If
you want to taste Flagstone wines in Cape Town, you no longer have to go out to
the winelands. They have now opened The Flagstone Tasting Room at The Rockwell
Hotel in Green Point. We were summoned to be at the venue at 4.30 precisely,
handed a glass of wine and then ushered into the theatre there (Who knew there
was a theatre at the Rockwell?) What followed was a very amusing piece of
theatre as they launched their new wines to music, poetry and tasting in the
dark! It was hilarious and great fun
The tasting began with three white wines and three
red wines in our glasses
and then suddenly some musicians came on stage. They
are Cape Town duo, Palm Strings (Mike Hoole and Titia Blake)
A short wait while we waited for latecomers
Then Alison Pearce, Flagstone's National Marketing
Manager, came on stage to tell us about their partnership with the theatre, the
55 room Rockwell All Suite Hotel and the new tasting room. Twenty two million visitors
come to the Waterfront every year and they hope to pick up some of them to introduce
them to Flagstone wines. She said: "We want the new Flagstone Tasting Room
to celebrate all forms of creativity and so we opted to offer our guests the
experience of a wine & music pairing”. Visitors to the new Flagstone
Tasting Room at The Rockwell Hotel are able to choose from over 22 wines in the
Flagstone range. Each taster glass is a 100ml serving with pricing starting at
R10 per glass
Then head winemaker Gerhard Swart came on stage to
introduce each wine. Cellarmaster Bruce Jack explained the story and
inspiration behind each of them. As we tasted, the music changed for each wine,
the lights went out and we tasted in the dark. Lynne always makes notes on each
wine she tastes and she wrote in the dark. Surprisingly she could read her
notes afterwards. Bruce Jack is a talented poet; he read a poem to each of the
wines. He has wanted to do this sort of tasting for years as he believes that music
makes life and wine better
John and others tried to tweet while the lights
were out to much barracking from those of us who wanted to enjoy tasting in
total darkness. Bruce has been encouraged to produced a book of his excellent
poems - well maybe not the Rap song, but definitely the haikus. It was a lot of
fun
One of the snacks provided. Do wines taste better
in the dark, does music improve their taste? The jury is out on that one. Accompanied
by Gypsy music, we tasted the Free Run Sauvignon Blanc, 4½ stars in Platter
this year. It has intense green layers, is forward and long. To very romantic
music, we tasted the Treaty Tree Cape blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Green
pyrazines, minerality fuller, still crisp and green with oily limes, lemons and
rocks. The Two Roads Chardonnay 2016 full and soft with wood notes and crisp
with limes, melons and butter. Bruce said he should recite Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken. But instead he recited
a rap song entitled RapShody
More snacks. Then it was time for the three reds. First
the Dark Horse Shiraz tasted with the Habanero from Carmen. Smoky salty wood,
tannins and chalk then berries, cooked plums and cherries. The Music Room 2014
Cabernet Sauvignon from Elgin is pure cassis berries and leaves with expensive
wood with soft, chalky warm berries, licorice and smoke, raindrops of flavour,
long, pure and honest. Accompanied by Bach. And finally The Writers Block
Pinotage accompanied by music of Africa. True to place, perfumed, delicate,
expensive wood notes, silky sweet and sour fruit with a dark bitter end and
lots of chalky tannins blocking the flavour. Needs time
At Wegner and Johan Wegner of Get Wine with Amanda de Klerk of Distinctive Brands were enjoying
themselves, as were we
Out into the Tasting Centre to some chicken sate. The
Rockwell is on the MyCiti Bus Route and Flagstone are selling a lot of wine here
every week, both from the venue and on line
More snacks
Mini sliders
At Wegner, Michael Olivier, Johan Wegner, Bruce Jack, Karen Glanfield Pawley
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016
