Thursday, December 15, 2016

Nederburg vine planting, Platter's five-star wine tasting and lunch

We were invited, along with other media, to get our hands into old soil and plant new vines at Nederburg, "a special vine planting event to honour the 225-year legacy of the winery’s founder Phillipus Wolvaart, who acquired the Paarl farm in 1791". So there we were in our sensible shoes, hats and covered in sun block prepared for the journey to the top of a hill on a very warm and sunny morning
In case you had missed breakfast with the early start, fruit and croissants were provided in the Visitors’ Centre before we ventured out
Oh, and a glass of Nederburg MCC
The wine display in the Visitors’ Centre
Cool and modern, an inviting place to enjoy a wine tasting
The growing crowd of planters
We were taken up the hill in a bus to meet the gang who were going to help us plant. They had laboured hard before we arrived, as all the holes had been dug. They are led by farm manager, Bertie Faure, who will retire at the end of the year after 28 years at Nederburg. We loved meeting him; he has lots of Nederburg history to relate
Waiting for the "OFF"
Andrea Freeborough, Nederburg Cellarmaster
Bertie Faure, the farm manager at Nederburg and Bennie Liebenberg - Nederburg Viticulturist
Bertie showed us vines that had already been planted and explained that we would be planting an unusual cultivar, Chambourcin, on a block that’s been resting for three years to improve the decomposed granite soil. This grape is able to withstand extreme weather, pests and diseases. It is grown in USA and Australia. The challenge of global warming and climate change is making our industry look at grapes like these
We are split into teams and sent up the hill to find our planting positions
Our helpers show us how to spread the roots and then position the vine in the hole, so that it lines up with a marker on the wire
Then another worker helps us to fill in the soil around the vine and tamp it down gently with our feet
John planting his vine. We only planted one each; we would have like to have done more; it was not the first time we had done this
Nederburg’s viticulturist, Bennie Liebenberg, told us that these vines were grafted onto phylloxera free rootstocks but further up the hill they have planted ungrafted Chambourcin, a French-American hybrid, as it does seem to be resistant to this devastating little louse (phylloxera vastatrix), as well as mealybug and downy mildew which can rot ripe grapes. They already grow Tempranillo, Graciano, Carignan and Grenache and have access to Italian varietals such as Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Barbera, which enabled the previous cellarmaster, Razvan Macici, and his team produce their first Italian blend. They are now planting Villard blanc and Seyval blanc to help with disease control and the elimination of pests in more environmentally friendly ways
Magnificent blue mountain views from the Nederburg vineyards
Media filming and tweeting while the planting continues apace. The workers were so much quicker than we were and plant a row in no time at all
Discussion between Christian Eedes, editor of Winemag. co.za, and former Cellarmaster Razvan Macici, while resting on our spades
The row is planted and the irrigation pipes go in
You can see the midday heat coming up off the vineyards
Back to the famous barrel cellar for a tasting of the four Nederburg wines which were awarded 5 stars in the 2017 Platter, each wine paired with an older version, and then some lunch. You can see why they score so highly when you taste them. The Private Bin D234 2015 Sauvignon Blanc from Darling is intense, with green peppers, cats pee, herbal, grassy and white asparagus on the nose. Concentrated crisp limes and green melon with long flavours; so well made. The 2010 bottle of this wine has ripe asparagus, and is lovely, with a more mature nose, still with crispness, more integrated, still that asparagus and long flavours. Sauvignon Blancs age well
Lots of water was drunk to rehydrate after the hot hillside. Then the Brew Master 2014, a Bordeaux blend. Cherries, chocolate, violets and incense wood. It is silky soft with long concentrated cassis flavours with salty liquorice and soft tannins. The 2011 was from a hot, late harvest, again with cassis flavours, it is elegant and more classic and longer lasting. It still has tight tannins and chalk
The glasses. Next came the Private Bin R165 Cabernet Sauvignon. Complex fruit nose, vanilla wood, incense, cassis and leaves. Sweet delight on the palate, full of soft sweet fruit with vanilla, a food wine with long elegant flavours. The 2005 is more herbal with expensive oak, greener on the nose with spice and perfumed sandalwood. On the palate, mushrooms, mixed berries, cassis, cherries, loganberries, well integrated soft chalk and tight tannins, almost mouth puckering, so years more to go. These wines are made to be 'tighter' and are made especially for the Nederburg Auction, when they are usually only submitted at 10 years of age. The bunches are selected by hand, the berries are then selected at triage, undergo open barrel fermentation and they spend 24 months in French oak
The tasting sheet. Then we tasted the Noble Late Harvest 2015, a blend of 48% Chenin Blanc, 52% Muscat de Frontignan. Honey and lemons, with a good balance of sugar and acid, then dried peaches, apricots and pineapple appear. Not too heavy or sticky. The grapes are handpicked late harvest. 2008 was an good year for Botrytis. A blend of 60% Chenin Blanc, 27% Weisser Riesling and 13% Muscat. On the nose, bruléed honey, grapey smoky lees. This carries through to the palate with raspberry syrup notes, honey, limes, great balance and a jammy end.
