We
were sad to hear that there will be no Port Festival this year (they will be
holding special events during the month of June) but were delighted that De Krans
brought their wines to Cape Town to show them to the media and the trade. On
Tuesday, we met in the Mount Nelson's Planet restaurant for a guided tasting of both wines and
port and tasted some very interesting and some really delicious wines. This
was followed by a tour de force tasting of exceptional canapés, matched by
Executive Chef Rudi Liebenberg with some older De Krans wines and port. You
don’t realise how much you are eating when the canapés are so deliciously
matched to good wine
The
welcome bubbly was a Zero Dosage 2013 De Krans blend of Chardonnay, Chenin blanc and Tinta
Barocca. Full of limes and apples with some pear and a very dry finish, as one
would expect from a zero dosage wine. It is very quaffable and available, only on the farm, at R140. Only 2000 bottles have been made.
Getting to know each other, again
The table set for the tasting
Port for tasting later, with the canapé
lunch
They took over Planet Restaurant for
the tasting
First three wines for tasting were
2015 Free Run Chenin, Wild Fermented unwooded Chardonnay 2014 and a Moscato
Perlé 2015. The Chenin has a good acid sugar balance and is quite tropical. It
has huge concentrations of fruit. The chardonnay is golden fruit with apples,
yellow plums and a really full mouth and lots of lees. We suspect this will age
well. The fizzy perlé is full of roses, litchis and peach flavours and is quite
sweet for our palate. Several people commented that it was a pity that, while there were good Spiegelau wine glasses on tables for the diners, the tasting was carried out in very ordinary, thick rimmed glasses, which would not bring out the best in the wines
Boets Nel of De Krans
The tasting information was under the
glasses
Winemaker Louis van der Riet took us
through the wines
Louis has been at De Krans since 2013
The first red was a 2013 Cabernet
Sauvignon with 8% Merlot added, It has vanilla, cassis and cassis leaves on the
nose, was as smooth as silk, with tight, chalky tannins and dark berry flavours;
hot and juicy with some elegance
The next three reds. The Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo)
was the wine of the tasting, captivating and delighting many. It has rich, deep
berries and vanilla on the nose, with incense and forest floor notes; very
pretty. It is soft and silky, then fruit-full, then dark, moody and velvety.
Showing its port proclivities well, but without the sweetness. Structured with
chalky tannins, this wine will, we think, win awards. We both scored it 18/20
The Touriga Naçional 2013 has a very
green and spicy nose, very herbal, full of cherries and ripe mulberries with
some incense wood. A kicker of a wine, full of heat and spice, dry tannins,
licorice and violets
Tritonia 2011 is the De Krans flagship
blend of Touriga Naçional, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barocca. Violets, dark berries
and incense on the nose, it is full of sweet fruit, soft chalk and then some
sweet and sour complexity, long flavours with elegance. Needs time
Boets tells us about the port to come
A typical trade/media tasting.
Everyone is seriously tasting, making notes and tweeting
Some of the older vintage wines and
ports to taste with lunch. Such a treat
Journalist Sandile Mkhwanazi, Head Sommelier Luvo Ntezo of the One&Only,
Head Sommelier Pearl Oliver of The Mount Nelson and Pippa Pringle, PRO, who put
the day together for De Krans
Our third flight, this time of 4 ports.
Premier Cape Ruby NV was full of spice, vanilla, fruit, green herbs and salty
licorice and the unmistakable smell and taste of just picked warm blackberries.
It needs time. The Cape Vintage 2013 - Amaretti biscuits on the nose and super
sweet dark plums and cherries with a good kick of alcohol. Long flavours. The
Cape Vintage Reserve 2012 is dense black in colour. Herbal fynbos, cinnamon
dark plums, raisins and cough candy on the nose. Sweet velvety cinnamon
chocolate and jam with more cough candy on the palate. Long chalky and warm
aftertaste. Then the best of the flight: Cape Vintage Reserve 2011. Brûlée
caramel, herbs, pomegranate and molasses on the nose. Sweet soft mulberries, red
stewed plums raisins, glace and black cherries and chalk on the palate,
finishing long hot spicy and satisfying. At its peak; it scored an 18 from
Lynne
Sommelier Pearl Oliver and Pippa Pringle. Pearl and Executive Chef Rudi Liebenberg put together the
tasting and food pairing
The chef who prepared the food tells us about it
Restaurant staff, whose excellent service made the day so
special
Wines to taste with lunch
The menu. There were three tables,
each with a selection of wines, and the food came in small portions, so you
could pair and match and help yourself as you preferred. It worked very well
indeed
Table One with the sensational rich
layered duck terrine, cured salmon and steak tartare. The seafood Fritto misto
came hot from the kitchen in small bowls
Duck terrine. Layers of rich duck meat, sandwiched with duck liver paté on a slice of brioche. This was the perfect
match for the older ports
Cured salmon, salmon caviar and salmon
mousse
Mini steak tartar quenelle en croute
with mustard, horseradish sauces and chopped onion, capers and pickles
Cathy Marston asks John if he would
like some vintage De Krans
On Table 2: Gnocchi, confit egg with
mushrooms; pork belly with cabbage – this had a marvellous tangy sauce.
Chicken and prosciutto – we didn’t get
to taste this
Luvo (about to be a father) Ntezo, head
sommelier at the One&Only
The crisp and delicious Fritto Misto
Lamb, labneh and green beans
Executive Chef Rudi Liebenberg with
Sommelier Pearl Oliver
Samarie Smith with Luvo Ntezo
Yet another tray of fantastic food
arrives
The table we all wanted to visit, the
dessert table. They were all rich and delicious dessert bites. The cheese and
figs went very well with the ports, but by far the best match of the day, and
this was after a superbly innovative and well matched performance by the chefs,
was the creamy English Stilton. It always has been
Christian Eedes of Winemag.co.za persuading Winnie Bowman CWM to try another vintage port. Melvyn Minnaar looks
on
John snuck into the kitchen to catch the
chefs at work
Winnie Bowman with Boets Nel at the
end of a great experience. We need to get the youth of today appreciating good
port and wines made from port varietals. They are missing out on so much
NOTE: We use the term "Port" to describe the fortified wines we wrote about here and in other articles. The Portuguese don't like it and it is not used on the labels, but these wines were made with the same grape varietals as Ports in the Douro Valley, in similar conditions and compete on equal terms in international competitions
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015
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