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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The 2016 Shiraz Showcase and Winners' List

Before we went to this Showcase, Lynne asked herself what she was expecting to find. And the answer was that she didn't know. And now that we have tasted through as many of the 114 (some people brought wines not mentioned in the catalogue) wines as was humanly possible in three hours, she still does not have a clear idea of what the South African wine industry is trying to express with Shiraz. Yes, there are some wonderful examples of this lovely grape variety, spicy, fruity, juicy, complex, woody, herbal, with chocolate, liquorice and even coffee but are there any styles people are trying to make and reproduce each year? It seems not yet. Everyone is doing their own thing. There certainly was one style that emerged, that of quiet elegantly restrained Shirazes, that need time and show huge potential. Several of those were in the top 12 line up this year, like the Saronsberg, Fairview, Rickety Bridge and the Eagles’ Nest. The DeMorgenzon Reserve is in a class of its own. A huge nose, spicy, sappig, concentrated, long and quite warm. A food wine to drink now with wintery food and/or keep for years if it so takes you

This competition has so many entries that we think the tasting should be over two days. The big question is: Is Shiraz the red wine of South Africa's future? Can it be? It is certainly easy to drink. Most of the time. But we are not the Rhône

Winemakers Debbie Thompson of Simonsig and Dewald Heyns of Saronsberg

Saronsberg's 2014 Shiraz and Full Circle Shiraz blend

Waterford's Kevin Arnold with Rickety Bridge winemaker Wynand Grobler

Neil Pendock with Fred Fismer and Guy Webber of Stellenzicht

Painted Wolf Jeremy Borg in conversation

Nico and Petra van der Merwe with the Decanter Gold Medal Award for their Nicolas Syrah 2013 which achieved 95 points

Lanri Maritz and KWV's Izelle van Blerk being entertained by the strolling musicians

We were given meal vouchers by the organisers and we both chose the Lamb shanks. Usually the food from the Convention Centre kitchens is dire and the service awful. Both have improved, but the lamb was rather tough, too attached to the bone and not wildly flavoursome. It needed more shiraz in the sauce!

Taj Sommelier Pearl Oliver with Vuvu Sands

THE WINNERS OF THE 2016 SHIRAZ SA CHALLENGE

CATEGORY: SHIRAZ

Alto Shiraz 2013

Babylonstoren Shiraz 2014

Cederberg Shiraz 2014

De Morgenzon Reserve Syrah 2014

Eagles' Nest Shiraz 2013

Fairview Eenzaamheid Shiraz 2013

KWV The Mentors Shiraz 2013

Laborie Limited Collection Shiraz 2014

Rickety Bridge Shiraz 2013

Saronsberg Shiraz 2014

Strandveld Syrah 2012

Windmeul Shiraz Reserve 2013

CATEGORY: SHIRAZ BLENDS

Middelvlei Momberg 2013

Eikendal Charisma 2013

Alvi's Drift Albertus Viljoen Limited Release Red Blend 2012

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The Chenin Blanc Association Showcase at the Cape Grace

South African Chenin Blanc continues to gain recognition at home and internationally. We heard it referred to twice at VinExpo as the most exciting grape from South Africa and another commentator referred to it as the grape that can represent us so well as we are making Chenin Blanc better than anyone else, in several different impressive different styles. The Chenin Blanc Association showcased their members wine this week at the Cape Grace and this gave the trade, media and sommeliers a chance to taste some of the best

The wines were divided into several categories. We set up our palates with two MCC bubblies, a Non Vintage from De Morgenzon and the other 2013 Sparklehorse Brut from Ken Forrester. Both are really great expressions of the grape, crisp elegant and wonderful to celebrate with friends

Fresh local oysters were served to go with the MCCs

Accompaniments for the oysters

Lynne and others who can't eat oysters, were served these canapés, a lovely crisp potato rosti topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon and avocado mousse

Raymond Noppé, Sales Manager at Delheim and Lizette Steyn-James, GM and winemaker at Welgemeend

Aletté van Vuuren of Ken Forrester Wines and Chenin blanc Association Manager Ina Smith

DeMorgenzon winemaker Hanneke Botha showing the Barrel fermented Chenins

Sebastian Beaumont, newly elected Chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association opened proceedings

The function was well attended

Ina Smith with Willie du Plessis of the sponsor, Standard Bank

Guy McDonald, Anel Grobler, RJ Botha and Pieter van Niekerk

Then the Fresh and Fruity unwooded wines, mostly were entry level and most were current vintages. They are easy drinking, most are reasonably priced and they are at the forefront of the local market, this is what South Africans like to drink on a regular basis. We were impressed with the Mooiplaas and the Raats, both faultless, enjoyable and great with food. Some of the newer releases were a bit soft on acidity, others a little bitter but generally an easy drinking category.

