Monday, April 10, 2017

Tasting Mèthode Cape Classique with Charles Fox

We popped into Charles Fox's tasting room on Sunday morning and were treated to a tasting of their MCCs. This collection of classic Mèthode Champenois always impresses. The wines all rate 4½ stars in Platter
A display of magnums in the large tasting room. They currently have six hectares producing the grapes for the wine, three more will come 'on stream' next year. This will enable them to do a Non Vintage which will be mostly to supply hotels and restaurants
They have three Mèthode Cape Classique wines in the standard range. They are also one of the few  South African farms with Pinot Meunier. There is a line of elegance that runs through all the wines. We began with the Vintage Brut 2013; R240 on the farm. Clean apples and pears with a nice crispness. Hints of apricots on the end palate, this wine has an attractive age component. Their Champenois advisor is French Champagne maker Nicolas Follet
Charles Fox with his flagship 2012 Cipher Brut 
We were lucky enough to be able to taste this wine which is available on-line only until the end of April. Only then will it be released in the tasting room. R460. It is a big wine, bready brioche yeast, huge crispness and leanness with rich apple sauce, some nice chalk with a lasting memory of fragrant lemon. It had four years on the lees

 Then we tasted the Vintage Brut Rosé from 2012, R250 on the farm. It is bready, slightly minty, sparkling raspberry juice, very pleasing. Lovely fruit, no noticeable sugar, just long raspberry & strawberry flavours at the end. A wine for celebrations, breakfasts and long lunches
Charles with his wife Zelda
Next, the 2013 Blanc de Blanc, R360 on the farm, usually our favourite style of bubble. It has brioche, jasmine and apple on the very sophisticated nose, and is lean and dry on the palate, showing so well. It is full of apple flavour and you are left with a lingering taste of green apples
The spectacular view from the tasting room balcony of the Elgin valley and mountains beyond

We also tasted Zelda’s "gummy bear juice", a red wine made from Pinot Noir. It is not being released under the Charles Fox name, but under his mother's surname, M C Furneaux. They have just received certification. It is low in alcohol (12%) and sulphur, almost organic. Dark garnet in colour, aged in older oak barrels and not normally available for tasting. There is incense wood, soft sweet berries, minerality, light easy drinking, more in the Mercurey style for us, uncomplicated
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Breakfast at South Hill

We needed to have a good breakfast in Elgin on Sunday morning and Nicky Wallace had recommended South Hill for breakfast the next morning and she was so right, it was superb. Owner Kevin King was on the farm that morning. He joined us for breakfast and gave us a tasting of some of their wines
John was up early and caught the dawn and the birds stirring
Flowers from a wedding the day before. South Hill is a very popular wedding venue. When we saw the accommodation available we understood why
The tasting room recovering from the wedding, and the shelves were being refilled
This is also where we had breakfast, admiring the beautiful vineyard views
The restaurant, which has a larger room through those doors, is also full of art by South African artists, all for sale
The menu
John's cheese omelette topped with bacon
Lynne had the Eggs Benedict with salmon. It was quite splendid. The eggs were perfectly cooked with the yolks runny, the white firm, the Hollandaise perfectly seasoned with just a little bite of lemon. It came on a slice of ciabatta, topped with well seasoned spinach and was accompanied by crisp slices of wild mushroom. The best in a long time
With breakfast comes toast and preserves. We also had lots of black coffee and were impressed, as they had a water problem and sorted it out so that the coffee machine worked. Kevin joined us for breakfast as did his son Ben and Ben's wife. Kevin unexpectedly and very generously paid for our breakfast
The King of the Hill, is a single barrel 2015 Chardonnay made for Kevin by winemaker Matthew van Heerden (previously of Uva Mira, now at Grande Provence). This is made from best terroir Elgin grapes
South Hill wines are made by their wine maker, Sean Skibbe. We tasted the 2015 South Hill Syrah; light berry fruit and wood with warm tea, black pepper and garam masala spice, it is smooth, subtle and sappig. Then the Kevin King 2014 Pinot Noir called the Bazza (named after Kevin's father) Soft and sweet fruit with a tang, vanilla oak on the end. It has layers of cherries and mulberries. Age this
Then the Kevin King 2015 BBK Malbec named for Benjamin Barry King, Kevin's son. A savoury meaty nose, incense wood, its intriguing with some maraschino cherry on the end of the nose. Soft licorice with salt, this has great fruit concentration of dark berries and some herbs, chewy chalky tannins, this is made for rich meat dishes and stews
The Mica red blend of Shiraz (50%) Mourvedre (25%) and Barbera (25%) is a Southern Rhône style blend, a full on warm berry fruit attack, with herbs, vanilla and coffee mocha wood, wildness from the Barbera, very satisfying.
One of the family dogs enjoying Sunday morning
Kevin and his son Ben
The vineyards on the hill
Cape honeysuckle loved by sunbirds
We went on a short tour of the accommodation with the family and the dogs
The South Hill logo spears in the chef's vegetable garden
A trellis made with old vine stocks, just waiting for the climbing beans and peas in winter
South Hill do have a popular wedding venue. The wedding party had just moved out of the Guesthouse, which is a five bedroom, en suite luxury villa which can be hired. http://www.southhill.co.za/guesthouse/index.aspx. It has room for the bride and groom and for several guests. They can entertain themselves in the lounge and the kitchen. As the beds had not yet been made, we didn't take photographs of the bedrooms. They also have Pumphouse Honeymoon Cottage
A spiral staircase in the house separates the bridal pair from the rest of the party
An outside braai at the Guesthouse
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