A wonderful trade tasting day at Waterford, Stellenbosch

Waterford Estate is one of the most elegant wine farms in the Cape. It is owned jointly by Jeremy Ord and his partner, Cellarmaster Kevin Arnold. To quote from their web site: “The winery was designed by architect Alex Walker and created from quarried local bedrock, stones from the vineyard and timber grown on the estate. It was styled along the engaging terracotta design of the classic Bordeaux chateaux of France”. The centre piece of the magnificent courtyard is the Waterford fountain which features on their wine label. It is a very welcoming place and we love to visit. The tasting room is more like a huge comfortable lounge in a luxury country hotel, especially when you can collapse into the soft sofas by the roaring fireplace on a chilly Spring day, with a glass of the Kevin Arnold Shiraz in your hand. This week, they held their trade open day with lots and lots of different ways to taste their wines. We loved it

A warm welcome when our shuttle from Cape Town arrived

You walk through the clementine orchard to get to the portico

With glasses of Waterford MCC we learn of the proceedings of the day from Jaap Pijl and put our name down for a barrel tasting in the cellar and then a blind tasting competition with their unusual varieties

Bouquets of flowers from the estate were made for every guest

And if you picked the right balloon there might be a prize in yours. We both did and each won a half bottle of The Jem, their flagship red blend

The tasting room had been bedecked with flowers and plants, which made it lovely and green and perfumed.

The table showing the two soil varieties found on Waterford: Hutton and Clovelly, separated by Koffieklip stones. From the right hand side, it shows the depths of the soils and how they change as they get deeper. The soil on the left ends in heavy clay, but starts with lots of stones which are good for vine cultivation. There was also a table showing some of the fynbos growing on Waterford. Lynne spent a long time speaking to the viticulturist David van Schalkwyk, who explained lots of things very clearly

A special table with a vertical tasting of The Jem, their flagship red Bordeaux blend. So interesting to see which years are best and to see how they have developed

Because of the rain all the tasting tables were set up on the central courtyard cloister

Doing a barrel tasting with the winemaker Mark le Roux. He showed us how a wine can be affected by the judicious addition of wood. Waterford believe in using wood gently

Mark had doctored the wine. One sample came from the barrel, the next had more wood added and the third one a lot of wood added. It does add structure but it also adds huge tannins and can add too much bitterness

The Barrel Cellar

Marcella James, visiting from South Carolina, came to Waterford to taste the wines and found that Reece Edwards, studying Engineering at Stellenbosch and helping at Waterford was also from that state in the USA

Time to do the blind tasting competition

Waterford have five fairly unusual grapes: Grenache, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Sangiovese and Barbera, which are used in their blends. We were given three of these randomly to identify blind

Kevin Arnold with Matthew, who guided the tasting competition

We tried to identify the varietals by colour, smell and taste

The varietals they grow. Lynne correctly identified two of them and won a half bottle of The Jem

Time for lunch. Cooked on a barbeque in the courtyard we had chicken or beef burgers, chips and crisp onion rings and buns

The lunch table - all the 'fixings' for your own perfect version of a hamburger
We could add all the usual accoutrement from a huge choice and there were three cream sauces: herb and garlic, cheese and, of course, mushroom. Delicious

Waiting for his share...

A lovely smile from Bereinice Engelbrecht and a beautiful array of flower

Lynne enjoying the Library wines

The huge array of delicious desserts

Great atmosphere and a great ending to a lovely informative day

Thank you Waterford team

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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A tasting at Uva Mira and lunch at Guardian Peak

Our wine club outing this month was a drive right to the top of the Annandale Road near Stellenbosch, to the heady heights and wonderful views of Uva Mira where we tasted some of their wines, after which we headed a little way down the hill to Guardian Peak for a really nice, relaxing and good value lunch

Winemaker at Uva Mira, Christiaan Coetzee

The Uva Mira price list. You can taste 3 Mira wines for R45, or 5 Mira wines for R75.