Previous cellar master Razvan Macici took us through the older wines
and current Cellarmaster Andrea Freeborough spoke about the new generation
Time for lunch. We moved the Manor house and collected a glass of refreshing Nederburg MCC on the way
A welcoming hug for Razvan Macici
Lunch at a long table under the trees and umbrellas
The interesting menu with lots of local touches. The wines to be served all come from the Heritage Heroes range
Bread and butter with snoek paté
Roses make a lovely table decoration
The smoked snoek paté deep fried in tempura batter with a balsamic fig dressing
Accompanied by The Anchorman 2015, named for Phillipus Wolvaart, who founded the farm in 1791. A wooded Chenin Blanc, fresh and mature with cooked apricots, peaches, a good match for the snoek
The cabbage wrapped Denningvleis, a traditional Cape Malay dish of braised and shredded mutton. Served with a red wine jus and 'Sunday Lunch vegetables'.
Paired with the Motorcycle Marvel. The wine is named for biker Gunter Brözel, who was Nederburg’s Cellarmaster for 33 years and was a great innovator, making the first Rhône style blend in SA. Intensely perfumed with spicy pink peppercorns cinnamon, vanilla and dark berries, followed by intense layers of dark fruit and salty spice. Perfect with the spicy and fatty mutton
This is also a Rhône blend with a lovely colour
We could also taste the Nederburg Auction Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon again
Served with dessert was The Beautiful Lady, a Gewürztraminer named for Ilse Graue, wife of Johann Graue who took over the farm in 1937. She planted the rose garden in front of the manor house, where her piano playing could be heard. The wine shows honey, rose petals, litchis on the nose. Only 16g/l sugar makes it clean and dry with lovely aromatics
Dessert was a set wild geranium Panna Cotta with griddled litchis, berries and a berry coulis
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

An overnight visit to Asara Wine Estate and Hotel, Stellenbosch


Some invitations are worth waiting for. We were invited to stay at Asara a few months ago but, as we were both travelling and working, our dates and GM Pete Gottgens’ didn't collide and he so wanted to be there when we came, as we are old acquaintances. We had a great overnight stay there with dinner in their top restaurant, Mise en Place, at the beginning of December. We have to admit that we hadn't visited Asara for many years and we are so impressed at the many changes that have been made since then. When we last visited, they were a boutique hotel with just a few rooms; now they have a 41 roomed five star hotel, with three places to dine, a gin bar and ,of course, their wine. The views are pretty special too
Our room with large bathroom en suite
with its own outside terrace and views of the lake from the windows
A large tub to soak in, if there weren't water restrictions
and a walk in shower
Some lovely welcoming gifts left for us. A platter of delicious fresh fruit, some macarons and some handmade chocolates. And a bottle of Asara wine on ice
Safe, mini bar and tea and coffee station
The superb views across the lake
Looking back at the hotel you see the Sansibar Bistro with its wood-fired oven and its terrace, should you wish to dine outside. On the right hand corner, the breakfast room terrace. Around the corner is the terrace of the restaurant Mise en Place
Our room is the one on the ground floor with the open door and the large private terrace
The swimming pool
They have an ecologically sound green water system in place and all the water on the farm is filtered through reed beds into the bottom lake. They use this water to irrigate
The courtyard and deli
The comfortable lounge
The Reception area at one end of the lounge. The staff were excellent, all could engage well with you, were well informed and helpful without being too stiff and formal, which we like very much
Time to taste some wine in the cellar with their very experienced new winemaker Danielle le Roux, who joined them last year. She was extremely generous with her time. We began with these three wines, the 2015 Chenin Blanc which she blended - rich golden and crisp - the 2016 Sauvignon Blanc, made in the tropical style with grapes from Bot Rivier. It has a little Semillon added and is complex and sherbety.  The Pinotage rosé is full of fresh strawberries with crisp acidity and minerality
