We began our third day in
Robertson at Springfield, where we tasted some of the new vintages in the
tasting room, specifically the Life from Stone and Special Cuvée Sauvignons
Blanc, and could not resist buying six of each. These wonderful wines are distinctly
different from each other, change during the year and vie for first position
Abrie Bruwer's daughter Jenna gave us an
informative cellar tour of their large production facility. (If you are not a Bruwer or a de Wet in Robertson, you are probably related to them). They put insulating
jackets on their cooling tanks.
Here she is explaining how they make the white wines
Underneath this floor are the
old Kuipe or concrete tanks, which are still used. They were being cleaned by
this worker and have to be accessed via those steel capped holes in the floor,
not a popular job
More gleaming tanks in the
spotless winery
A wall of bottles, and each one
can be removed without disturbing the others, should you want to
In the red wine barrel cellar
The bottling line is impressive
and was working that day
It is large but, apparently, is
about to be replaced by an even larger and faster one which will bottle under
nitrogen for increased stability and longevity
And the newly expanded deck
alongside the tasting room
Jenna's new puppy, a Vizsla,
has a lovely nature and is very inquisitive
A lovely place to enjoy wine on
a sunny day
The Springfield Life from Stone Sauvignon
Blanc. We also tasted something new, an Alvarinho 2018, This wine was first
tasted in Uruguay by Abrie and his sister Jeanette and they fell in love with
the grape. The nose is tropical and quite 'foreign' with a lovely muscat perfume.
Peach and nectarine with limes on the palate, juicy and young with long lime
flavours at the end. A lovely summery drink, that will pair well with food.
More farms are planting it so soon it won’t be so foreign. It is a dryland
grape that we had several times in Portugal. Newton Johnson also has one
Then on to our next farm, Paul
René on Wonderfontein where they produce two MCCs, a Brut and a Brut Rosé, made by Henk van Niekerk
The old Georgian house, which
was an orphanage at one stage
Inside the tasting room, a
chandelier of bubbles
The original distillers licence, granted to the farm in 1885
And a working petrol bowser;
every wine farm should have one
Henk with his son, Paul René,
after whom the MCC wines are named. Henk and his wife Monica moved to
Wonderfontein in 2008 and conceived the wine as a labour of love. Their first release was in 2013. Monica is responsible for the branding
We began with the Brut 2015, a
Blanc de Blanc made from 100% Chardonnay from the Langeberg which has spent a minimum
of 24 months on the lees. Bready and yeasty on the nose with hints of honey and
lime. A lovely prickle on the palate with crisp lemon and grapefruit, refreshing
with good minerality. We like this very much
A kiss from wife Monica
She is a talented designer and
illustrator and is the brains behind the beautiful packaging and design
Next we tasted the Rosé, which
is very pale, almost a partridge eye colour. 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay.
On the nose, raspberry Pinot fruit with bready yeast, a nice prickle with soft
strawberry and rosé flavours, it has complexity and some sweetness. Grown on
ripped shale
The vineyards at Wonderfontein
Next we were off up the
McGregor valley, right to the top to Lords Winery, where the weather was
anything but clement. We had to run from the car to the winery as the wind and
rain were horizontal and it was cold. This is the large tasting room which is
also a conference or wedding venue. The clever bar can be moved and even separated
into two parts to make separate bars
We tasted the Lords MCC Brut
with its many gongs. Made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Bready on the nose,
it spends 13 months on the lees and is bready and crisp on the palate. We also
tasted the three Barrels Shiraz 2012. Pale in colour, with smoke and juicy
fruit on the nose, lots of crisp fruit on the palate, lactic and warm alcohols
Their current range of wines. The
Sauvignon blanc is unwooded, and full of granadilla and tropical flavours,
crisp fruit acidity with grapefruit. The Rosé, made from 100% Pinot Noir has rose
petals and raspberry fruit. Strawberry and raspberry on the palate with good
acidity and some lactic flavours. The Pinot Noir has coffee choc vanilla with
green leaves on the nose, tart fruit acids on the palate. It needs time, with
dark wood on the end. Just released is the 2016 Shiraz, smoky and spicy with
fruit cordial notes on the nose, good fruit, but thin with long flavours and
very grippy chalky tannins
We were presented with a
platter for lunch with some biltong, local cheeses, ham, a liver paté, some humus
and some tiny cheese quiches, which certainly helped after all the wine and
filled us up nicely. Thank you Lords, GM Louwrens Rademeyer and Benita Gouws
for the informative tasting and nice lunch
The line up of their wines
And then back to Robertson and into the countryside behind the town to Mont
Blois and their vineyards, for our appointment with Ernst and Nina-Mari Bruwer.
