Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Cape Wine Masters Graduation lunch at Durbanville Hills

An invitation to attend the induction of two new Cape Wine Masters at a lunch
held in the Tangram restaurant at Durbanville Hills
Tangram is a Chinese geometrical puzzle consisting of a square cut into seven pieces
which can be arranged to make various other shapes
Some of the wines now bear this name

A friendly welcome
with a glass of Durbanville Hills special Blanc de Blanc 2015 Cap Classique with some good age character
90% made in tanks and 10% made in old barrels
With lovely, full and exciting fruit, some savouriness,
it's a bone-dry Chardonnay, wood is discernible and it still has a good mousse

Kobus Gerber, Durbanville Hills white winemaker, Andy Roediger CWM, Wilhelm Coetzee, red winemaker

Mary-Lyn Raath CWM, Albert Gerber, MD at Durbanville Hills, Lyn Woodward CWM, Burton Swain, Heineken

First a tasting of Durbanville Hills wines, beginning with their just released 2023 Sauvignon Blanc
Identifiably Durbanville, with floral perfume, some green pyrazines and a little hint of hanepoot
Zesty and full on the palate with lime, guava, granadilla and a little green pepper
The 2016 Tangram Bordeaux style white blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon
was the first vintage of the blend with grapes specially selected from the vineyards
Each varietal was matured separately for two years, after which only the best barrels were identified for the final blend
Golden fruit on the nose with a whiff of smoke; full on the palate with limes, melons, long flavours
Some salinity on the end, and it developed well with food

We were told that they can handle 8000 tons of wine in the cellar; it is the largest wine cellar in the world
Durbanville Hills 2021 Merlot has a concentrated nose, with dark cherry mulberry and plum
No barrels were used; chips were added to the 5000 litre tank
Silky soft on the palate, zingy and crisp fruit with long layered flavours
The 2016 Cape of Good Hope Collector's Reserve Cabernet is a cassis bomb
with berries and leaves on the nose and structure from 100% French oak
Cassis and morello cherry with leather
2012 Tangram Bordeaux Blend is a little balsamic with licorice and good fruit
The salty licorice follows through on the palate with good fruit and good wood holding it together
Showing some good age.

Bennie Howard made the opening speech and also spoke of Cellarmaster Martin Moore
who established Durbanville Hills and who, tragically, died earlier this year
We all miss him very much; he was such a good friend and mentor to us in our early career in wine

Inside the rather full restaurant

Wilhelm Coetzee, red winemaker, introduced us to the wines

Attentive staff

Kobus Gerber, white winemaker, spoke about his side of the business


The lineup of the wines we tasted 

Sharon Keith, Marketing Director, Heineken SA explained why Heineken, a beer and cider company,
bought into the South African wine market (Distell and Durbanville Hills)
We await a copy of her speech to add to this article

Marlee Malan, newly qualified CWM. She wrote her thesis on enzymes in wine. 

Sister and brother Cape Wine Masters, Kathy and Jeff Grier having fun

Heidi Duminy, Principal of the Cape Wine Academy,
told us that 275 candidates are registered to do the Cape Wine Master course

Marlee Malan accepting her certificate. She works for Vinochem
She said there are few things in life better than enjoying wine

Wine for lunch

The second new Cape Wine Master is Rudolph Steenkamp, a winemaker in his own right with Salt Rock wine
His Thesis was Conversion of Conventional framing to Organic.

He has worked for several wine farms in Constantia and Stellenbosch
He quoted Bob Marley, "Don't gain the world and lose your soul"

It is a very prestigious qualification and it takes a great deal of hard work to earn it
and rather a lot of wine tasting from all over the world, which makes it worthwhile

The Cape Wine Masters who attended the event
They also gathered for a weekend in the Hemel and Aarde valley
We have since heard that it was a very good experience

A lovely view across the vineyards, looking at "that damn quarry!" to quote Martin Moore
He hated it, it is an eyesore and eats up valuable wine terroir

Time for lunch. Grilled and very tender Chalmar beef fillet,
roasted corn puree, roasted baby potatoes, caramelized onion and sage relish with chimichurri

Line fish, pineapple yellow curry, fragrant cauliflower rice, tomato salsa and crispy calamari

Jacques Steyn CWM, current chair of the Institute of Cape Wine Masters and GM of Jordan wine estate in Stellenbosch

Melk Tert

Very rich and delicious chocolate tart, which was wonderful with the Durbanville Hills 10 year old Potstill brandy
with honeycomb, sable biscuit and toffee on the nose.  Hot and spicy apricots and peach on the warm palate

 A checkerboard of spring green vineyards, looking not at sprouting vines, but the cover crops

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