Thursday, June 13, 2019

Robertson Wine Valley's Wacky Wine Weekend 6. Weltevrede

Up bright and early on a wet and cold morning, we rushed the 45 minutes from McGregor via Robertson to Bonnievale
We were reluctant to take the quick route through the mountains because we had been told it could be slippery
on the dirt road, so we went the long way round
Our schedule said breakfast and we were rather hungry after the previous day's offerings of Roosterkoek
They had a marquee up over the restaurant tasting room area, but it was rather too cold to sit there, so we sat inside
The food on offer at Weltevrede
Chatting with Elzette van Zyl while enjoying a coffee and a cup of tea for Lynne
Our Breakfast Bun, filled with scrambled egg, nice crisp bacon and tomato ketchup
In good weather, they provide picnic baskets
A rainy day, very good for the vines
We were taken down into the underground cellars by Cellarmaster Philip Jonker for a candlelit tasting. They have opened up the old kuipe, concrete tanks in which wine was made in the past. The Jonker family bought the farm in 1912 and it has been worked by four generations thus far. The estate was founded by Klaas Jonker, whose pioneering soul led him to plant the first vines in the area. They still have the vines from the first wine made in 1926, it was a sweet muscat. These vines are now 96 years old. But, as Philip says, they have always responded to the changes in what people want to drink and so now concentrate on Chardonnays. He produces three terroir specific Chardonnays as well as four Méthode Cap Classiques, and some very good Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz
He told us some of the history of the farm and how his Great Grandfather started it
He says “My vision for the wines of Weltevrede is for them to be a pure expression of the terroir in which they are rooted
Our wine should have a personality dictated by the soil. It should have a sense of place”
It is quite romantic wandering through the kuipe tunnels, lit only by candlelight
As the other guests said, they must get through a lot of candles
We sat down to begin the tasting and began with the Philip Jonker Entheos MCC Brut,
made from a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, which spends up to 3 years on the lees
Bready on the nose, it has crisp apple and lemon zest on the sparkly palate, most enjoyable
Next, the Weltevrede 1912 Chardonnay from a single vineyard. We tasted the 2017 and the limestone terroir is very visible in this wine. Lots of fine minerality. It was fermented in French Oak barrels and has had no malolactic fermentation. Skin contact with batonage once a week. French oak matured for 6 months. It has golden fruit and some spice on the nose with butterscotch, pear, lemon, minerality and soft chalky tannins on the palate, with just a hint of wood
Philip wants these wines to be less showy but more elegant, show generosity of flavour and have complexity, which they do, and they are from unique sites. On the nose, the Place of Rocks 2018 reminded Lynne of a ripe cider apple orchard. It is full and round with crisp apple and lime flavours and dark wood. It is their most awarded wine, made in the Chablis style and is a wine we have bought several times in the past. Very clear oyster shell references to its terroir, a rock-filled vineyard
Next, we tasted the 2015 HardRock Cabernet Sauvignon, grown on shale. Rich red cassis berries, with hints of mushroom on the nose; it has lovely flavours of cassis with a little wildness and dark chocolate wood on the end. The Weltevrede 1912 Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 has more minerality and is complex and sophisticated on the very French nose. Chalky grippy tannins, soft juicy cassis with depth and length, it is sappig (juicy) and shouts "Have me with food!"
The 2016 Bedrock Black Syrah from mineral bedrock terroir has sweet black cherry, berry fruit with spice and black pepper and long flavours, chalky tannins; another juicy wine. The Weltevrede 1912 Shiraz 2017 has it all and is, as Philip says, "the whole Pizza!" with savoury flavours and aromas of tomato, spicy sausage, good umami notes, cassis and some salty licorice drop, good chalky tannins with long flavours. A beautiful wine, so enjoyable and so versatile. It was a very fine tasting of some lovely wines
The wines we tasted
A wintry landscape. They are using the rocks and the hay bales to build a werf (yard) in front of the cellar
Next we were invited to degorge our own bottles of bubbly, another new experience for us
On the way in, you could taste olives, tapenade and olive oils from Ballini farm
The MCC has been riddled (turned) gently over several weeks until all the fermentation lees are in the neck
They have to be removed, so just the last 3 cm of wine in the bottle's neck is frozen before degorging
This is a pupitre in which the MCC bottles are turned and tilted until they stand on the crown caps
with which they have been temporarily sealed 
We now had to take an opener and quickly take the top off so that the ice cap shot out, taking all the detritus with it
Done! just a little fizz, but you have to move quickly and put in a small dose of wine to replace that which has been lost
Some of the dosage can be sugar to slightly sweeten the very dry bubbly to the cellarmaster's taste
And then you quickly apply a champagne cork using this interesting machine which compresses the large cork and squeezes it into the bottle. Then the muselet (that metal cap on the top) and its wire cage are put on to make sure the cork does not come out. The bubbly is under several atmospheres of pressure from the fermentation. And it needs to stay that way so that it retains its bubbles
Lynne getting rid of her ice cap
We are Well Satisfied at Weltevrede
We attached the labels, front and back, the foil and the neck label and the bottle was ours to keep
And a gold pen was used to personalise our own bottles
Enjoying the day at Weltevrede. Thank you Philip and all involved for giving us such a great experience with your special wines
Posted by MENU at 8:51 pm 0 comments

