Winemaker Abé Beukes moved to Yonder Hill two years
ago from Darling Cellars and he is enjoying his tenure at this farm,
established by the Naude family in 1997. The draw card was a tasting of some of
their Inanda (place of Beauty in Zulu), a Bordeaux blend, and then to have some
fun, blending some of the new wines to see if our media blends compared with
the professionals! Our table didn’t make the winning blend but we came a close joint
second with two other tables
Welcomed by Winemaker Abé Beukes
The Yonder
Hill tasting room
Getting the
room ready for breakfast and the tasting
The wines we
were to taste. In the decanter is their top wine, 2009 Nicola, a classic
Bordeaux style blend. It had lots of sweet fruit with grippy, chalky tannins. Smells
herbaceous with smoky oak and savoury notes before the fruit appears. The
palate is full of nice sweet plums and cherries and a kick of cherry pip wood. It
has a lovely finish of violets from the small amount of Petit Verdot they add.
Drinking well now, but will last
A butt full of
Inanda
Ladies from the media, all
dressed in blue, by coincidence, chat before the tasting
There was good
coffee, muffins, smoked salmon egg wraps and toasted cheese sandwiches. Or
fruit and yoghurt and muesli for breakfast before the tasting. We arrived at 9
and started tasting at 10. An early start
Catching up on
the media gossip
John would
never miss this wine box lid, it is his favourite Bordeaux
Owner Mr Naude
welcomes us and tells us about the wines we will be tasting
Autumn hits
the vines
Tasting
begins. We tasted three. 2008, 2009 and the 2013. And then a barrel sample of
the 2014. The current vintage 2013 is good value at R85 on the farm and is full
of incense and violets with lots of elegance. Sweet black & dark red fruit
with chalky tannins. Black cherries and their pips show in these wines and some
have plums and mulberries as well. There is a little dark toasted wood bitterness
on the earlier ones
Christian
Eedes of Wine Magazine with the 2009 Nicola
Time to start
the blending exercise These are the components we used to make our blend of
Inanda
We discuss our
blends. In fact both teams on the table made the same blend without realising
it
Time for a
coffee before heading back to town
We look
forward to seeing the wines that winemaker Abé Beukes
produces when they are released
This is the
oldest vineyard on the farm, it is Merlot. Many of the other vineyards have
been taken out and are waiting to be replanted
The front of
the winery
Beautiful
views across the Stellenbosch hills. It is indeed a Place of Beauty
Shady parking
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor
& Bacchus 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment