Another
annual event that we look forward to. John Collins represents some excellent wine farms and many of them are releasing their new wines at this time of the year. This tasting was to showcase these wines and to remind the trade of the excellent quality that these farms produce
The Cape Town Club is in Queen Victoria Street
A selection of the canapés which we were offered
Gary and Kathy Jordan with their wines. We
particularly like the 2015 Nine Yards Chardonnay, intense layers of rich golden
fruit with great balance, minerality and softly supporting wood. The Real McCoy
2015 Riesling has that good balance of sugar and acidity and unctuousness and
no hint of terpenes
Gary chats to customers about the wines
Chris Keet showcasing his 2012
First Verse. It is the five varietal Bordeaux blend that he does so well. Elegant
and textured with soft chalky tannins and good supporting wood with layers of
sweet fruit, and enough alcohol to make this wine last for decades, as all his
wines do
Chef and owner of Aubergine Restaurant and Auslese, Harald Bresselschmidt, with his broken arm. Perhaps he should stay off his bike! Not his drinking or prepping
arm, thank heavens. He is with his sommelier, Pardon Taguzu, and Ralph Reynolds
David Sonnenberg shows his Diemersfontein wines and
their 10 year old pot still brandy, with sweet prunes, vanilla bonbons and
chocolate, to Tatiana Marcetteau of the Cape Grace. We liked the Carpe Diem Viognier 2014 filled with fennel spice and
orange. The Carpe Diem Malbec 2014 has meaty umami wildness, bunches of soft
sweet fruit and a nice buzz, such a good food wine. And the Shiraz 2015 is also
showing well. Elegance from its expensive oak with sweet cherries, spicy pepper
and some grippy tannin. The 2014 Merlot has no green stalkiness, being full of
soft red berry fruit and spice
Bevan Newton Johnson pouring Lynne a glass of
their refined Family Vineyards 2015 Chardonnay. We also liked the excellent
green, layered 2016 Sauvignon Blanc. They showed three Pinot Noirs: the Family
Vineyards 2015 has a pretty, perfumed nose with roses, soft red fruit on the
delicate palate with a note of wood on the end. The Walker Bay is speaking
loudest now, with rose geranium and umami on the nose, robust red fruit on the
silky complex palate with good forward acids which will soften with time. Needs
5 years. In a good cellar. Ours. We were impressed at how good the second label
Felicité Pinot Noir 2015 is and, if you love Pinot but baulk at some of the
prices, this is one to look at. We suspect, with the dark wood background, that
this might reward with a little age too. The Felicité Chardonnay is also worth
a look as it is pumping well above its station. You will find these on many
wine lists, try them
Selfie Time for Shirley Muswema with Chris Keet
and his First Verse
James Petersen, sommelier, judge and wine retailer
with Jeanette Bruwer of Springfield. This is always our first chance to taste
and compare their two Sauvignons Blanc, Life from Stone and Special Cuvée.
This year Life From Stone takes the lead with its green pyrazine elegance, but
it is young. Special Cuvée is hiding, but will emerge soon. The Wild Yeast 2014
Chardonnay is extra special, layered with lees on the end. The Method Ancienne
2012 Chardonnay is absolutely as described in their notes: sweet fruit, full of
lime, Cointreau and oranges
Jessica Peens and Gunter Schultz on the Kleinood
stand with the Tamboerskloof tongue-tingling Shiraz 2013 - layers of fruit and
spice with soft chalky tannins and a long aftertaste. The Viognier still has a
lot of wood and dark marmalade flavours. The 2016 Syrah Rosé is full of candy
floss
Chris Keet with Admire Koroka from Norman Goodfellows
A nice selection of seared tuna, tender fillet
steak and belly pork to assuage our hunger
Small deep fried parcels of minced meat
Happy and smiling. Marcha Cooke with David Brice and Caroline Rillema
Rian du Plessis of Pick n Pay in the V&A Waterfront, relaxing with a glass of Kleinood Viognier
The Somms are having fun. Joseph Dhafana of La
Colombe and his friends, who confused everyone by swapping their labels
Bevan Newton Johnson pours a glass of Chardonnay
The ladies of the wine buying trade: Linda Nobrega,
Mandi Giddey of Makro, Caroline Rillema, owner of Caroline's Fine Wines and Lydia Nobrega. The Nobrega sisters own and manage the Chapman's Peak Hotel in Hout Bay
Natalie Stanley with Paul Gerber, winemaker at Le Lude, who had his
Brut Non Vintage and Rosé Non Vintage on show. Both lends of Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir and both classic examples of MCCs
It was a very well attended tasting; the room became
a little hot during the afternoon/evening
© John & Lynne
Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016