More canapés circulated. Carpaccio of beef

Arancini or Suppli rice balls

There were two tables of Barrel Fermented wines from 2014 and 2015. On the first table The De Morgenzon and the Tierhoek really impressed us but the Beaumont Hope Marguerite knocked our socks off. So layered, so complex, so giving, this is drinking perfectly now and is Lynne's favourite wine of the Week. Many people at the tasting agreed. A good table with excellent wines

Mussels with salad

The second table of Barrel Fermented Chenins was a bit more of a challenge. The Charles Everson impressed, the Deetlefs will but it is in hiding at the moment; the Mulderbosch was interesting, we think it also needs time for its character to develop

Then to the wines with some age. A great category as Chenin does seem to get better and better with age. The Cederberg Five Generations 2014 is full of fruit acidity and almonds, always impressive; The Rudera Robusto 2008 is honeyed, smooth, very attractive. The 2011 Rijk's Reserve is still holding onto fresh acidity and character; The 2013 Uitkyk is as new! Still showing wood and fresh acidity, very much a food wine. The 2013 FMC is shy on the nose but has layers of sweet perfumed fruit on the palate, with some smoky wood and, as expected, is very good. The Spioenkop 2013 is drinking well, also with good layers for food pairing; the Bosman Optenhorst 2013 is honeyed with crisp acidity, almost NLH in character

Soup topped with popcorn

Then to the blends. Riebeek’s Short Street Chenin, Viognier and Grenache is good drinking with layers of fruit from old vines and a bargain at R50 a bottle. Marvellous Yellow does indeed have yellow fruit, nice acidity and perfume and is a merry mix of Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat De Frontignan, Semillon for texture and Clairette Blanche. We liked it

Thea van der Merwe of Jordan with Marvel Ou Adam Mason

Marlvin Gwese, Cape Grace's Sommelier with Mooiplaas viticulturalist Tielman Roos

Lady winemakers Kristin Basson of Fleur du Cap and Hanneke Botha of DeMorgenzon

And finally three delicious, excellent Dessert Wines. This is the class that the French judges at the Old Mutual Trophy said we can throw down the gauntlet with, especially to Europe: Radford Dale 2013 (Winery of Good Hope), vine dried, is sheer honey in a glass with RS of 201 g/l; Ken Forrester's 'T' 2011 NLH, picked in May of that year, is barrel fermented and full of peaches, apricots, apples and spice. Fresh acidity of 9.5 g/l and lovely sweetness with an RS of 154 g/l. And finally Tierhoek's NV Straw wine from old vines has all you would expect from such a well balanced and well behaved wine with the three necessities of a concentrated sweet wine: Acidity, sweetness and flavour T A 7.6 g/l and RS 272.8 g/l It was obviously popular, as both bottles were finished first

A display of small friandise and mini desserts, very tempting and great with the three dessert wines

Public Relations specialist Nicolette Waterford with Ina Smith

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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

MENU goes East - From Hanoi to Ha Long Bay

When you go to Vietnam, people tell you of all sorts of places you must see. We will come back one day to see the rest of the country. The one place we think you should never miss is Ha Long Bay. We were given the advice not to go with the small and cheaper operators but to go with the big, fairly expensive companies. It was the best possible advice. This trip was a dream come true. We absolutely loved every moment of it and thoroughly recommend that you add it to your bucket list

It is a three and a half hour trip to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi. It is not that far, the roads are very busy and congested and one drives slowly through many towns, rather like our N2 highway through Somerset West. So it was an early start as our luxury bus came to collect us at 8am. We took overnight bags and left our suitcases at the hotel, to which we would return after three days away

The outskirts of Hanoi

This is the typical Vietnamese house, it may have many storeys, but all the houses seem to be the same width

Only the older houses are bigger. And people have built small businesses in their gardens

Halfway there, we stopped at a tourist centre which employs disabled craftsmen who make local art and crafts. Many of the disabled people are victims of the Vietnam war

Alabaster statues and carvings

made on the site, using ordinary power tools

some showing immense skill and artistry

Embroidery

Painting

A laughing Buddha for your garden temple

Clothing and jewellery

Our luxury bus was very comfortable

We stopped again later for a drink of fresh coconut juice. It was amazing how much liquid is in each coconut. They are very refreshing

We arrived at the harbour and met our urbane and well spoken tour guide Smiley Huang

Several different tours were leaving and there were tenders to take everyone and their luggage to the boats

Some were on one night stays, our voyage was two nights, three days

We passed some of the other boats

And there is ours, the magnificent Dragon Legend 1 which is run by Indo Junk Tours

Boarding the tender and putting on life jackets

Passing a smaller boat. We even saw a boat which they called the honeymoon boat - just one couple

Labels, in case we boarded the wrong boat! Immediately after boarding, we had a meeting with the crew and were given safety instructions

Wow, we were not expecting this. Our luxury cabin

Finest percale linen

and a large bathroom on suite

And we begin our slow cruise through the wonderful pinnacle islands of tropical plant clad limestone

You can see how the water level has dropped over the centuries

Up on deck for lunch. We knew then we were in for an incredible three days. First course: Spicy and sour fresh shrimp & tomato soup

Garden Salad with lime dressing

Prawns, so sweet in a Lemongrass and ginger sauce

Deep fried Ha Long crab meat 'kebabs' skewered on sugar cane sticks

Stewed chicken with black beans and (no) mushrooms

Steamed green seasonal vegetables - mostly morning glory we were told. This was served with steamed sea bass in soya sauce and steamed rice. Dessert was a platter of fresh fruit