Franschhoek Visit - Cellar Tour and Tasting at Rickety Bridge

Tuesday dawned damp and grey, so we were pleased that we had invitations to wine farms to fill our day

First to Rickety Bridge, where you can stay at the Manor House,

visit the winery to taste the wines and eat in their restaurant, Paulina’s,
which is currently open on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 09h00 - 17h00
Breakfast is served from 09h00 - 17h00 and lunch from 11h00 - 17h00
Or order a picnic to have on the lawn or in the restaurant, if the weather is not good

The entrance to the tasting room

There to greet us was MD Jan van Huyssteen

We met winemaker Donovan Ackermann who took time out of his wine making to give us a very good tour of the cellar and a great barrel and tanking for which we are very thankful. He showed us these Cinsault grapes that had just come in and we tasted them. They were deliciously sweet and had characteristic flavours of the grape. And a sweet late-harvested Colombard grape, which is headed for a straw wine

Tanks are full from all the white wines picked this year. They were waiting for the approaching storm to pass over before picking more red grapes. Many of the winemakers we spoke to said that they had no option; the reds are not yet ready for picking. We saw the Rickety Bridge stok-by-paaltjie Shiraz grapes at the entrance and they look magnificent. Echalas, also known as ‘staked vines’ or ‘stok-by-paaltjie’, is mostly used in the wine producing regions of Côte-Rôtie in France, Priorat in Spain and Mösel in Germany

We had a tank tasting of fermenting wines from their concrete tanks, Chenin and Pinotage

which are both rich and complex, and the good fruit is showing great possibilities

A special treat to taste a barrel sample of the pink Semillon Gris, It is a mutation of the green Semillon Blanc. It seems that it mutated here in the Cape, and was first seen and identified in the 1800's. It reminded Lynne of Austrian wines she has had

The barrel. We hope we do get to taste it when it has been bottled; it normally produces really good wine

A fermenting cap of Pinotage in small plastic tanks

It is a very busy time in the cellar. These grapes are fermenting in the white tanks

You might be interested to know that Rickety Bridge sells a Wine tasting kit
- it could be great if you have an interest in blending wine or have a wine club

The barrel cellar with large oval Foudres at the end. These hold very large volumes of wine and were much used in the past, but they are reappearing in wine cellars because of the positive effect they have on wine. A foudre gives a greater ratio of volume to surface area so that any impact of oak on the wine is gentler even when barrels are new

Donovan gave us a tasting of a very good 2021 Chenin Blanc with a smooth and silky texture, lovely layered fruit

We cannot wait to see this in bottle

There is also an old vine 2021 Semillon in a foudre

We thanked Donovan very much for a super cellar tour and tasting

It was now time to go to the tasting room with tasting room manager Dylan van Dyk,

who had also been with us in the cellar

A fire was lit and it was a great comfortable place for a tasting on a rainy day

Two Paulina's Reserve wines to begin the tasting. A Sauvignon Blanc 2019 from Elim, which was matured in a foudre, making a Blanc Fume in style, slight smoke on the typical Sauvignon blanc nose. A good texture, good fruit and acidity in balance; a definite food wine which we scored highly. As did others. The 2018 Chenin Blanc had 50% new oak. It has a dive-in nose; the fruit is there, but just peripheral, with rich layered fruit; and completely different on the palate. Expecting rich fruit with some sweetness, it was lean and crisp with lots of sophistication and class, hints of a Semillon, with a slightly oily texture, flavours of English gooseberries, granadilla

and then the 2017 Paulina's Reserve Semillon; the grapes are from the renowned old Landau de Val vines where the oldest vineyard was planted near the beginning of the Twentieth Century. The classic grey nose of Semillon with smoke and cooked apple in the background. On the palate, it is clean, textured, dry white peach, greengage with good wood supporting on the end. A wine to drink now, but also to cellar. Then three from the Printers Devil range. The 2018 white, The Gremlin is made of 50/50 Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Figgy leaves, salted caramel, good texture and sweetness mid-palate, long crisp flavours. A food wine

The Printers Devil Rosé 2018, named Titivillus from Grenache Noir grapes which come from Bot River. Earthy with pomegranate mulberry and a little smoke. Crisp and zingy, with tangy pomegranate and citrus flavours; also a food wine. The Printers Devil Red 2017 Belphegor (all are named for phantoms) is 90% Cinsault and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. A portion is made in a concrete tank and the Cabernet in new French oak. Cassis, cola, red currant and incense wood on the nose; silky, soft lovely tannins and red berry fruit, then a zing of acid wakes it up. It has the legs to last

It was now about 1 pm; we had tasted quite a lot of wine and we were very, very grateful for this platter of cheese and charcuterie, olives, figs and pickles that they conjured up for us. It was quickly hoovered up

Then a very special wine indeed. The Pilgrimage Reserve 2017 Old Vine Semillon, from Block 905 on Landau de Val farm. Limited to 1600 bottles, each numbered. Classic style Semillon grey nose, a little shy, but then, on the palate, it is a blockbuster wine, not shy at all. It has the classic oily mouthfeel one expects, orange, citrus, warm alcohol with citrus zest on the end, and is well supported by wood. It scores very high points in international and local competitions and tastings. We loved it

The Paulina’s Reserve Old Vine Cinsault 2020. This was a Rickety Bridge collaboration with their wine club, made by Donovan and Dylan. It has that classic dusty Cinsault nose, with cherries and red berries, showing almost Pinot Noir like character on the nose with wood ash on the end. On the palate, an explosion of sweet cherry and prune plums, nice chalky tannins and dark licorice wood. Yummy

The Rickety Bridge Flagship is The Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 from vineyards on the farm. A classic Cabernet cassis nose, with incense, French oak and enticing richness. It is a full-on Cabernet; lots of everything, fruit, wood, grippy tannins and long flavours of dark cassis and black berry fruit; lots of quality and class and lasting ability

The final wine was The Sleeper Shiraz 2017

Good wood, black berries and very full of enticement on the nose

Sweet black fruit, spicy with black pepper, cumin and turmeric notes

gentle supporting wood and it demands food immediately you taste it

We liked all of the wines, even loved a few, and this is not usual

We conclude that Donovan is a very talented winemaker

Go and taste and see for yourself. Thank you so much all at Rickety Bridge

It was good to see people in the tasting room on a very, very chilly and wet Tuesday morning

As we left, we could see the rain falling in the mountains and over the vineyards

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