Wednesday, November 03, 2021

MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 5. Calitzdorp - Peter Bayly Wines

 

Day 3 of the Trip. 

Time is going rather fast! It was a lovely clear warm day when we left our accommodation. It was going to be a day of exciting (!) travel. We had so enjoyed our time in hospitable Calitzdorp. Before we left town, we bought the Sunday Times and filled up with petrol. Then it was off into the kloofs to visit Peter and Yvonne Bayly to taste their wines and ports 

A sleepy Sunday morning, looking back at Calitzdorp

Looking across the valley to Axe Hill winery

There are some lovely, solid looking old properties on the road

As you climb around the hills you catch sight of the reservoir

and small workers' cottages nestled into the hill

The trip took us through dry Karoo past the large dam which is now filling and is about 1/3 full after a very long drought

They have had some rain, but you can still see how far down the water is after their very long drought

Making a day of it by the dam. There were fishermen on the dam and,
an unusual sight for us this far from the coast, a small tree with 5 or 6 cormorants waiting to fish

Lovely rolling hills. The road is well maintained and graded for most of the way

Following the river feeding the dam, you travel through verdant valleys, through high kloofs and over several, now dry, fords which are there for when the river is in full flood. There are a few art and ceramic galleries and accommodation on the way. Your can do a round trip as the road forks and comes out back at Calitzdorp. We were to take the other fork on the way to Prince Albert over the Swartberg pass. Well worth a visit. The car still looks reasonably shiny. Soon, this would change

and the entrance to Peter Bayly wines. They are in the picturesque Groenfontein Valley,
which is now a separate new wine ward.  Do call in for a tasting if you are passing, they are very welcoming

Very smart gates that have gone up since our last visit, which was a few years back

Warmly welcomed by Yvonne and Peter and their two lovely dogs, chickens and a handsome chanticleer, we admired the wisteria in full bloom, green vines in the closely guarded vineyard. Peter with wine thief at the ready

and decanting his tawny from the barrel for us to taste

Vine stokkies of Alvarinho just waiting to be planted. They have waited a while to get these

Shady parking under the pepper trees

They have to make their own electricity as they are so far away from the grid, so they have a generator and solar panels
And a lovely dog enjoying the sunshine

The huge tree was lost during a horrible storm which also took out the wisteria arbour,
but the wisteria survived and will soon be back on a new structure

The vineyards have to be surrounded by electric fences as the baboons can decimate the crop

Peter Bayly wines to buy and taste

and sat out on the cool shady stoep for the tasting with Peter and Yvonne. We began with the classic 2018 Chenin Blanc,
which is dry and linear, full of pear, quince and citrus, very French in style and delicious. Perfect for a warm morning

Two vintages of the Peter Bayly III. The 2016 was given 92 points by Tim Atkin. Its a blend of Touriga Naçional, Tinta Barocca, & Souzão. Incense wood, elegant with black cherry, plums and mulberry richness. Layers of berry fruit and good soft tannins. The new 2017 is similar but the fruit arrives first then vanilla oak (old French barrels) and is full of cherries and red berries. Soft and silky on the palate, with soft chalky tannins. It opens up with cranberry, Morello cherries, mulberries and has long, long flavours

Enjoying the chat and the wine. We are old friends; we had lots to chat about;
we had our tables next to each other at the Biscuit Mill when we sold our goods there

The 2012 Peter Bayly 2012 Cape Vintage port style wine made from Touriga Naçional, Tinta Barocca and Souzão, the Douro’s quintessential Port varietals. It is a 4 star Platter wine and has also come in the top 10 in the Port Producers competition and was given 91 points by Tim Atkin. Slightly smoky on the intriguing nose, aromas of blackberries, plum, Christmas spices and a hint of herbs, leather and liquorice. It soft as silk on the complex palate with lovely fruit and other flavours in layers as it announces itself: "I am here!" Black cherry, dark plums, brambles, hints of black pepper & spice, dark savoury notes with liquorice on the end.  Delicious, no faults, more please... Peter uses artisanal winemaking techniques; including natural fermentation, foot-treading, basket pressing and maturation in seasoned large casks for eighteen months prior to hand bottling unfiltered and unfined

The 2014 is about to be released and lives up to its predecessor, made from the same grape varietals. Spicy, rich and full of dark berry fruit with a hint of wood on the nose. Silky on the palate, sweet dark berry fruit with cherry, ripe blackberries and some raspberry. Drinking well now but also worth stashing away for a while

And to come, the 2016 Cape Vintage. Dark in the glass with good legs, it has herbal hints, then spice, dark fruit lots of elegance on the nose, its classy. Beautiful cherry berry fruit both red and black; long, delicious port flavours with depth and some sunshine in the glass. Lynne scored this 98/100 and predicts it will win awards when it is released

The 2010 Tawny, not yet released and still in barrel, is superb. Brown rim, dark in the middle. A vintage nose, a hint of smoke and lovely maturity on the palate, with brandied cherries; it sings with lovely sweet bruléed cherry, mulberry and raspberry fruit, salted caramel, quite wonderful

