Arno Smith, the winemaker at Hillcrest Wine
Estate in Durbanville, invited us and other media to come and taste his newly
released wines named after his rather cute Jack Russell terrier, Saartjie. Each
of the four wines was paired with some tapas style food and a great evening
was enjoyed by all. The wines are now available for tasting and buying at the
Hillcrest tasting room.
This is Saartjie,
the winemaker’s 2 year old Jack Russell terrier who is his constant companion
and his muse and a loved and valued member of the team
Winemaker and
viticulturist Arno Smith. He was appointed general winemaking assistant to then
winemaker Graeme (Curly) Reed and he made the Sauvignon Blanc and the Rosé, In 2016 he was appointed General Manager and Winemaker.
This was his maiden vintage of the red wines
The farm is owned
by senior partners in Haw and Ingles, a Cape based construction company
specializing in road construction and rehabilitation. Besides wine, they also
produce olives, olive oil and now a range of craft beers
Broadcaster Guy
MacDonald gets some love
We began the
tasting with the Saartjie 2017 Semillon. Made in old white wine barrels, it is
in the oxidative style. They allow it to ferment naturally in the barrels and
add French oak staves. They made 1 barrel in 2016 which is now sold out, and 1,000
bottles in 2017. Oxidative whiffs, with honeysuckle perfume and 'fine herbes'. Nice
limes and cooked apple on the palate, rounded mutton fat texture, as you should
find in Semillon, a pinch of Durbanville salt and the wood supports but doesn't
show on the palate. A good, enjoyable wine, especially with food
The menu
The Semillon
proved itself as a food wine as it went very well with the two dishes served to
us: an unusual but good apple and camembert Strudel with figs...
... and cooked
pears, gorgonzola and walnuts on a quite tough pastry biscuit.
Then we tasted
the 2016 Malbec. Huge notes of expensive French oak on the nose with a little
violet. It is a dark, almost black garnet in colour and has intense fruit on
both the nose and palate. This is a 10 year wine. Dark berries , cherries,
plums and chalky grippy tannins with more violets on the end and some good
fruit acidity to help it last the distance. Our favourite wine of the evening
and we will try to keep our bottle as long as possible. Lots of quality
This was served
with Beetroot and goats cheese
and a rather sweet spicy butternut soup with a
parmesan cracker
Then the 2016
Cabernet Franc Still very young this also has lots of incense French oak on the
nose with some herbs, with red and black berries. Soft and sweet fruit on the
palate with some salty liquorice. It ends with chalky tannins and supporting
fruit acid, with a little wildness thrown in
We had this with
morsels of good roast pork on top of carrot puree and topped with a very sweet
spicy apple chutney ...
... and rather
dry chicken koftas on humus, topped with a nice moist smoky paprika tomato
relish
Then the 2016
Petit Verdot, which was very popular in the room. It has intense perfume,
cassis, coffee mocha on the nose, soft and sweet on the palate with good fruit
and a kick of acidity on the end to help it last. This will sell well, it is a
good expression of the grape
Accompanied by
some rare tuna chunks, seared on the bottom, topped with sesame and rolled
cucumber ...
... and awesome
rare roast beef slices on crisp rosti with good French mustard, the dish of the
evening and so good with the wine
Desserts to tempt
were date and coconut balls and extremely moreish dark chocolate Rocky Road
chunks which went well with the good coffee -they should sell these in the shop.
Lynne bought her annual 3 kilos bucket of black olives from the restaurant
shop, a bargain at R220. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, the wines, food and
the company. Thank you Hillcrest
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment