.: Harvest lunch at Jordan Wine Estate, Stellenbosch

Thursday, March 06, 2025

Harvest lunch at Jordan Wine Estate, Stellenbosch

A trade and media invitation we just could not refuse!

Welcomed with a glass of Jordan Rosé or The Outlier Sauvignon blanc - or chilled water for the very thirsty on a hot day

The Jordan Rosé is made from 70% Merlot, 30% Shiraz and grown on vines that are 20-22 years old

Fresh as a daisy, lovely perfumed nose, crisp and satisfying; the red berry notes showing the varietal character so well

The Outlier is a favourite Sauvignon blanc of ours, which we often order when eating at Jordan or at other restaurants

It's a classic Sauvignon blanc, but with layers, attitude and complexity, full of some extra tropical notes

Gary Jordan, owner of the Jordan estate, was here to see the harvest in
He said they have had such a good run up to harvest this year after a good wet winter,
almost a stress-free dream with no weather problems and slow ripening, just what is needed
It's a year of firsts. He predicts good wines

They are using drones to spray where necessary and it's a revelation which they will use in the UK,
where it will be even more valuable
Their 2024 UK vintage at Mousehall, their farm in East Sussex, was probably the most challenging in their experience
The rain started in May and finished the day after harvest at the end of October

They currently have a big replanting programme at Jordan, which started in August

Eleven hectares of new vineyards, mostly Assyrtiko, some Chardonnay

They are also replacing some vines that were planted in the 1950's

The Jordan Wine Estate, founded by the Jordan family, and Painted Wolf Wines, founded by Jeremy and Emma Borg,
have formed a business partnership, collectively hoping to make a significant and lasting impact on wildlife conservation
Painted Wolf has a strong environmental emphasis and supports the conservation of the endangered African Wild Dog
The Jordans also own a portion of a nature reserve in the bushveld and Painted Wolf fits in with this interest
The implementation of the partnership will take place over the next 12 months
It's aim is to produce the Painted Wolf wines in the newly refurbished Jordan Wine Estate cellar from 2025
and open a new brand home for Painted Wolf Wines on Jordan

They plan to make all the Painted Wolf wines on Jordan and streamline the offering

Fitting in with the Painted Wolf wine production, they are planting two hectares of Cinsault

The replanted old vineyards will house Chenin blanc and some really interesting red wines

like Mencía, a Spanish variety, which has nice, crunchy textured fruit, and Xenomavro from Greece, similar to Barolo

Gary has been very concerned about global warming and is planting varietals from the warmer European areas

As Gary said, a year of firsts; they don't even have one Pinotage vine to make the Painted Wolf Pinotage on Jordan,
so they have brought in a lot of Pinotage grapes coming from 3 different local blocks in Wellington, which was where Gary's family founded the Jordan shoes company

He told us that in the UK they are now growing up to 40 tons at Mousehall

where they planted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in 2019

The Timepiece range, made entirely from old vines, is all fermented in Amphorae, which they started buying in 2019

We then tasted some of the Assyrtiko, first planted here in 2019

Jordan now has 6.5 hectares of the grape. It's a really impressive wine

Golden fruit on the nose with peach, apricot and loquat; freshness, liveliness and zesty on the palate

with lime and lemon, long flavour layers and salty minerality on the end

Made in two concrete egg fermenters, it's a magic food wine

The Recorder. Now electronic as those rheumaticky hands don't write as fast as they used to!

Time to go into the cellar to taste wine, some fresh grape juice and some in ferment

Some chardonnay has come in early for bubbly and some Sauvignon blanc

Chenin blanc grapes were also coming in

and a bit of syrah... Cellarmaster Sjaak Nelson guided us through

One tranche of Chenin has come in at 22.5 Balling and 9,5% acidity;

it has gone straight to barrel to go through malolactic fermentation..

We tasted some fresh juice of the newly pressed Chenin and the Sauvignon blanc

Rosie, Sjaak Nelson's thoroughbred Alaskan Husky charmed us all

The aromatic Sauvignon blanc juice showed capsicum notes; it was very sweet with some salty minerality

The fermenting Sauvignon blanc had good pyrazines, perfume and was true to the varietal

As it has just started fermentation, the sweetness is still there; the sugers had not fermented out yet

It has character and promise

The Chardonnay juice had dark sugars, almost caramel,

and a good balance of sugar and lime acidiy beneath showing its future

The fermenting juice was almost too good to believe; yeasty umami on the palate with good acid and sugar balance

MD Jacques Styeyn took us through a tasting of the Chamelion Sauvignon blanc,

which has the classic green notes on both nose and palate

It is silky, crisp and long on the palate with lots of grapy flavours

Then the Jordan Chardonnay with richness, fullness and golden notes on the nose with a hint of lees

Golden fruit, crispness, a little pétillance, salty minerality and good golden lees roundness on the end

The Jordan Chameleon Research Bursary is an initiative started by the Jordans,

whereby the tuition and research costs of a PhD student will be funded

from the proceeds of worldwide sales of the Jordan Chameleon range

This will have a huge conservation benefit for the Cape Dwarf Chameleon

Barney, one of the two pneumatic presses; there is also another. Jacques called them fossils, still working hard.

Taking us through the complex wine making process during harvest

A pour of the fresh grape juice

Two of the interns working in the cellar, Morgan Harrison and Lou Barthes, who has come from France

Into the barrel cellar with MD Jacques to hear the ins and outs of how and why wine is matured in barrels

New French oak barrels still wrapped awaiting the juice

The Cave, with maturing wines and the reference archive of past vintages

Two wine people, Negociant John Collins (he represents Jordan and other wine farms)
and Taster, Teacher (he taught us when we were Diploma students in the 90s) and bon vivant Dave Swingler

Time to go down to the tasting room which had been set up as the lunch venue for the media and trade that day

Marketing manager Bianke Ohle with the Inspector Péringuey Chenin blanc and the Chardonnay

Lots of older vintages to taste with lunch. The first one we tasted was the 2017 Long Fuse Cabernet sauvignon Magnum

Dark and opaque, with mulberry cherry , blackcurrent and incense wood

It still has tight tannins, a zing of red berries, freshness, chalkiness and then even more berry fruit. It has years to go

Next the 2022 Prospector Syrah from the mother block. Very perfumed ("I'd wear it", says Lynne) some pepper
On the palate. it is full of layered fruit, with pepper and spice. Acidity support and wood too

Then the masterpiece, the 2017 Cobblers Hill Bordeaux blend, which was passed to us to taste blind

"Thats GOOD!", Lynne said, not knowing what was in the glass

Incense wood, cherries, berries and so satisfying. It went beautifully with the food as well

The whole wine range was there to taste, including the excellent Timepiece range of Old Vines wines - Sauvignon blanc, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Cabernet sauvignon

The Harvest lunch menu