They met at while studying Viticulture & Oenology at Stellenbosch
University and Nina-Mari joined them in 2008. She and Ernst are married. And Nina-Mari
is a Cape Wine Master
Their Cape Dutch house. The
family’s first wine farm in Robertson was bought in 1846 and the Mont Blois
Wynlandgoed cellar was built in 1884. Sweet muscadel wines were farmed in those
days. Six generations later, owner Ernst Bruwer now manages three farms in
Robertson: Mont Blois, La Fontaine and Sunshine. Mont Blois is named after the
picturesque town of Blois in the Loire in which the Bruwer antecedents originated.
They are both passionate about making site specific quality wines; they believe
in sustainable farming and that older vineyards should be cared for
The wines we tasted. The 2016
Kweekkamp Chardonnay (4.5 stars in Platter 2019) is grown in a single vineyard
on limestone soil. There is apple, honey and richness on the nose and clean
palate, with full flavours of more green apples and limes, minerality and some
chalk. The 2016 Hoog en Laag Chardonnay (4 stars in Platter 2019) is grown on
red clay soils, 500 meters from the Kweekkamp and is different. It has perfume,
fennel, nutmeg and nuts on the nose; on the palate, sweet oak vanillins with
fruit and limes, good minerality and richness on the end with hints of spice.
Two delicious and different Chardonnays, both well balanced and lightly oaked.
The 2016 Groot Steen Chenin Blanc (4.5 stars in Platter 2019) comes from 32
year old vines on the banks of the Breede River. Spicy and perfumed on the nose,
then honey richness and fullness on the palate, warm alcohols, lime marmalade
acidity to balance, clean and full of minerality
We tasted their 2018 Grenache Blanc
(4 stars in Platter 2019), recently released, with cooked apple and white grape
notes on the nose; good minerality, stone fruit, plums, pear, nice warmth and
texture on the palate, it has long flavours and is unfamiliar but very
enjoyable. Normally found as a component in Rhône blends, it is being adopted
by some good wine farms, so we expect to see more. Then two red wines: The 2016
Bacchus, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, has cassis and violets
on the pretty nose and pure fruit - layers of berries and cherries, warm
alcohol, and nice wooding which hints on the end palate. The Estate 2016
Pinotage is called Tarentaalsdraai. Chocolate and cherries on the very pretty
nose, soft sweet fruit in layers, nice chalk and lots of cherries - black and
red. Some complexity and definite aging potential
They still have stock of their
Superior 1984 Estate Muscadel
The line up of the wines we
tasted
Nina-Mari with a Coravin, an
interesting pouring device that pours a measured dose and tops the bottle up
with argon gas, so that it does not oxidise
Chatting about wine with Ernst
and Nina-Mari while we taste. They are a charming couple
Then a taste of the two Estate
muscadels The 2016 Pomphuis from across the river, a warmer farm, 260 gm/l
sugar. With honey, herbs and dry grass on the nose, full of thick honey and
limes, so well balanced. The Harpie 2016 has some Noble Late Harvest. It has
honey, apricots and dried peaches on the nose, with wonderful warm, sweet fruit
and honey on the palate. Two treasures. Both get 4.5 stars in the 2019 Platter
Long shadows began to stretch
across the lawn as we said thank you and goodbye and headed back to Cape Town
at about 4.30. We got home at 7.30, because there was a very nasty crash on the
R60 near Nuy. A farm with really good wines, well worth visiting and buying
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment