Continuing our day in Franschhoek, we had arranged
to meet winemaker Thinus Neethling in the tasting room. The farm is above
Franschhoek on the right hand side when you enter the village. It is also on
the Franschhoek Tram route. The farm has been owned by German businessman Chris
Hellinger, who bought the farm over a quarter of a century ago. We were so
pleased to see that they have extended the seating area for the Tasting room
outside in the sunshine. Inside can be a little dark.
Catching up! Thinus is
Cellarmaster, winemaker and viticulturist. We were joined a bit later by Bernard
Dewey, the Sales and Marketing Manager
We began with the 2017
Sauvignon Blanc, a good classic South African SB on the nose, grassy, green
leaves and some honey on the nose; this is not in the tropical style, and is
crisp and clean and very refreshing with zingy acids and green capsicum on the
end. The 2017 Unoaked Chardonnay has golden fruit on the nose, and is a
quaffing wine, with crisp citrus and peach notes and some nice chalk on the
end
The wooded Bordeaux style 2015
Reserve White blend has some 79% Sauvignon Blanc & 21% Semillon added and
is redolent of lemon and wood on the nose , on the palate rich with wood and
citrus fruit, and some creamy complexity
The star white wine of Chamonix
is the 2006 Reserve White 73% Sauvignon Blanc and 27% Semillon which wine
writer Tim Atkin MW scored a high 95. This is more elegant and perfumed and
very French in style. Crisp citrus with nice gentle wood, long citrus flavours
on the end, a truly impressive wine
Then two vintages of wooded
Reserve Chardonnay. The 2015 has vanilla oak, from 14 months in French barrels,
70% new, 10% second fill and 205 in a concrete egg. Crisp and fresh with long
flavours, wood follows with nice smoke on the end, will age well. The 2016 is
shy on the nose at first with smoke, lemon and citrus. Rich flavours on the palate
belie the quiet nose, more
Time to switch to red and we
started with the 2016 Feldspar Pinot Noir. Balsam hints and very ripe fruit on
the nose with some rose perfume. Heady with good fruit, warmth and more of
those roses, lovely to drink, a good food wine
Then the 2015 Reserve Pinot
Noir, a green leafy nose with a hint of eucalyptus and balsam beneath some
mushrooms. Full-on warm wine, silky and fruity with a minty eucalyptus hint,
long fruit, prunes and strawberries, The 2016 Reserve Pinot Noir has smoke with
some faint eucalyptus, intriguing, and pretty with roses and quality. A little
like the Hemel and Aarde Pinot style. Full palate of ripe raspberries,
mulberries, a success. Also a bit French, but not shy in fruit and delivery
Then the 2015 Greywacke Pinotage
of which 30% has been 18 months in new French oak barrels. An interesting
fruit driven nose, The wine has had some repasso treatment, where it is added
to a cask containing the skins and lees left over from recently fermented wine.
This triggers a second fermentation and increases colour, depth and alcohol. It
has good fruit, prunes, plums and raspberries, chalky tannins with some toasted
wood on the end and no metallic flavours. A wine made to last and age well
We paused for some light lunch
with two of Chamonix's meat and cheese platters
The Cabernet Franc 2015 is
savoury with dark berry nose, and perfume. Hot savouriness, smoke blueberries
and cassis, delicious
Then the flagship red, 2015
Troika, 48% Cabernet Franc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 15% Petite
Verdot. Balsam, cassis and violets, sweet berry fruit warm alcohol, will go
well with spicy foods with a good savoury end from the Cabernet Franc
Then a cellar tour. Thinus told
us that they farm dry land, they use organic yeast from Germany and they spray
just copper sulphate and sulphur when necessary, no other chemicals are used
The cellar has a black mould
which was specially imported from Germany, it keeps away other moulds
They were in the middle of
harvest, so we were very grateful to Thinus for his time spent with us
We met Mrs Barbara Hellinger in
the cellar; she was just off to Germany to see her husband, Chris
Lovely view from the cellar
door
Some of the very old and very
large German barrels which are still being used in the cellar
Destemmed grapes pouring in to the
open-topped barrel
Purple grapes
delivered by tractor
The Franschhoek Tram comes to
drop off and pick up visitors
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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