Robertson Wine Valley's Wacky Wine Weekend 4. De Wetshof

Our next stop, after ExDiem and Ashton, was De Wetshof for a comparative tasting of Chardonnays from the area
The view up the jacaranda avenue is superb when it is flowering
The very elegant buildings and fountain of De Wetshof
We assembled inside the festival tasting area in the cellar
and made some new friends
The wines in the tasting
This is the list of the wines, in the order in which we tasted. A tasting like this really highlights how the different terroirs in the valley affect the wine. Robertson has several soil layers from sandstone to shale, down to the limestone and clay layers. The minerality of these soils does show in the wines and those with limestone clearly show citrus notes. Robertson is perceived as a hot area; it is not, the vines are cooled on summer afternoons by the South Easter wind and winters are cold, especially at night (as we found) and there can be frost. 27% of SA's Chardonnay is grown in the Breede River Valley and this is its largest growing area
The tasting was held in one of the underground cellar rooms and conducted by Johann de Wet, CEO of De Wetshof. All the wines showed well, whether wooded or unwooded and all showed that minerality. The nuances in the wines from different areas, different price ranges, different climates are so informative. The two that really stood out for us were the Excelsior Unwooded Chardonnay - slightly herbal on the nose with lees, it has a crisp tingle on the tongue with lemon and lime flavours, chalky minerality and some nutty flavours on the end and the De Wetshof The Site wooded Chardonnay which spends 12 months in new blonde toasted barrels. This has lovely golden fruit initially on the nose, then loquats and naartjie. It is full of flavour with grapefruit and lemons and lime on the end. Richness with length and complexity; this is a definite food wine. Of interest is that Excelsior and De Wetshof estates are almost next door to each other and the de Wet families who own these two farms are related. This part of the valley is where the first Chardonnays in South Africa were planted. Obviously a terroir we really like!
Journalists Anel Grobler and Jan Laubscher enjoying the tasting
One of our favourite sculptures at De Wetshof - a Bateleur eagle, which gave its name to De Wetshof's Premium Chardonnay
The sun was setting in the West as we left the farm. Thank you for a very interesting and enjoyable tasting; we love it when we learn more about the complexity of our industry and this was very informative and helpful
And clouds coming in hinted that the weather next day or even overnight might be wet. It was
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 6:58 pm 0 comments

