Riana Stadler Smit invited us to her Ree Marketing trade show at The Winchester in Beach Road, Sea Point
It was a very good, well attended tasting
But: A constructive comment:
Could tasting organisers please place the wine tasting tables in the order in which they appear in your catalogue?
It would save tasters so much time searching and avoid our missing some brands
The tasting room filling up, the tasting was very popular and soon would be choc-a-bloc
We started big. Rudi Schultz was showing five of his Schultz Family wines and they were all noteworthy and buyable
His Skeleton Bay 2024 Chenin Blanc has refinement, honeysuckle perfume, pear
and a hint of oak from fermentation in old Burgundian barrels
It is fruity on nose and the lovely balanced palate
The 2025 Chardonnay is reminiscent of Chablis, a classic nose and long crisp flavours
Fermented and aged in French barrels, 5% new, the balance 2nd and 3rd fill
The Pepper Street Syrah 2024 has bright fruit, incense wood, spice and layered fruit -
berries, pomegranate and some beetroot and black pepper on the palate. Serious!
Dungeons Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a true Cabernet, nose and palate meld together in concert
Silky and soft with great wood
Boneyards 2021 a blend of 86% Cabernet, 14% Petit Verdot
Incense wood and violets on the nose, so approachable and drinking so well, with fruit, wood and minerality in layers
Built to last and still a wine to keep
It's a mature wine and has had some wood, as it was matured in foudres
It has been in the SA top list of Sauvignon Blancs
Lynne was wowed and surprised at the Hidden Valley Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc
with its amazing prickle and enjoyable green flavours
with its amazing prickle and enjoyable green flavours
They also have a good Brut Cap Classique
On the back tray, beef tartare on biscuits
The canapé in front looked enticing, but we avoid sticky fingers on cameras and notebooks, so we didn't taste it
We recently tasted and wrote about Riebeek Cellars' Raar wines at the Shiraz Awards and really liked them
We used to sell lots of the Pieter Cruythoff Brut in our shop years ago, good to see this value wine is still doing well
Juno Wines are made by the Cape Wine Company
We were keen to taste the 2023 Old Vine Grenache Noir.
Shy on the nose with cherry fruit, and then full on the palate with sweet and sour berries in balance,
length and depth, a good food wine
Simonsig Brut Rosé has always been Lynne's go to Brut Rosé Cap Classique
It never disappoints, a good mousse, good fruit but restrained and subtle with the right amount of crispness
We were in raptures at the Simonsig Labyrinth Cabernet Sauvignon
A classical Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon from three select vineyard sites, one of which is a labyrinth
Aged for 14 months in French oak barrels. Rich and deep layered flavours backed by tobacco wood
And the Frans Malan, a Cape Blend of Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot,
honouring Simonsig founder Frans Malan
Matured for 17 months in French oak barrels
It has rose and violet perfume that Lynne would wear, minerality and incense wood
Cherry and pomegranate fruit good acidity, chewy chalky tannins with long well integrated wood, built to last eons
Simonsvlei Merlot has richness and good fruit and wood on the nose,
dark coffee wood and cherry fruit on the palate
Lynne has come up with an idea of how to entice the youth of today to drink more wine
If we can get them to drink these fruity Orange and peach wine-based Spritzers,
could we entice them into more sophisticated tastes?
The 2022 Zorgvliet Cabernet Franc has minerality and good berry fruit and smoke, green herbal notes on the nose,
a sophisticated palate, lots of cherry, berry fruit, minerality, chalk and supporting wood. Food calls
Their 2019 Flagship wine, Richelle is a Bordeaux blend
Very good wood smoke, minerality, vanilla and shy fruit on the nose
Ripe berry fruit: raspberries, tayberries and blackcurrant with grippy, chalky tannins. It needs time and should reward
Caprese sticks and a very innovative and different canapé,
almond macaroons topped with a spicy, savoury prawn cream
One of the best canapés ever, sticky roasted aubergine, which we speared with the caprese stick
A bubbly Carmen Stevens with her wines
We loved her 2024 Crisp Chenin Blanc, fruit then wood then layers of ripe pear citrus fruit minerality ad a hint of wood smoke
The Merlot was a deserving finalist in the 2026 Merlot Awards
All the stories we have produced since 2012
can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page
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