Blaauwklippen in Stellenbosch is famous for making Zinfandel. Once a year they allow the media to taste one of their iterations of
this interesting grape. This year, the 10th Blaauwklippen Zinfandel tasting, it was a
vertical of the sweet Noble Late Harvest from 2007 to 2014. Blaauwklippen have
also been making Brandy, Eau de Vie & Grappa for several years, now they
have ventured into Gin, which is currently undergoing a huge renaissance in
South Africa and abroad. The tasting was held at the Cape Grace Hotel this year. We
began with the tasting of 8 wines, and ended a lovely meal with a taste of the
gin
The line up of the NLH
Zinfandel
We began with another
Zinfandel, their MCC, the Diva. Yeasty brioche, apple hints, with some lemon zest,
this is enjoyable and fun
Lots of it on ice
Canapés were served with the
Diva. These small choux buns were filled with a fig chutney and a goat’s cheese
mousse, so crisp and melt in the mouth
Scallop, served ceviche style
on avocado mousse with passion fruit, went so well with the Diva. But Lynne's
got whipped away before she could finish it
Small cured salmon twirls on
crisp rosti with a Hollandaise sauce. Only saw them once, they were very good
Greg Landman of Country Life
wearing his gift from the queen
We take our places for the
tasting to begin
Some tasty bits of news?
Cellarmaster Rolf Zeitvogel
tells us how these wines began. The grapes in 2004 had very high sugar so he
decided "why not try to make a port?" He employed one of SA's top
port makers - Danie Malan at Allesverloren in the Swartland - as an advisor and
they began. But it didn't go according to plan as a heat wave shrivelled half
the grapes and increased the sugars to over 40º Balling, so they were not
suitable for port, said Danie Malan. They were fermented on the skins in oak. Rolf
decided to make it into a sweet dessert wine and used the fact that the grapes
get the Noble Rot, Botrytis
cinerea, in some years. Rolf had to convince the Wine and Spirit
Board who, at first, rejected it as they ruled that there are no red Noble Late
harvests. Rolf eventually persuaded them to adopt Zinfandel into this category.
Similar wines are made in California, where much of the world's Zinfandel is
grown. Blaauwklippen’s oldest block of Zinfandel was planted by Walter
Finlayson in 1982 and these wines come from that original block. They do
everything in the vineyard to encourage the Botrytis
Winemaker Narina Cloete, who
started at Blaauwklippen last year, tells us about the vintage and how it is
made. She took us through the 8 wines
The wines are mainly cranberry
in colour except for the 2009, which is much darker. They are very sweet, some
having very high residual sugar, in the region of 350 gm/l. We started with the
youngest 2014 and worked our way back to 2007. The flavour can vary from
Ribena, to cranberry, honey bush tea, cassis and other sweet ripe berries. Some
are rather syrupy. There is one standout year, which many people in the room
preferred, the 2009, where the wine is much more port like, which made everyone
wonder what would have happened had they continued on this path. It has an RS
of 190 g/l, the age is beginning to show well as it matures. It has a definite
port nose and palate, complexity with a bit of wildness, length and depth of
fruit and spice, with hints of nutmeg and cinnamon
Time to go into lunch. We
cleansed our palates with another glass of Diva
In the restaurant
The menu
The first course was a small
square of tender Confit Pork Belly (not fatty), topped with a large grilled
and peeled prawn, on a bed of sweet, spicy, curried pumpkin purée and a mango
salsa. This was paired with the White Zinfandel, a good dry wine match for the
food; crisp and fruity with citrus and loquats. Most of us wanted another one;
this was a very good dish
The main course was tender
seared ostrich fillet with a black pepper and coriander seed crust, so like a
good steak au poivre. Lynne converted Winnie Bowman to appreciating ostrich steak. It
came with a delectable thick, shiny pear & meat jus. Luckily, someone at
our table called for more of the sauce. Served with good creamy mashed potato,
and a crisp onion streusel for texture, broccoli spears, baby carrots,
courgette, mushrooms and onion slivers. Naaaice as they say in SA. The wine
paired with this was the 2015 Red Zinfandel, now in a Burgundy bottle with new
packaging. Spicy cinnamon on the nose, with red berries and rhubarb and dark licorice, dry tannins, a heavyweight and heady. Perfect for steak
The dessert was made to echo
the Gin flavours and was a orange semifreddo, with coffee poached pears,
honeycomb, gingerbread crumble fresh orange segments and candied orange zest
And now to taste the new gin
It
was served neat, and ice cold. Lots of different layers of aromas and flavours,
hot alcohols, and complexity. On the nose, herbal notes, with coriander seed,
Eucalypts, wormwood, some quinine bitterness and floral perfume at the end. Citrus
flavours abound, juniper is there and then too many to describe. Apparently it
has many, many different added ingredients. The makers did a trip from Gariep
in Namibia and added some inspirational flavour notes at each of the stops! Lynne
added a teaspoon of water and it changed into a much softer drink, with even
more flavours and aromas
Michelle Coburn of Taste
Magazine enjoying the aromas in the Gin
Michelle Coburn with Seth Shezi
at the end of a good meal and tasting
With coffee we were served
plates of friandise, poppy seed macarons, guava jellies and the most amazing
chocolate and shattery butterscotch bark with added rosemary
The
two sisters, Narina Cloete with her sister Nanette, Blaauwklippen’s Hospitality
manager
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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