Wine Concepts Fire & Ice Champagne Festival

After a nap, Friday night saw us enjoying life at The Vineyard Hotel, where we enjoyed Wine Concepts’ annual salute to French Champagne. It was a busy and very social evening, with a chance to taste 18 Marques (brands) and at least two different champagnes on each stand. Many of the top names were there to enjoy. Lots of prizes were awarded to ticket holders, the band played great music and you could fantasise about driving and buying the two classic cars in the room. And The Vineyard supplied canapés throughout the evening

Managing Director of Wine Concepts, Mike Bampfield Duggan, reading out the prizes and the winning numbers

Veuve Clicquot always make a glowing show with their iconic yellow

Cocoafair had huge blocks of chocolate to taste

A classic V12 E-type Jaguar that had several of us drooling

Or a smaller, but equally enviable, MGB V8

Michelle Stewart pouring some Taittinger Rosé

Ruinart is not yet very well known in South Africa but is very good

Newly married and blissfully happy Mr & Mrs Dave Nel

Small cups of shrimp risotto topped with pea shoots

One of our favourite Champagnes; Morgan Delacloche pours a taste of Lanson Black Label

Here with Karin Visser and the Lanson rosé

Three to try at Nicolas Feuillatte. The one which wowed was the 2004 Palmes D'Or - it's the bottle with the dimples. Only R1560 a bottle. But did you know that Champagne improves with age? It so does

Sarah Revell with Renée Bampfield Duggan on the Ayala stand

Hey good looking! Tarryn Thomas with Louis Roederer and Ian Haggie with Benoit Lahaye

Or try some Jacquart in its summery “clothing”

Try the big bottle of Drappier? Roland and Jessica Peens of The Wine Cellar

Maryna Strachan of Wine Times enjoying her Champagne

Renée and Mike Bampfield Duggan at the end of a very successful Champagne Festival

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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40th Anniversary Lunch and Tasting at Meerlust

How to describe this classic Cape Dutch wine farm in the Helderberg? Owned by charming Hannes Myburgh, who prefers to keep rather a low profile, the award winning iconic wines are made by Chris Williams and shepherded into the cellar by viticulturist Roelie Joubert. Guests are shepherded to the tasting room by the ten friendly dogs, who have the most wonderful life on the farm. We were privileged to have lunch on Friday in the beautiful lived-in Manor house, which is filled to bursting with art, antiquities and curiosities. We had a marvellous Cape country lunch and a tasting of great vintages of Meerlust Cabernet and Rubicon, starting with the first ever vintage, made in 1975. And, yes, it has lasted, as we expected

We also visited the Compagniesdrift wine storage and bottling facility next door, which Is the Myburgh Family Trust Social Responsibility investment in their staff. The companies involved, MWT Investments and Faure AgriVillage, are jointly owned (50% each) by the Myburgh Family Trust and the Meerlust Empowerment Trust, which is comprised of 72 people who have long-standing relationships with the Meerlust, Vriesenhof and Ken Forrester farms in the area

Meerlust means Pleasure of the Sea. It was founded in 1693 by German immigrant Henning Huising and this national monument has been farmed by the Myburgh family since 1756The cellar was built in 1776 and was originally the estate's carriage house

Like many Cape Farms there is still a slave bell

The manor house is in the typical Gabled Cape Dutch style

The beautifully crafted front door with one of the welcoming dogs

Hannes Myburgh with his dogs. Hannes is the eighth generation Myburgh custodian of Meerlust

Catching up with the other members of the media

Then it was time for our visit to Compagniesdrift next door to the farm

The entrance belies what awaits inside, which is vast

Marketing Manager Eddie Turner introduces us to Ilse Ruthford, who is the Managing Director of Compagniesdrift, which is a Black Empowerment business funded by the Myburgh family Trust, Standard Bank and the Land Reform and Development Programme of the Dept of Land Affairs. The companies involved are jointly owned (50%) by the Myburgh Family Trust and the Meerlust Workers Trust

She explained to us what they do and how it benefits the staff who are members of the company. They have 53 wineries who store wine there, with 2.3 million bottles there currently. The facility is open to local wine producers and offers cost effective alternatives to those who do not have their own storage, bottling or labelling facilities or require transportation of their wine over long distances.

It is a modern, secure and temperature controlled facility. This is the bottling line

It is very clean and tidy

We were interested to see the wine labels of the many companies who use the facility

Bottles awaiting labelling. These are bottles of one of The Foundry wines, Chris Williams, Meerlust winemaker's own label

The vast storage area

Relabelling can also be arranged. Here, specific back labels for export destinations are applied by hand

Cases awaiting export

Going to many different countries

A smaller mobile bottling plant was in operation at Meerlust on our return. To keep the "Estate" designation, Meerlust wines are still bottled on the farm

Back to the family manor house for lunch

Comfortable sofas 

suitable for the dogs

Winemaker Chris Williams welcomes us and talks about the six wines we are about to taste and who made them. It was Hannes' father Nico Myburgh who first planted Bordeaux varieties in the late 1960's

from left to right: Meerlust Cabernet Sauvignon 1975 , Meerlust Rubicon 1987, Meerlust Cabernet 1991, Meerlust Rubicon 1991, Meerlust Cabernet 2009, Meerlust Rubicon 2009

The 1975 has lasted so well. It is silky soft on the palate with stewed plums, good soft tannins and a hint of violets and sandalwood. All the wines impressed, especially the two 1991s, and the 2009 Cabernet shone. The 2009 Rubicon is gathering its skirts for a long, long life. If you can find any, buy it to keep.

We were delighted that the previous winemaker Giorgio Dalla Cia joined us for the tasting and lunch and he gave us lots of insight into the past wines. He described the 2009 Rubicon as resembling La Tour, high praise indeed

Hannes with one of his lads

Attention! This African dog has lots and lots of personality and life

We were amused to remind Chris Williams at a few years ago he was one of the wild children in the wine world, changing wine making processes and thinking. Today its the young from the Swartland who are going in other directions and pushing the limits

Tasting, discussing, tweeting. A very gemütliche tasting and lunch

Giorgio Dalla Cia, was winemaker at Meerlust from 1978. Chris joined as a wine and viticulture graduate in 1995 and stayed for six vintages, when he left to go to Delaire for more experience. He says Giorgio was his mentor and tormentor!

He returned in 2004 to make his first vintage of the Rubicon. Chris also makes his own wine The Foundry

The line up of bottles we tasted

Time to move into the large farm kitchen for lunch

Meerlust also make a delicious wooded, buttery but crisp (4 star in Platter) Chardonnay, which we drank with lunch. They also produce a Merlot and a Pinot Noir. All the red wines get 4.5 stars in Platter this year except the 2010 Rubicon which gets 5

It was self service from the huge pots of lamb bredie on the stove

A very traditional Cape pot of sweet potatoes cooked in brown sugar. Yes, not very good for one, but absolutely delicious with meat dishes

The huge lamb and potato 'Potjie"(Trans. small pot!) Yes, almost everyone had two full plates

Love me please

Two more vintages of Rubicon were opened and served with lunch. You need to give this wine time and it is so rewarding. As close as South Africa has to a Bordeaux blend

The cooks kitchen

Hannes has his priorities right. Thank you for a marvellous experience, both wine and food. And the dogs

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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