Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Wade Bales 2019 CT Wine & Malt Whisky AFFAIR at 15 on Orange

This great annual Wine and Malt Whisky tasting is always a privilege to visit; so different from the rather disappointing Whisky Live show which we attended last week, which had more gin than Whisky. The wines Wade has on display are always really good brands and it is so enjoyable chatting to the people behind the tables about the wines while we taste. The whiskies are also from distinguished labels
Brian Smith pouring the Bouchard Finlayson wines
Wim Braak chats with Lynne about the Cavalli range of wines
Horses are their thing!
Wow, what a super presentation box of Ernie Els wines. We had a private tasting of these with our wine club this week and were so impressed. See Our Wine of the Week this week: It’s the Ernie Els Syrah, which we also had at lunch on Polling Day, after everyone had voted
Filling out an order form
Maggie Marais, Delaire Graff Brand Ambassador
On the De Wetshof stand, we greeted Heinrich Bothman and had to sample two of our favourite Chardonnays,
the Limestone Hill and the Bateleur, so different, but both so unique and special
Constantia Glen CEO Horst Prader with marketing manager Gus Allen
Rascallion's Ross Sleet with his daughter
Alan Wickstrom of Klein Constantia
There were wine stands all around the circular bar as well
Shaun Terry on the well stocked cheese buffet
Very necessary with all this wine and whisky and many people had come from work
Everyone wanted her photo! Cheers!
Martin Smith of Paserene, whom we visited last year
Michelle Stewart and Harry on the Mulderbosch stand
Eddie Turner of Meerlust
Lynne then told John that we needed to taste some Whisky and into that special area we went. We tasted some lovely old malts, mostly from Speyside, as that is where we plan to visit later this year, and we need to make some contacts
This gentleman had very fixed ideas about what he wanted to taste and what he didn't. He was tossing lots away
We loved the Arran 18 year old!
Stuart Botha, Tokara winemaker, discusses the effect of a little water. Just one drop can make a very big difference in taste 
We are rather fond of Bunnahabhain Whisky and both of these were superb. Deanston is a new label for us
It is rather a male event in the room, but some of us women rather enjoy our Whisky
You do have to duck and dive a bit to get to the counters; it helps if you are small
Master distiller Andy Watt, explaining the different strengths and ages of Three Ships Whisky
and who should we bump into but old friend Ed Saunders, owner of Knife - Long Street, Fork - Century City
(and, at last, Spoon! which is inside Knife) restaurants and his lovely wife. Always fun
and we managed to capture Wade Bales in a group photo
Gus Allen with Wade Bales. Thanks Wade, another spectacular event
And then it was time for us to order the Uber to take us home. We never drive after an event like this
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

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