Thursday, August 18, 2016

John Collins' wine showcase at the Cape Town Club

Another annual event that we look forward to. John Collins represents some excellent wine farms and many of them are releasing their new wines at this time of the year. This tasting was to showcase these wines and to remind the trade of the excellent quality that these farms produce 
The Cape Town Club is in Queen Victoria Street
A selection of the canapés which we were offered
Gary and Kathy Jordan with their wines. We particularly like the 2015 Nine Yards Chardonnay, intense layers of rich golden fruit with great balance, minerality and softly supporting wood. The Real McCoy 2015 Riesling has that good balance of sugar and acidity and unctuousness and no hint of terpenes
Gary chats to customers about the wines
Chris Keet showcasing his 2012 First Verse. It is the five varietal Bordeaux blend that he does so well. Elegant and textured with soft chalky tannins and good supporting wood with layers of sweet fruit, and enough alcohol to make this wine last for decades, as all his wines do
Chef and owner of Aubergine Restaurant and Auslese, Harald Bresselschmidt, with his broken arm. Perhaps he should stay off his bike! Not his drinking or prepping arm, thank heavens. He is with his sommelier, Pardon Taguzu, and Ralph Reynolds
David Sonnenberg shows his Diemersfontein wines and their 10 year old pot still brandy, with sweet prunes, vanilla bonbons and chocolate, to Tatiana Marcetteau of the Cape Grace. We liked the Carpe Diem Viognier 2014 filled with fennel spice and orange. The Carpe Diem Malbec 2014 has meaty umami wildness, bunches of soft sweet fruit and a nice buzz, such a good food wine. And the Shiraz 2015 is also showing well. Elegance from its expensive oak with sweet cherries, spicy pepper and some grippy tannin. The 2014 Merlot has no green stalkiness, being full of soft red berry fruit and spice
Bevan Newton Johnson pouring Lynne a glass of their refined Family Vineyards 2015 Chardonnay. We also liked the excellent green, layered 2016 Sauvignon Blanc. They showed three Pinot Noirs: the Family Vineyards 2015 has a pretty, perfumed nose with roses, soft red fruit on the delicate palate with a note of wood on the end. The Walker Bay is speaking loudest now, with rose geranium and umami on the nose, robust red fruit on the silky complex palate with good forward acids which will soften with time. Needs 5 years. In a good cellar. Ours. We were impressed at how good the second label Felicité Pinot Noir 2015 is and, if you love Pinot but baulk at some of the prices, this is one to look at. We suspect, with the dark wood background, that this might reward with a little age too. The Felicité Chardonnay is also worth a look as it is pumping well above its station. You will find these on many wine lists, try them
Selfie Time for Shirley Muswema with Chris Keet and his First Verse
James Petersen, sommelier, judge and wine retailer with Jeanette Bruwer of Springfield. This is always our first chance to taste and compare their two Sauvignons Blanc, Life from Stone and Special Cuvée. This year Life From Stone takes the lead with its green pyrazine elegance, but it is young. Special Cuvée is hiding, but will emerge soon. The Wild Yeast 2014 Chardonnay is extra special, layered with lees on the end. The Method Ancienne 2012 Chardonnay is absolutely as described in their notes: sweet fruit, full of lime, Cointreau and oranges
Jessica Peens and Gunter Schultz on the Kleinood stand with the Tamboerskloof tongue-tingling Shiraz 2013 - layers of fruit and spice with soft chalky tannins and a long aftertaste. The Viognier still has a lot of wood and dark marmalade flavours. The 2016 Syrah Rosé is full of candy floss
Chris Keet with Admire Koroka from Norman Goodfellows
A nice selection of seared tuna, tender fillet steak and belly pork to assuage our hunger
Small deep fried parcels of minced meat
Happy and smiling. Marcha Cooke with David Brice and Caroline Rillema
Rian du Plessis of Pick n Pay in the V&A Waterfront, relaxing with a glass of Kleinood Viognier
The Somms are having fun. Joseph Dhafana of La Colombe and his friends, who confused everyone by swapping their labels
Bevan Newton Johnson pours a glass of Chardonnay
The ladies of the wine buying trade: Linda Nobrega, Mandi Giddey of Makro, Caroline Rillema, owner of Caroline's Fine Wines and Lydia Nobrega. The Nobrega sisters own and manage the Chapman's Peak Hotel in Hout Bay
Natalie Stanley with Paul Gerber, winemaker at Le Lude, who had his Brut Non Vintage and Rosé Non Vintage on show. Both lends of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and both classic examples of MCCs
It was a very well attended tasting; the room became a little hot during the afternoon/evening
John Collins with Carol Hawkins of Norman Goodfellows
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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