Glen Carlou for lunch and a seriously good wine tasting

While Europe froze, we sweltered in up to 39.5°C heat

and, thank heavens, Glen Carlou’s huge thatched roofed tasting room/ lounge/ restaurant has very good air-conditioning. Some of us were a bit cautious about walking on the glass floor above the wine barrel cellar.

We were welcomed by the assistant winemaker, Solly, who took us through some splendid wines.

As one of our members pointed out, if you really, really love a wine, you probably can’t afford it and there were some of those very special wines in the tasting. But not all are out of our reach. We found the first wine, the 2011 Glen Carlou Sauvignon blanc (cellar price R65), to be quite tropical and a little flat on the nose. Many of us loved the unwooded Reserve 2011 Chardonnay (R78), light and crisp and cool with lovely long juicy grape flavours, a great food wine, while others preferred the more solid, sophisticated Quartz Stone wooded Chardonnay 2010 (R275). The fascinating Colomé Amalaya Blanco 2011 from Argentina (± R180) is made from 90% Torrontes and 10% Riesling, tastes very like a Gewürztraminer, with a rose petal and cinnamon nose and yet a crisp granny smith apple flavour. It would be lovely with rich fish and seafood dishes. Peter Lehmann ‘Margaret’ Semillon (R260) from the Barossa valley is unwooded but smells smoky and wooded. Solly said lots of lees character caused this. It has turpene and several Riesling aromas and flavours, as well as a good lanoline mouth feel.

Then came the blockbuster of the day, the Hess Collection Artezin Zinfandel 2009 (R245) from California. Rose geranium, cola and expensive wood on the nose and sheer soft deliciousness on the palate: like eating ripe hot mulberries off a tree. Soft and smoky with licorice after notes, it is a wine with no faults and most of us were completely captivated and scored it very, very highly. Next came the Colomé Estate Malbec from Argentina; shy but complicated, with rich deep rhubarb and cassis flavours and a long dry finish. The local Grand Classique Bordeaux 2007 blend (R120) was next and it had a very defined cabernet nose with rather overcooked jammy fruit.

Finally the Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz from Australia had Ribena cassis flavours, unusual for a shiraz, which then turned into a friars balsam character. It had sweet full fruit but it was oxidizing by the minute. Open and drink immediately but it will be worth it should you have the budget for it. R375.

They took our lunch orders after we had tasted our second wine and we were given a taste of the Glen Carlou Cap Classique as our starters were served. Most of us then ordered just one glass of wine with our lunch, while some made do with retained tasting samples. They treated us to a small taste of the excellent The Welder 2011 Natural sweet Chenin Blanc dessert wine (R79) to finish. As most people were spitting and the tasting and lunch were spread between 11am and 4pm, no one imbibed too much and there were designated drivers.

Lynne had organized a lunch menu. The price was R185 for 2 courses or R250 for three, including coffee and an amuse bouche of venison carpaccio.  Service was added at 10%, any wine ordered was extra and the tastings were charged as an extra at R65 a person.

We loved the food - the light starters were perfect for the heat and the mains not too heavy. We both had the duck salad to start,  (John started to eat before he took the picture - there was a bit more duck than you see here). It was delicious and the skin was not too fatty.

John ordered the slightly dry, long aged sirloin with rooibos smoked sweetbreads

and Lynne the Slow Braised Pork Belly which was a delight: tender, spicy and not at all fatty.

A few of our members ordered the fish and were disappointed to find that hake was the only fish on offer. The chef explained to us that, with so much fish on the endangered list and the high winds we have had recently, which have made it difficult for the boats to go out, hake was the only fish available.

In total we paid R470 per couple for the food and wine with lunch, which we think was extremely good value.
We do so recommend this as a venue for a large group or for lunch à deux . For group bookings contact Janine Bailey on 021 875 5528. www.glencarlou.co.za