An
invitation last week to Dombeya vineyards to do a blending competition with
members of the other media was quite a draw card so we were rather disappointed
to discover on arrival that this had been cancelled. It seems it was difficult
to organise in the middle of harvest, which is understandable. So instead we
had a vertical tasting of five of the Dombeya Chardonnays and then five Dombeya
Shirazes. This was followed by lunch at their Long Table
Superb grapes just moments away from
harvest
The entrance to the Dombeya cellar and tasting
room: This was our first visit to the farm. It is owned by Preston Haskell (the
majority shareholder) and it is where they make the Haskell wines
An amusing
bit of history: The Dombeya Story*. Cape Town, October, 2005.
Grant
“What’s this Dombeya thing?” Preston
“That was the original name of the wine farm”. “ Grant “Reckon we should can the name. Run with Haskell. Easier.
Less complicated for consumers”. Preston
“I like the name”. Grant “But the
label has a tree with sheep under it”. Preston
“ Dombeya is a tree, and the place has been run as a wool shop for years. And I
paid Anthony Lane the GDP of a small African nation for that label”. Grant “ Still reckon we should can it”. Preston “No”. Grant “ Sure you don’t want to think about that?” Preston “ Yes” *Abbreviated for dramatic
effect
Welcomed by a New Zealand Craggy Range
Martinborough Sauvignon Blanc, which is imported into SA by Haskell CEO and partner
Grant Dodd, who is originally from Australia. It has nice restraint with peas
and green pepper, with notes of honey and golden apples and a kick of hot spice
on the end
Elbie Booysens in the tasting room
Some canapés to stave off any hunger
Winemaker Rianie Strydom with Samarie
Smith
Gathering in the tasting room
We take our places to start the tasting
and begin
Grant Dodd tells us about the five Chardonnays
we are about to taste: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013. This is the first vertical
tasting they have done. The 2006 was very different from the rest, much more
approachable due to its age, with a full mouth of smooth silk, limes, warm
vanilla and plums with minerality on the end. These wines are built to last. We
found that Rianie has developed the Chardonnays to have a steely, quite austere
French style; they are crisp and dry with citrus notes, wood & loads of
minerality, they need time and go well with food. The current one selling is
the 2013 at R95 on the farm.
The five tasting samples
Rianie telling us how she makes the
wine
Then it was time for the five Shirazes
Alan Mullins CWM, Cathy van Zyl MW, Winnie
Bowman CWM and Melvin Minnaar
Question time
Grant tells us about the Shiraz. We
found them spicy, full of warm fruit layers with nice depth and balance. The
2008 especially enchanted us with its plum pudding Christmas notes. It is a full
on fruit driven wine with layers of different fruit, but still elegant rather
than fully ripe, and has nice notes of oak on the end. We found salty licorice
on nearly all and the younger ones do need some time. They decide in the
vineyards which grapes are going to the Haskell or the Dombeya. The Dombeya
Boulder Road Shiraz is currently selling on the farm for R96
Winnie Bowman CWM
Change for another pack shot
Time for lunch at the Long Table on
the terrace, which has marvellous views over the Stellenbosch landscape
Time to discuss the wines while
waiting for the food
The menu
The glorious view
A cup of Gazpacho soup. Yes, the mango
did work
Lynne’s nightmare, sushi rolls made
with cucumber. “Nice and fresh”, said everyone else.
Lentil and Pomegranate salad sprinkled
with feta
Very fresh seared beef salad with Thai
flavours
Slightly chewy steamed eggplant
An option for the vegetarians
Nicolette Waterford and DJ Guy
MacDonald
We had a tasting competition after
lunch and this is the line up of wines we tasted blind. Fun, but no one did
very well!
Having fun on the phone
The restaurant entrance
The sommelier’s bar
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor
& Bacchus 2015
