had a pungent nose of green bananas, mocha and leather and all the robustness of a pinotage - not something we should've been drinking on a hot summers day.

Unfortunately, their better known Noble Late Harvest was not available for tasting 8'( so this is where this story ends.

Well, my Stellies course starts today, so I've got enough reading to do for a while - raise a glass to my success and you'll hear from me again.

Val.

Worcester Vines and Wines at Du Toitskloof

Du Toitskloof is another farm with a huge range of wines, including many box wines, so we were very selective on what we tasted here. We started by tasting the Reserve Sauv Blanc (R48) which was a G wine - green pepper, fresh cut grass, guava and gooseberry - very enjoyable if you like a slightly tropical style of Sauv Blanc. The Reserve Chardonnay/Viognier (R48) was a very interesting wine that would be perfect for a fruit and spicy chicken pizza, and it was a very fragrant wine with some tropical fruit, freshly cut sweet melon, rose petal and peach with lively white pepper on the palate. It's always great to find a good white wine with a strong spiciness coming through.

We decided to taste a few rarer varietals, starting with the Ruby Cab (just shy of R20), which had quite a bit of barrel (or wood chip/staves) flavours like mocha, cocoa and dark chocolate, with a raspberry, dark cherry bit of fruitiness to it - despite the description, it was a bit sharp and tannic - a wine made without much thought. The next was an Italian varietal (we really should have more Italian varietals growing in SA) called Nebbiolo (R40) - the description mentions violets, but I think that is really grasping at straws. Having tasted this wine a second time at a later tasting, my first impression held through (and was shared). The first sensation I got when smelling this wine was a strong sense of tobacco - particularly like that found in cigarettes. Not surprisingly, someone at the tasting said that the wine gave her a sensation that someone had dropped their cigarette in her glass. That aside, I also picked up the smell of wood chips, cocoa, hazelnuts and fresh fynbos. Definitely needs a lot more work to make it work, but it is something quite different. Next was the Dimension Red - a blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, Shiraz and a dash of Petit Verdot (R63) and this blend was far more enjoyable, with dark berries, floral and coconut smells, and a lingering taste of milk chocolate - yum!

And wine-tasting always ends nicely with a glass of something sweet - in this case it was a Noble Late Harvest (R42) which is a new addition to their range and completely delicious with fresh peach and granadilla, saltanas and an overwhelming passion fruit - something truly different and special from this estate that does very well with its sweet wines.

Well, I'll return to my port (I love that winter is round the corner... all those ports and red wines are looking very ready for drinking...) I hope you have a good day at work or where-ever you are.

Val.