Then we tasted from the barrels; always a treat to taste the wine this way in its natural state. A rich spicy Merlot with fennel seed, no green notes, warm with 14.5% alcohol and still chewy with tannin, needs time. Then a Cabernet Sauvignon with a classic cassis nose with cedar and sandalwood and rich round fruit, juicy luscious cassis and milk chocolate, chalky tannins supporting, no bitterness and not too heavy. One to watch when released. Then Malbec - wildness, with violets, blackberries, dark choc wood, super savouriness with great dark fruit, soft tannins and dark 85% chocolate! Again, one to watch
On to another of our favourite grapes, Petit Verdot and indeed found the violets and roses on the nose with dark liquorice and chocolate wood. Sweet and complex fruit and perfume on the palate; pomegranate, mulberry and chocolate on the end from the wood. The Pinotage with pinched bunches to concentrate flavours, was picked ripe and then partially dried on shelves, an Amarone style wine. It has a herbal nose with some mint, wood and cotton notes. The wine has sweet fruit, concentrated, in the oxidative style, elegant and puzzling, with tight chalky tannins. Interesting to see how that develops. And finally the Shiraz, fermentation is on the lees. Spicy black pepper, oaky wood on the nose. Still fizzy with fermentation, it has rich sweet fruit and savoury meatiness. We predict that it is going to be great
Lovely chandeliers in the barrel cellar make the place sparkle. Thank you Danielle for a terrific tasting. We can't wait to come back and taste these wines in bottle in a year or so
Oh, the evening light on those lovely Stellenbosch mountains
And a hill of graceful grapes. We managed a short rest before meeting Pete Gottgens in the Mise en Place restaurant at 7 pm
Oh wow, on offer that evening, a special we were encouraged to have. Pete had brought back a black Perigord truffle from from his recent trip to Sweden. The freshly made bread was special too. We had a nice long chat with him before he had to rush off home. He commutes every day between Asara and Agulhas!
The view from the restaurant terrace at sunset when the mountains take on the pink and violet colours made famous by South African painters
The vine motif in the restaurant
The menu. We think the prices are very reasonable for a 5 star hotel
Our very helpful waiter Stephen Taylor taking the order from the next table
A cobra like decanter
He was an expert at decanting the wine and pouring from this was no easy feat.
We both ordered the starter of Hope on Hopkins gin-infused raw salmon, topped with lemon and orange slices, crème fraiche and two types of caviar - black and red salmon. It was served on cucumber and avocado. Not much sign of the gin and the salmon was very soft. The caviar and lemon added a lot of flavour. Lynne had a glass of the rich and golden Asara Chardonnay, suitable for both her courses
John chose the oven baked quail main course, which came with fine green beans, a naartjie (tangerine) marmalade glaze and toasted almonds. Tender and delicious, with a good jus. He drank the Asara Bell Tower Bordeaux blend with it
Lynne asked for a starter portion of the tagliatelle with the black truffle shavings. It was served plain with olive oil and parsley to highlight the beautiful truffle. The pasta was a little too al dente and broad for Lynne's taste. With this delicate dish, a little more salty and slippery would have been great
John could not resist dessert, so he opted for the chocolate soufflé, which was more like a rather cakey chocolate fondant. The white chocolate ice cream with the dark chocolate sauce was delectable 
He enjoyed a small glass of the Carillon Noble Late harvest dessert wine with dessert
And followed with a double espresso; good coffee, good crema, and extremely tempting friandise. Pete told us they have no named chefs in the kitchen, just a good team who work together
Restaurants closing as we went our way to our comfortable bed
The courtyard with fountain and the lit reception and lounge
Next morning we were up early for breakfast, as we had to go to lunch in Elgin
The breakfast room was busy at 8 am
The very tempting breakfast buffet had everything one could desire
The juice station
The other side of the breakfast buffet. We managed yogurt, muesli and fruit
A terrace for sunny breakfasts overlooking the dam and the valley
They have a short order menu of interesting and predictable cooked breakfast items and Lynne found her favourite: Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup with good black coffee. The bacon could have been crisper
John had a cheese omelette with bacon
What a lovely breakfast and such a good stay at Asara, we slept like babies
Jacarandas in bloom at the entrance as we left
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016