One of our favourites is the White Port, a blend of the 2008 through to 2016 vintages, produced from 100% Calitzdorp Chenin Blanc. It is is quite amber in colour. Its Thornton's creamy toffee on the nose, with nuts, lemon lime and blossom. Peach, apricot, marmalade and bruléed toffee on the palate, with long flavours, some salty minerality on the end, lasting with the typical dry end. Just excellent on its own, but also amazing as a cool refreshing cocktail with tonic, which might just get the young market drinking port again. Fingers crossed; they do not know what they are missing

Cloth pigs for sale

A Scottish pig, brought to Calitzdorp in a suitcase. Peter has this featured on his label as, when he said he was going to make wine, someone said "and Pigs might fly!" So they do on his label, he makes excellent wines and ports

A happy chap

and then we were off; a short trip in kilometres, less than 100, but not in time, over the Swartberg Pass to Prince Albert


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MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 4. Calitzdorp - Boplaas

Our next appointment was at Boplaas. Margaux Nel, who was away at the seaside with her family that weekend, had arranged a special tasting for us with the Tasting room manager, Annerie. She asked what we wanted to taste and we said, "Just bring us what you think we would like to taste". And she did. Another essential to visit when you visit Calitzdorp

They have a good wine selection, very good ports and brandy, gin and whisky
There are vintage wines that you can taste (not often available at wineries, so rather special) and Muscadels
 It was another super tasting. They spoil you in Calitzdorp

Let them do it, please!

Very comfortable indoor space

We always choose to sit outside if the weather is good

An old copper brandy still and some historic photographs

and special tastings on offer

We started with the Boplaas Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2021 from the Bobbejaanberg on the Outeniqua mountains near Wilderness and Knysna. It has a classic tropical Sauvignon Blanc lime curd nose, with guava, granadilla on the rich and full palate with a little residual sugar

A tasting happening on another table

Then the 2018 Gamka Branca Reserve white blend of Verdelho, Chardonnay, Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne. The first blend was in 2017 which has some Grenache Blanc added. It is barrel fermented and matured. On the nose citrus and floral notes, on the palate rich complex tangerine, grapefruit, lime and ripe pear, toasted wood, some tannins and minerality. Very unusual and interesting. Wine Magazine voted it the Best White Blend. 4.5 stars in Platter

The Ring of Rocks is blend of Portuguese grapes: Tinta Barocca; Touriga Nacional; Touriga Francesca, fermented in temperature controlled open top cement fermenters and aged in 1st and 2nd fill barrels. It does smell of Portuguese wines on the nose with a little smoke, lots of cherry and cassis, layered and complex with salty licorice on the end

The 2016 Touriga Nacional which Tim Atkin scored 90 points, has a heady porty nose of dark fruit, incense wood and the barrel cellar. Dark berries, quite a lot of acidity, layers of fruit and brandy, tarry, with some salty licorice on the end

On the wall is information about the cheese platter which we were given and enjoyed

The Boplaas Cape Tawny Vintners Reserve Bin 1880, made from Tinta Barocca, Touriga Nacional and Souzão, is kept in barrel for 15 to 18 years before bottling. It’s a raisined port style wine, pure luscious deliciousness, quite spicy and showing its good age, almost balsamic in texture and flavour

Two more beauties. Boplaas 2016 Cape Vintage Reserve which has won lots of prestigious awards. A blend of Touriga Nacional (80%); Tinta Barocca (10%) Souzão (5%); Touriga Franca (5%). It is excellent and has beautiful red and black berry fruit on the nose, which follows through on the delicious palate

The 2004 Boplaas Port, Cape Vintage Reserve was very special and we feel honoured at being allowed to taste it. The richness on the nose is superb, balsamic notes from the long wood contact and concentrated by the age. Superb on the palate, it hasn't lost any of its intensity of the fruit in the younger 2016, it has just got better. Licorice wood on the end. WOW

We asked about the cheeses on the platter and were given this list
We didn't know any of them and they were all enjoyable

They generously brought us a cheese and meat platter and it was the perfect way to end a lovely day of excellent wines and ports. We have to commend them too for staying late for us, as there were so many wines for us to taste

And finally! Boplaas 12 year old Potstill Brandy, a Platter 5 star. Made from Colombard grapes. It has caramel and nuts, vanilla, nougat, apricots and is rather spirity at 43%

Boplaas 1880 Whisky, 6 years old, made from maize. Boplaas' history of distilling fine pot still brandy dates back to 1880, when the first order of casks was sent to Cape Town harbour by ox-wagon for delivery to London. This won Best SA Whisky in the Michelangelo Wine and Spirit competition in 2018. It is aged in old bourbon casks and finished in old Tawny Port casks. It has coconut, caramel vanilla and apricot on the nose, and full-on apricot fruit flavours on the palate

and great legs. Slange Var! (Slainte Mhath in Gaelic)

The Ring of Rocks which gives its name to the wine

The evening was cooler and we saw the Milky Way and the waxing Moon in close conjunction with bright Venus
And so to bed, ready for another lovely day of freedom

