Glen Carlou celebrates Arco Laarman's 20th year as a winemaker

Arco’s winemaking career started as a worker with Danie Steytler in the cellar at Kaapzicht. After a few years there, winemaker David Finlayson appointed him assistant winemaker at Glen Carlou and, when the Finlaysons sold the farm to the Hess Family Estates and David left, Arco took over as Cellarmaster. Over the years, he has experimented with different barrels for the wines they make and has also made wines from grapes sourced elsewhere, often rare varieties. These are now being released as The Curator’s Collection and are available only on the farm. We were invited to lunch to celebrate his winemaking career and to taste these very interesting wines.

The view from Glen Carlou looking towards Paarl on a day when there was a fire in Bains Kloof

The tasting room, all set up for the event

Girls just gotta have fun in the tasting room. Or standing out on the terrace admiring the view

We take our seats for the tasting

This is the line up of the wines we tasted in The Curator’s Collection. From the left: A barrel sample of 2015 Chenin Blanc; the 2013 Chenin Blanc; a barrel sample of the 2015 Viognier; the 2010 Tannat; the 2011 Malbec; and everyone’s favourite, a barrel sample of the 2013 Cabernet Franc which has spent two years in Sylvain barrels. It has 10% Tannat added and will be released shortly. It is a very interesting wine: herbal green with basil and buchu on the nose, opening out to berries and vanilla wood. The palate is soft, juicy and so delicious. It is savoury, almost meaty, full of berries with some herbs at the end. The intense fruit flavours remain

Everyone tweeting?

Arco with Johan Erasmus, GM of Glen Carlou. Johan thinks that Arco is one of the most underrated winemakers in the Cape. Some of us so agree

Johan gives us a run down on Arco’s career at Glen Carlou. Their Sales & Marketing Manager, Georgie Prout, is on the right

Arco explains why he started making the Curator wines. It began by his earmarking the best barrels in each vintage and then being offered different and interesting wines to vinify. Both the Chenins come from the Agter Paarl region from older vines. They both have very good acid/fruit balance and are true to type and very enjoyable

Concentration required - Platter editor Philip van Zyl through a glass, clearly

Johan Erasmus, GM of Glen Carlou

Two vintages of Kaapzicht’s Danie Steytler, Father and son

An aperitif before lunch was the Glen Carlou MCC 2007

We get some sun on the terrace

Arco with Danie and a bottle of the prize-winning Kaapzicht 1996 Pinotage. Arco is one of the few winemakers who has not had a formal college or university education in wine. Danie encouraged Arco and taught him at Kaapzicht in Arco’s first job when he displayed his keenness to study and make wine, and then helped him get the job at Glen Carlou to train under David Finlayson

Johan Erasmus thanking Danie for coming and for his influence on Arco

The lunch menu

The mushroom butter was delicious and very clever

What we drank with the starter. 2013 Curator’s Collection Chenin Blanc

Beginning the meal

The Amuse Bouche. A mini smoked salmon and belnori goats cheese roulade with pickled candy beetroot with a horseradish cream

Use third one Starter was a quail ballotine with butternut puree, chorizo, mushrooms and figs. John got no mushrooms, as requested. Lynne missed out on the figs

Main Course was a rare ostrich fillet en crepinette with poached pear, buttered curried lentils and a thyme demi-glace. The pear was a lovely foil to the rich ostrich and the perfect demi-glace sauce. The lentils did not go with, and were far too curried for, the delicate ostrich. This was served with the Curator’s Collection 2010 Tannat and it showed its strengths as a food wine

The Welder, 2013 Natural Sweet Chenin Blanc, served with Dessert

Canoli (deep fried pasta dough) filled with sweetened lemon mascarpone, passion fruit sorbet and pineapple. The flavours mirrored the wine

Arco Laarman, Chef Johan Stander and Marketing manager Georgie Prout

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Graham Beck celebrates 25 years with Pieter Ferreira

Graham Beck sells more than a million bottles of their Mèthode Cap Classique Bubbly every year and that figure is now rapidly on the rise. All the Graham Beck wines are part of our rich wine tapestry and most people know them well. None of us realised that winemaking on the farm was started by Graham Beck only 25 years ago. His purchase of the land followed the Laingsburg floods of 1981, when the existing farm was almost wiped off the face of the earth. The farm was perfect for horses, his great love, and they also began to plant grapes. In 1991 they had their maiden vintage and “the journey of discovery in pursuit of the perfect bubble” commenced, driven by winemaker Pieter (Bubbles) Ferreira, who is still the magician wielding his magic wand there. We celebrated with so much MCC from so many different years and in so many different guises. This was followed by an excellent lunch prepared by Chef Margot Janse of The Tasting room at Le Quartier Française in Franschhoek – what a treat and what an ebullient and joyous celebration! They totally spoiled us

The gathering for the bus to Graham Beck in Robertson was early so we all needed a coffee in the coffee shop of 15 on Orange hotel in town

A warm welcome and a glass of bubbles awaited us on arrival at Graham Beck

The long table set up for the tasting and lunch

A word of welcome from Lisa Keulder, Marketing Manager for Graham Beck

The day was for the trade with some media added

Here Peter tells us about his career at Graham Beck and how it all began ...

