Thursday, March 29, 2018

A day in Franschhoek 2: An Appointment with the Winemaker at Chamonix

Continuing our day in Franschhoek, we had arranged to meet winemaker Thinus Neethling in the tasting room. The farm is above Franschhoek on the right hand side when you enter the village. It is also on the Franschhoek Tram route. The farm has been owned by German businessman Chris Hellinger, who bought the farm over a quarter of a century ago. We were so pleased to see that they have extended the seating area for the Tasting room outside in the sunshine. Inside can be a little dark.
Catching up! Thinus is Cellarmaster, winemaker and viticulturist. We were joined a bit later by Bernard Dewey, the Sales and Marketing Manager
We began with the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc, a good classic South African SB on the nose, grassy, green leaves and some honey on the nose; this is not in the tropical style, and is crisp and clean and very refreshing with zingy acids and green capsicum on the end. The 2017 Unoaked Chardonnay has golden fruit on the nose, and is a quaffing wine, with crisp citrus and peach notes and some nice chalk on the end
The wooded Bordeaux style 2015 Reserve White blend has some 79% Sauvignon Blanc & 21% Semillon added and is redolent of lemon and wood on the nose , on the palate rich with wood and citrus fruit, and some creamy complexity
The star white wine of Chamonix is the 2006 Reserve White 73% Sauvignon Blanc and 27% Semillon which wine writer Tim Atkin MW scored a high 95. This is more elegant and perfumed and very French in style. Crisp citrus with nice gentle wood, long citrus flavours on the end, a truly impressive wine
Then two vintages of wooded Reserve Chardonnay. The 2015 has vanilla oak, from 14 months in French barrels, 70% new, 10% second fill and 205 in a concrete egg. Crisp and fresh with long flavours, wood follows with nice smoke on the end, will age well. The 2016 is shy on the nose at first with smoke, lemon and citrus. Rich flavours on the palate belie the quiet nose, more
Time to switch to red and we started with the 2016 Feldspar Pinot Noir. Balsam hints and very ripe fruit on the nose with some rose perfume. Heady with good fruit, warmth and more of those roses, lovely to drink, a good food wine
Then the 2015 Reserve Pinot Noir, a green leafy nose with a hint of eucalyptus and balsam beneath some mushrooms. Full-on warm wine, silky and fruity with a minty eucalyptus hint, long fruit, prunes and strawberries, The 2016 Reserve Pinot Noir has smoke with some faint eucalyptus, intriguing, and pretty with roses and quality. A little like the Hemel and Aarde Pinot style. Full palate of ripe raspberries, mulberries, a success. Also a bit French, but not shy in fruit and delivery
Then the 2015 Greywacke Pinotage of which 30% has been 18 months in new French oak barrels. An interesting fruit driven nose, The wine has had some repasso treatment, where it is added to a cask containing the skins and lees left over from recently fermented wine. This triggers a second fermentation and increases colour, depth and alcohol. It has good fruit, prunes, plums and raspberries, chalky tannins with some toasted wood on the end and no metallic flavours. A wine made to last and age well
We paused for some light lunch with two of Chamonix's meat and cheese platters
The Cabernet Franc 2015 is savoury with dark berry nose, and perfume. Hot savouriness, smoke blueberries and cassis, delicious
Then the flagship red, 2015 Troika, 48% Cabernet Franc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 15% Petite Verdot. Balsam, cassis and violets, sweet berry fruit warm alcohol, will go well with spicy foods with a good savoury end from the Cabernet Franc
Then a cellar tour. Thinus told us that they farm dry land, they use organic yeast from Germany and they spray just copper sulphate and sulphur when necessary, no other chemicals are used
The cellar has a black mould which was specially imported from Germany, it keeps away other moulds
They were in the middle of harvest, so we were very grateful to Thinus for his time spent with us
We met Mrs Barbara Hellinger in the cellar; she was just off to Germany to see her husband, Chris
Lovely view from the cellar door
Some of the very old and very large German barrels which are still being used in the cellar
Destemmed grapes pouring in to the open-topped barrel 
Purple grapes
delivered by tractor

The Franschhoek Tram comes to drop off and pick up visitors
Posted by MENU at 4:08 pm 0 comments

