.: John Collins Wine Trade show at Ottimo Cibo

Friday, August 29, 2014

John Collins Wine Trade show at Ottimo Cibo

This annual treat was held this year at Ottimo Cibo, the beautiful Mediterranean themed villa of Nikki Booth and her advocate husband, William, in Kirstenbosch. John Collins represents a small, but perfectly formed, list of wine farms and, this year, we were delighted to see that he has added a friend, Chris Keet, with his First Verse wine. Nikki always lays on a fantastic spread of canapés and she did not disappoint

We started at the Jordan table, full of wines we know, love and buy. Both the 2011 Cobbler’s Hill Bordeaux blend and 2013 Nine Yards Chardonnay are looking fantastic this year. We like their new elegant labels.

Chris Keet with his First Verse, which is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Malbec. We were able to taste both the 2010 and the newly bottled, unlabelled, 2011. These wines have such depth and power and lots of stamina for cellaring. The 2010 is mushroomy, full on cassis with some forest floor. The 2011 has violets, cassis leaves, layers and layers of deep dark fruit and some dark Valrhona chocolate at the finish.

The Sutherland wines always charm us and we especially liked their 2011 Viognier/Rousanne blend which is a perfect wine for complex and spicy food. Rousanne is starting to appear in quite a few wines we are tasting at the moment. Their Elgin Sauvignon Blanc is always worthy of note, and purchase!

The line up of Diemersfontein wines, many of which we tasted when in Wellington recently. John loves the Carpe Diem Pinotage, Lynne is a great fan of the fruity rich Viognier. And the 2012 Maiden’s Prayer White gives huge value for money.

Diemersfontein owner, David Sonnenberg pouring us some Thokozani 2012 White

John Collins

Bevan Newton Johnson and Deon Leppan showing us the 2013 Family Vineyard Chardonnay, a nice refined and sophisticated chardonnay with citrus and gentle wood. They showed two Pinot Noirs at this tasting and we thought the 2012 Walker Bay a real winner. It is light and perfumed on the nose and on the palate with warm fruit followed by some dark toast. Quite delicious. The 2013 Family Vineyards is one of their classic Pinot Noirs. We also loved the deep fruity richness of the Granum, a blend of Syrah/Mourvedre, another food wine

Jeanette Bruwer of Springfield with her niece Jenna, daughter of her winemaker brother Abrie. Jenna has now come into the business. This is always our first opportunity to taste their two 2014 Sauvignon Blancs, Life from Stone and the Special Cuvée. The Life from Stone is jumping out of the glass for attention, deep and delicious, this needs a little time to gather its skirts together. The Special Cuvée is just that, but it has gone a little shy for the moment. We look forward to tasting these both later in the year to see how they are developing. The 2011 Methode Ancienne Chardonnay is superb. The 2008 Methode Ancienne Cabernet Sauvignon has perfume, cassis, rich and full berries, some chalk and some licorice on the end. And the 2008 Bordeaux blend, Work of Time, will go wonderfully with game and rich stews. All wines to think of buying

The Springfield wines

A tray full of parmesan cookies topped with a little paté

Rich meat turnovers with very good flaky pastry

A great canapé for a wine tasting. Walnut bread topped with cream cheese and fresh figs

James Pietersen, Chef Harold Bresselschmidt of Aubergine and Roland Peens of the Wine Warehouse enjoying the tasting

Lynne chatting to Tracy van Maaren

Small parcels of very good quality Parma ham

Lollypops of mozzarella tomato and basil

Learning about the Jordan wines

Another very popular canapé especially for those Banting aficionados. Omelette and smoked trout rolls with cream cheese. Wrapped around fresh asparagus