Did you know that wine is grown in Greyton on the slopes of the
Riviersonderend mountains and that it may turn into another wine area if more
winemakers and farm owners move there and plant some grapes? There are now 3
cellars growing and making wine in Greyton: Lismore, Andy Mitchell Wines & Swallow Hill. Certainly tasting some of Samantha O'Keefe's Lismore
wines (launched in 2003) for the first
time, point to it being a good terroir for complex layered white wines. We met her last week at a tasting of four of
her wines at Kyoto Gardens Sushi restaurant in Kloof Nek Road and were very impressed
The restaurant
Lismore 2014 Syrah
It was a small intimate tasting
Pouring of the wine begins
Besides the Syrah, we tasted the 2014 Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc.
She makes this in an oxidative style rather than reductive. Tropical
on the nose, it is full of Pears and buttery flavours, very rich and
weighty for a sauvignon, with crisp acidity and a long end. The 2013 Chardonnay
does not go through malolactic fermentation and is 100% barrel fermented, it's
leesy, creamy with apples and pears.
Winemakers Kevin Grant, Peter Finlayson and now Peter Allan Finlayson
have assisted her in making this style. The 2014 Viognier impressed us the
most. When it opened up there were notes of loquats, musk and white peaches. It
has a lovely silky mouth feel with intense fruit flavours and good acid
buzz. It is in the Condrieu style and
grows on very steep shale
Samantha O'Keefe introducing her
wines. She came to South Africa with her
husband 16 years ago from California, fell in love with the country and stayed. Both her children were born here. She
decided to make wine. She acknowledges
and is very grateful for the help she has had from many of the wine farmers in the
Overberg. Lismore has 12 hectares of
grapes which she farms on her own. She says that the wines are doing very well here
and overseas
One of the dishes paired with the wines.
Sadly we had to rush to another function, so only had time to sample these two. We are invited back to write about Kyoto
Gardens new pairing menu for two in a few weeks time. This was a yellowtail sashimi
Tuna tartare. Both dishes were perfect
for the white wines
©
John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
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