A Day in Franschhoek 1: A morning visit to Stony Brook in Franschhoek

What do you do the following day when you have stayed the night in Franschhoek? Well, of course, you visit some of the farms who have invited you to come and see them. Especially those that you have been meaning to visit for a long time.
So we began at Stony Brook, which is at the top of the Valley, turn right at the Monument and wind your way along Green Valley Road until you see their sign on the left. Owned by the McNaught family, this is truly a family run farm. Nigel McNaught's wife Joy runs the tasting room and son Craig is the winemaker. 14 hectares of this 23 hectare farm are under vines. The focus from the beginning at this boutique winery was on crafting premium-quality wines that reflected the area and the styles of wine that excited them
Joy in the Tasting room was busy dealing with orders when we arrived
She came and sat with us on the terrace and guided us through their tasting
We began with the 2016 Sauvignon Blanc made from Elgin fruit; They believe that Franschhoek does not grow good Sauvignon Blancs. This is perfumed on the nose, leesy, full of greengage plums and tropical notes with good dry tannins. Very different and enjoyable.
Then the J (on the left below), an interesting blend of 55% Sauvignon Blanc, 35 % Viognier and 10% barrel fermented and matured Semillon. The wine was designed to go with spicy food like Thai or Chinese. Perfumed with peaches, this has a rich textures and flavours, with layered peaches and other fruits, and is nicely dry on the finish.
The flagship Ghost Gum White wine, 2014 (on the right) is a blend of 2/3 Chardonnay and 1/3 Semillon; lovely citrus and pear flavours with a mouth-filling creamy finish from the Semillon
Plants surviving the drought
Then we tasted the 2014 SMV a blend of 65% Shiraz, 32% Mourvedre and 3% Viognier. This wine is in the Rhone style and designed to go with rich meaty dishes. Cherries and berries on the nose and palate, with soft juicy tannins, a dark toast and licorice end, made to last too. Then 2014 The Max named after the dog with attitude who roams the tasting area, a friendly ?? 50% Cabernet Sauvignon 40% Merlot, 10% Malbec this wine has spent 224 months on wood, 40% new and 60 second fill. The grapes are hand sorted so no greenness gets into the wine. Cassis perfume, incense wood, minerality on the nose, silky soft on the palate very intense berries, chewy tannins, long fruit flavours with the wood just carefully supporting with some chalky tannins on the end. Another 4.5 Platter wine that impresses
The terrace is nicely sheltered by the trees and umbrellas
Our final wine was the flagship Ghost Gum 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, 100% new French oak for 32 months, this has the classic Cabernet Cassis nose, Pure cassis on the palate with warmth from the sunny fruit, nice chalky tannin. The fruit stays pure on the palate. One to invest in. Impressive and worth more than its 4.5 stars in Platter. Clean elegant and well integrated, with richness and zingy citrus flavours than light toasted French oak on the end which holds it all together
 The Flagship Ghost Gum wines are named for this magnificent eucalyptus tree, which is difficult to photograph
Thank you Joy for a really great tasting, and for the signed copy of your book, we are so grateful for your time 
Posted by MENU at 3:20 pm 0 comments

Wine Concepts Craft Festival

This new festival was held last Friday night between 5 and 8 pm and was well attended. There are so many new craft beers, gins, vodkas, even Rum, Whisky and Brandies being made in the Cape. Mike Bampfield Duggan decided it was time for us to sample some of them. We were delighted to be invited, but worried about tasting lots of alcohols. Uber was very popular indeed that evening. We decided just to sample beers and Lynne did one very interesting rum, she is not good with high tack after beer. We hope to taste them one at a time in the future. It was a lot of fun; these crafters are very committed to their products
A brewery that has taken the Cape by storm is the CBC Brewery at Spice Route in Paarl, and run by Paulaner-trained German brewmaster Wolfgang Koedel - we especially like its Imperial IPA
A novel name for a Cape Gin: A Mari Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean Gins. We like the label and the bottle very much. Hope to taste soon
From Boplaas in Calitzdorp, a Cape Gin, A Cape Pink Gin, A Craft Whisky and an 8 Year old Potstill Brandy made by Carel and Margaux Nel
A close up of the bottles
From Cederberg Winery, Boggom Beers: a light and well flavoured Lager, a biscuity and citrus zing Blonde Ale which Lynne really enjoyed, and an IPA with granadilla notes, nicely fruity and not too bitter. We know it's good with food, we have ordered it in restaurants
The winemaker having fun on the Cederberg stand
James Copeland was showing his Copeland Rum which is selling well. Lynne found creamy toffee and pineapple on the rum with notes of licorice, salt, chocolate and fennel leaves
He made us a great sour cocktail with rum, sugar syrup, fresh lime juice - what a difference that makes - coconut water and not too much ice. Absolutely superb
The lads from KCB, Karoo Craft Beers, which is actually made in Paarl. We liked these very much, they are real beers, with nothing added, skilfully made
Lynne really enjoyed tasting the Kudu Lager and the Jackal Indian Pale Ale
Our friends Carol and Roddy Mills. Carol makes the Kaapse Liqueurs and we really like her new packaging. Her Limoncello has always been authentic
There were quite a few interesting sounding mixers on show, and several new tonics. Nicole Kuhnert showed the Pura range, which has Soda Cucumber Lime, Soda Seville Orange, a Soda Cranberry, Soda Lemon Elderflower and Soda Pomegranate, all to add flavour and length to your alcohol of choice
Mark McCarthy of Inverroche Gin giving Carol a taste of one of the three gins. They also have a Ltd Edition Blackstrap Rum and a Ltd Edition Botanique Liqueur
Another of our favourites: Devils Peak Brewery - their King's Blockhouse IPA is one of Lynne's best beers
And young Jonathan Gilloway was punting The Italian Job, who showed four of their five Le Grande Cinque Italian sounding beers: Famiglia Pilsner, Forza IPA, Amore Amber Ale, & Amicizia Weiss. The Forza was a bit cloudy but enjoyable. They are made by an Italian family from Cape Town
The Woodstock Brewery has beers with slightly louche names, Happy Pills, Hazy Daze Belgian Witbier, Pot Belge Belgian Amber, Californicator IPA, Rhythm Stick English Pale Ale, Mr Brownstone Hazelnut Brown Ale, Sugarman Belgian Quad and a fruity Bomber Imperial IPA. These beers are flavoured with food extracts, not something we are fond of. The Hazelnut one smells and tastes like a Cadbury's Hazelnut chocolate. If that is your thing....
The Darling Brewery is always worth visiting when you visit Darling and doing a tasting. We did it last year, very fine beers
Steel Cut Spirits showed their Sugarbird Fynbos Gin and with it a new Tonic called Barker and Quin. Lynne loved it, as it is not as sweet as some of the newer tonics available locally and has a good dose of lemon, so you don't have to go searching for a slice in desperation. Perfect if you have a "dry" month but want to pretend you are drinking a G &T
Marine Point, whom we usually see promoting wine, sampling a beer
All the alcohols, mixers and beers are available from Wine Concepts in Newlands or in Kloof Street. This was a great idea and we think it should be repeated. But make sure you book an Uber home or get your mom to come and fetch you if you are going to sample more than a mouthful or two of beer, and some of the hard stuff
Posted by MENU at 1:32 pm 0 comments
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