Robertson Wine Valley's Wacky Wine Weekend 5. Zandvliet

Our tasting at De Wetshof finished at 5.30 and we were only expected at Zandvliet at 6.30 for 7. It would take an hour to drive back and forth to our accommodation so we had time to waste. Most tasting centres would be closed, so we went to see how the river was flowing from the red iron bridge that crosses it, on the way to Bonnievale
John took these pictures
Sunset was coming fast, so we then drove to the car park at Zandvliet and sat in our car listening to music
and napping for an hour until we saw others arriving and gauged that it was time to go in
The evening was becoming chilly and we were surprised to see that we were to be in a marquee
We found some seats; Lynne was served a Clemingold Gin - very welcome at that time of the evening
John, the driver, abstained and waited until the talk we had read about, "Tales of Travelling” by writer Erns Grundling
- stories of his Camino and Japanese pilgrimages
The Clemingold Gin stand was very popular and seemed to be free flowing
well presented, very welcome and was a great fillip for the exhaustion from the early start we’d had that morning
And warming, as the tent was rather draughty and chilly and we were grateful for our warm coats
There were lemons on each table which we were told were from a new pipless varietal they have developed;
we were encouraged to take some home, which we did
Our voucher bought us dinner, which was another roosterkoek, this time filled with barbecued pulled pork
or some very meaty vegetable soup, so thick it was almost a stew. John had both
And we had some Zandvliet Chardonnay with it, full of citrus flavours
Roxy, The Witty Wine Woman sending messages to her followers from her phone
There was some good live music before the talk
Time for the talk to begin, introduced by Charlene Nieuwoudt, PRO for Zandvliet
Sadly, although it was advertised in English, the talk was in Afrikaans, not Lynne's strong point
Erns Grundling began his travel tales. He had obviously had quite a tough time on the Camino, as he kept saying that his way of getting through it was repeating his motto: "This will pass". He seems to be looking for answers to life and seeking direction and referred to author Paul Coelho and to Henry David Thoreau and his book Walden; he spoke of Existentialism which had given him inspiration. Not sure he will do it again; it seemed an arduous time
He thought a pilgrimage would assist him
He spoke for an hour and a quarter and then there were several people who thanked him
He has published these books
Zandvliet wine could be enjoyed during the evening, it was on sale
Thoughtful
Reaching his audience
Zandvliet won a Gold Award for their 2015 Kalkveld Shiraz at the Old Mutual Trophy Awards earlier in the week
This farm has always produced award winning Shiraz; this is full of dark and intense black and red berry fruit,
with spicy notes, good expensive French oak wooding and lots of ageing potential
In the tent
The certificate for the Old Mutual Trophy Gold award
Good advertising for Clemingold on the wall
GM of Zandvliet and Winemaker, Jacques Cilliers
He sat at our table and brought us each a good glass of the prizewinning Kalkveld Shiraz,
which we enjoyed very much while the talk progressed
Thank you Jacques and Zandvliet for inviting us and providing dinner
Lynne discovered this lovely room with a very welcome roaring fire on the way to the bathroom and was able to warm up nicely in front of it. Then it was time to find our way back to our accommodation at Tanagra near McGregor. The night temperature went down to 8 degrees and we lit a fire when we got 'home'
It was definitely a night for nightcaps, thick duvets and hot water bottles!
Posted by MENU at 11:48 am 0 comments

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Robertson Wine Valley's Wacky Wine Weekend 3. ExDiem

We asked to visit some of the newer wineries which we had not yet visited and ExDiem was one of them. It is in the beautiful Klaasvoogds valley behind Kranskop and produces olives, olive oil and some wines
The tasting of all three wines, the olives and oil was held in front of the wine cellar
Their price list on the wall
Three strengths of olive oil, and four olives to taste: two green and two black.  The 6 500 olive trees, planted in 2012, are from the following cultivars: Frantoio, Koroneiki, Coratina, Mission, Noccelara, Manzanilla, Leccino, Kalamata, FS-17 and Don Carlo. The Noccelara olive, which Lynne tasted, has a distinct nutty flavour
Tasting the wines
Olives and oil to buy
We tasted three wines: A 2016 Chenin Blanc, a 2016 Chenin Hanepoot Muscat blend and a dark 2015 Pinot Noir
They were made by Lourens van der Westhuizen
Keeping the customers happy
After visiting Ex Diem and on our way to De Wetshof, we has a little time to spare; we had to pass Ashton Winery and sometimes they have bargains at festival time, so we called in and had a quick tasting of some of their wines
Inside the tasting room
Posted by MENU at 11:56 pm 0 comments
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