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MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 2. Calitzdorp - Axe Hill

Day 2 of the trip. The bird life here has been very varied
 There is a pepper tree outside our cottage and two beautiful male Olive Thrushes visited us this morning,

a pair of small doves was contemplating a nest, John photographed a barn swallow
and we have seen lots of swifts in the late afternoon, scooping insects in the warm thermals

Today was all about wine and port in Calitzdorp. Knowing this, we had a very good breakfast
Mike Neebe at Axe Hill, whom we have known since we sold his first port in our shop Main Ingredient, had invited us to visit and taste with him

We had arranged to be there at 11. Getting there was going to be a doddle as his winery is down the road we were staying in, just the other side of the R62. It had been a long time since we were last there and we went down the road, convinced that we knew where he was. We drove for nearly 2 kilometres and then turned back, convinced that we had missed the farm. We hadn't, so we had to go back again, just about 100 metres further this time and there he was welcoming us

We had a marvellous tasting of his wines and ports, from the bottles, young and very vintage and excitingly from barrels
He is very good at what he does. If you are heading this way, this is another excellent cellar to visit in Calitzdorp

Some of the Axe Hill wines and ports available for tasting

Two wines from his Gatos brand (gatos in Greek means cats; there are a few in the area). The white is a blend of 52% Chardonnay, 13% Viognier and 18% Palomino, mostly fermented and aged in Chenin barrels. Peaches and light wood on the nose from the old barrel, lively and refreshing on the palate; a wine to serve with fish, seafood and a rich bisque

The light red 2021 Gatos is a Blanc de noir saignée Cinsault. Quote: “ ‘sohn-yay’ means ‘to bleed,’ and it also describes a method of rosé winemaking that involves ‘bleeding’ off a portion of red wine juice after it's been in contact with the skins and seeds. So Saignée is a unique style of rosé wine because it is so often bolder and darker in colour than any other rosé wine’." Perfumed with vanilla and blossoms, good red berries and strawberries, very much in the French rosé style. On the palate the savouriness of Cinsault, maraschino cherry, crisp and dry followed by more juicy berries

The 2016 Machado is made from port grape varietals and they speak on the nose with dark heady fruit. Touriga Nacional, Souzão, Tinta Barocca and Tinta Roriz. Soft on the palate, very juicy morello cherry, rhubarb and mulberry, a lovely food wine with some chalk on the end

Mike also let us taste some 2021 Tempranillo from the barrel. The vineyard was planted in 2011. Vanillins from the 500 litre barrel, quite delicate on the nose, still showing a bit of fermentation pétillance, lovely fresh red and black berry fruit, raspberry mulberry; it’s busy gathering its skirts together for its debut, which we hear will not be for a while yet

The Axe Hill Distinta, 40% Tinta Barocca, 40% Touriga 20%, Souzão tells you where it is from; vanilla oak, warm berries and a hint of complexity on the nose. Chalky tannins, dark berries, rhubarb and dark wood in layers with supple tannins. John bought a case, so we have some to delight us for the present and the future

Another from the barrel, the non-vintage white port 2003 to 2011, solera style. The age has made it tawny coloured, it’s nutty with raisins, naartjie and a hint of smoke on the nose. Lovely glycerols, dried Christmas fruit, fresh apricots, it’s chewy and delicious. The roasted cashew nuts are there at the end. It is exciting and we can’t wait for Mike to bottle it as the current one is sold out

Wine from the barrel in the glass and one of the vinoteque bottles

The red port from the barrel; he has left the 2010 in barrel to mature. Lots of deep sweetness coats the tongue, lovely chalky tannins, plums, cherries, layers of dark fruit and brandy flavours; very, very good. The legs on the glass were incredible. It’s a classic blend of old school Axe Hill Port: 20% Tinta Barocca, 60% Touriga National and 20% Souzão. We then tasted from the current bottled Red Port and it is much more restrained on the nose, with violets and incense wood on the nose. Silky smooth mouthfeel, then that kick from the brandy fortification; mulberries, cherries, plums and dark licorice on the end

A small and crowded cellar with some interesting connections

A treat, a taste of the Axe Hill Cape Vintage 2020; all in bottle, but only to be released in five years’ time. Tobacco box wood; restrained Christmas pudding fruit on the nose. Quite different on the palate; sweet berry fruit, elegance, chalky tannins and long deep flavours. He still has the 2019 Cape Vintage in the barrel. It has a very complex nose and reminded us of good Portuguese port. It’s a Kitshoff! Rugby fans will know what that means.... for others, red-headed Stephen Kitshoff is a very powerful Springbok forward

Mike has lots of stock in reserve as well and seems happy to wait for some of the barrel stock until he thinks it is ready for the market. He gave us such a great tasting and a lot of his time, for which we are very grateful

Tasting all these impressive ports has made us vow to drink it more. So, fewer desserts after dinner parties; we intend to serve great cheeses and some port to encourage our friends to drink these excellent ports which we produce in South Africa

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