... with lots of amusing stories

A pupitre for riddling the bottles, set up in the Tasting room, which is also a gallery

We begin our cellar tour ..

...and extensive tasting of vintages of Graham Beck bubbly

Peter pours us some of the wines made from different chardonnay clones so we can see what each one has to add to the blend

He tells us what we should be looking for

A selection of them, all different

“Are you picking up the citrus?”

and he answered lots of technical questions and taught us much that we didn’t know, even though most people there have studied wine to a high level

They called this the Journey and Discovery tasting. Here are some Pinot Noirs. Note the difference in colour between wines from different vintages

The wine map had Pieter showing us where the best Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs for MCCs are grown, as well as some of the rarer varieties

We saw the effect of dosage and were amazed at the difference just a minute amount can make to the taste of the wine

Making tasting notes and tasting at the same time requires focus!

More intelligent questions

Pieter discussed the cork trials they have made over the years

Yes please

Now we get on to the older wines and see how it can affect the aroma, the taste and the weight of the wine

One of the first bottles, opening with a bang

Bottles, closures and the limestone rocks the wine is grown on and in

Pieter’s new baby. The Agrafe bottling, sealed with a staple(the agrafe)

The technicalities

And we were able to taste the very first vintage,Graham Beck Brut 2001 Blanc de Blanc. It was bready, almost meaty on the nose, crisp with limes and lemons and still refreshing

Pouring us a glass of the current Graham Beck Brut Rosé to take upstairs with us

Now for the guided tasting in the bottle cellar

Entrepreneur Shaun Terry with Riedel's Tarryn Thomas. Riedel supplied the glasses

Managing Director Chris du Toit, making his speech on the theme of Gratitude. He quoted AA Milne Piglet had a small heart but a large amount of Gratitude. They were all grateful for the vision, courage and tenacity of the late Graham Beck, Rhona Beck’s big heart, son Anthony Beck’s support and involvement. Their achievements like winning the best fermented bubbly in the world award. Yesterday, his financial director had told them they had already beaten their own record of last year by selling 1 million bottles (and there are still two thirds of the year to go.) “ Impossible until it is done” said Mandela. The Laingsberg floods had washed the farm away, so they could begin again. The trust in the team by the family. The Unswerving value systems to unlock the potential of the staff. Dedication of Pieter, his hard work and achievement making the wine and taking it into the market. Graham Beck expected nothing less

Hanging on every word

The line up of wines we were about to taste

A surprise for Pieter, a presentation

Quickly unwrapped

And it is a fantastic painting of him and what he does by the artist Frans Groenewald,

specially signed on the back

Pieter with the whole winemaking team, without whom nothing would be possible

“The journey has just started,” said Pieter. “The best vintages are still lying in the cellar reaching perfection”

Now to taste these wines. How to share 25 years at Graham Beck! A collection of Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc MCCs : 2010; 2009; 2008; 2007; 2002 & 1997. They were all exceptionally good but our favourite was the 2007. Very different from the rest, it really stood out with its freshness. It has a very French nose of buttery brioche and shows maturity. It is lean and layered and very sophisticated with a kick of alcohol and more fruit and less acid than some. It ends with long marmalade flavours

Time for lunch. The Canapes were wild mushroom bark with fynbos icing or an Oyster mignonette. Served with the Brut NV Magnum 1994

**The long table set and ready

Chef Margot Janse of The Tasting room at Le Quartier Français in Franschhoek, making the final preparation on the pass

First course

A ridiculously rich, but so right for crisp MCC bubbly, Foie Gras Brûlée and topped with slices of Karoo-plaashoender (farm chicken) and Klein Rivier Grana Padana cheese. Served with the Cuvée Clive 2009

Preparation by the chefs. They must all look the same

The menu

The first course, on the table

Second Course. Very tender slices of octopus tentacles, topped with a sorrel nori and served with a cucumber and horseradish consommé. Served with the Brut Zero 2005

Pieter tells us how they paired the food and the wine

Pouring on the consommé

Parting gifts for everyone, which included a special edition apron

There was a small pause during lunch for Pieter to show us how to remove the corks held on by staples from the bottles

He does it like the expert he is

He then challenged others to try, with varying degrees of success - Sue Proudfoot of Wine Concepts

Ivan Oertle of Woolworths lost the least

Sommelier Ndaba Dube of The Vineyard did a great burst

And Shaun Terry did it with a quiet whisper

Celebrating success

We all donned our aprons for a group picture and, of course, we needed bubbles

and glasses for another toast

Back inside to continue lunch

Third course was a Suckling pig bush braai, with a bowl of aligot (mashed potatoes with garlic and cheese) and Kapokbos (Indigenous rosemary)

The suckling pig was served with the maiden vintage Brut 1991

Then it was time for dessert, a quince crumble, which so echoed the flavours of the Brut Rose 2006

The cooking team for the day did splendidly

One of Graham Beck’s wine Ambassadors, Kerry Kirby, who is responsible for sales in Cape Town. She accompanied us on the bus and kept us well supplied with Brut Rosé for the return trip

It was sunset before we got back to Cape Town after a remarkable day. Thank you, all at Graham Beck, for letting us celebrate with you

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015