Christiaan very kindly added two more wines to our club tasting, the very elegant 2013 Mira Cabernet Sauvignon full of perfume, forest floor, cassis, black cherries with chocolate and liquorice on the long end. A beautiful quality wine. Also the 2013 OTV Bordeaux blend. OTV stands for Ocus Tobus Venter, the father of owner Toby Venter who is CEO of Porsche SA. This is a wine made to last made in 100% new oak barrels for 19 months is has good fruit, acid and heavy tannins to hold the structure through the years

A view of the vineyards and down the hill to the valley floor

One of their cheese & charcuterie platters for R175

A feathery windbreak of tall old pines

Guardian Peak at lunchtime. We had two tables of eight on the glassed in verandah

The very comprehensive menu

Slow cooked pork fillet on vegetables with creamed spinach and mustard mash

Grilled garlic and herb beef Espetada with salad and good crisp chips

A starter of crisp Tempura squid and prawns with a chilli dipping sauce, just lacked some salt. And a pear, gorgonzola and candied walnut salad

Rump steak, salad and chips. Apparently it was tender, flavoursome and perfectly cooked

Fresh fish of the day - yellowtail with chips and a salad

A huge hamburger topped with pineapple and cheese for John. We found the food to be good quality and value. With some glasses of individual wines and a bottle of their Sauvignon Blanc the bill for our table of 8 came to R190 per person with service. We will be back to try more of the dishes

The view of the Stellenbosch mountains and vineyards from Guardian Peak

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Wine Concepts' Seductive Sauvignons at The Vineyard

We love this festival, held every year by Mike Bampfield Duggan and his talented Wine Concepts team at the Vineyard hotel. Where else can you taste through some of the best Sauvignons, white and red this country has to offer? There were also a couple of MCC bubblies made from Sauvignon and it was a great evening, with some small taster dishes served throughout the evening while you walked around sampling the wines. A pity if you missed it. Their next superb festival will be the Champagne Festival later in the year. Check the Wine Concepts website for current tastings

Mike with the Constantia Glen 2015 Sauvignon Blanc: Crisp dry and elegant, as befits a wine of quality from Constantia

Tania du Preez with the D'aria wine which had the most 'gongs' on the bottle

Margaux Nel and Leon Coetzee from Boplaas

John Collins and Marcha Cooke of JC Wines after a busy day

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Blaauwklippen Blending Competition #32

Each year Blaauwklippen invites wine clubs to enter this competition and each year they select the varietals which will constitute a blend which they want the clubs to make. There are now clubs in five countries that enter and this year they were required to make a blend made to last from five classic Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Bottles of wine are sent to all the clubs and they come up with their own blend. We were invited to come and see the awards being presented last Friday on the farm and to taste the winning wine and to enjoy a really great lunch prepared by visiting Chef Craig Cormack.

This year's witty wine label designed by artist Frans Groenewald to celebrate the 32nd year of the competition

Canapés on arrival

Time for the welcome and information about the competition and the entries

We were seated at the very long table with other media and the two members each from the four top clubs in the running

Chef Craig Cormack tells us about the lunch he will be sending out to us. We eat of restaurant and function food, most of it superb, some of it insubstantial but very pretty and some of it average and some not so great, but we don't write about that. The food Craig cooks is always top standard. He present classic dishes, done the way they are meant to be done, every detail correct and tasting fantastic

The menu had a Burgundian theme. This is the starter of smooth, rich duck liver parfait with a sliver of wine jelly, on a rich buttery brioche (as it should be), topped with micro herbs and a slice of crisp apple

The team who do the work in the cellar, helping to make the wines

Winemaker Albert Basson

The well-known Stellenbosch artist who designed the label, Frans Groenewald

Rolf has been making Gin, unusually using fresh juniper berries. Lynne has tasted it and it is slightly sweet and fruity and aromatic. This is Craig's take on a Gin and Tonic sorbet using Rolf's gin. Very tart and very refreshing

We hear how the wines were made

The wines served with lunch

The main course. The best and most authentic Beef Bourguignon we have eaten in South Africa. And so clever in its presentation. The bourguignon was simmered for 14 hours, was meltingly tender with the beef still holding its cube shapes. Mushrooms were added, then Craig wrapped it in a crepinette and covered it with bacon pieces and the glossy jus from the braise. It was served on a silky pommes puree with some braised baby onions, a dab of butternut, leeks and carrots and sprinkled with parsley. Every detail added something to the dish

Rolf presented bouquets to the two members of staff who help to organise the competition

We thank the other staff involved

And the winners of the Newcomers award are: the team from Rindchen’s Weinkontor, Hamburg-Uhlenhorst-Germany

And they were also the winners of the Blending competition this year with their blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec

The three running-up finalists for this popular competition are Club De Vin from KwaZulu-Natal, Digital Blenders from the Eastern Cape and Oude Akker Wijn from North West

We drank the wine with lunch. It is very powerful and full of vanillins from the wood, fruit, acid and chalky tannins to help it last a long time

Our dessert was a perfect individual Tart Tatin, served to loud applause

The winning blend is bottled under the Blaauwklippen Barouche label and recognition will be given to the successful wine club on the back label. The wine is sold in Magnum bottles from selected retail outlets, the farm’s Tasting Room and online via www.blaauwklippen.com

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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