Thursday, February 28, 2019

Tasting Greek Assyrtiko wines at Jordan wine estate, Stellenbosch

With rises in temperature in wine areas worldwide now 2 to 2.5% higher, farms are looking at dry land grapes that can tolerate heat. We are not France, so continuing to grow delicate grapes that need cool growing conditions long term is something farmers are having to take into account. Even France is becoming warmer and getting higher alcohols in their wines. Gary and Kathy Jordan at Jordan bought some more land a few years ago. It appears to be perfect for the Assyrtiko grape, grown mostly in Greece, which performs well in a high altitude stony vineyard with cooling winds and dry land conditions. They have investigated this wine for years, at last gained access to the vines and will soon plant them on Jordan. We were invited to visit the farm and taste some of these wines from Greece and the only Assyrtiko from outside Greece, which is made in Australia…
"It’s that bloody photographer again, capturing our souls......" Marcha Cooke, Gary Jordan and Jon Meinking
Marketing Assistant Melanie Melville and Marcha Cooke, Jordan's Sales Manager
Drinks on arrival were the 2018 Crisp and delicious Cold Fact Sauvignon Blanc and the 2018 Real McCoy Riesling
Gathering on the terrace
Marcha with Jordan’s General Manager, Jacques Steyn CWM
An opportunity to taste the just picked Chenin Blanc grapes
A smiling Allan Mullins
First, Gary spoke to us about the geology of the Winelands
"Could Assyrtiko be grown successfully in Stellenbosch?" accompanied by some informative slides
Gary Jordan trained first as a Geologist and then as a winemaker, so he is very knowledgeable about the soils on their farm and in the Cape Winelands. Here is a picture of him in one of the old tin mines beneath Jordan
This and the following photographs, until the pic of the amphora, are from Gary's slide show
They had to remove some very large boulders in the new vineyard; here they are drilling
And some of the rocks had to be taken out by explosives
That did become rather interesting at times when explosions, which can be unpredictable, blew things in the wrong directions!
This is a view of the new vineyards on the top of the far hill. The Assyrtiko vineyard will be affected (in a good way)
by the Cape's famous South Easter wind. which does not reach much of the rest of the farm
and a view of Assyrtiko vineyards on the Greek island of Santorini, where it is believed to have originated
The Assyrtiko vines are first grown as bush vines, but after a couple of years they are woven into a basket shape (koulara),
and the grapes encouraged to grow inside the basket
Many years ago Kathy and Gary visited the island and Gary took this photograph of 18 year old Kathy sitting in one of the Assyrtiko basket vines. This was the beginning of their fascination and determination to grow this grape in South Africa. The road has been long and arduous as the grape was not permitted for many years. It is now and is soon to be planted
Here you can see an old vine with many years of woven vines making the koulara basket
This is where it will be planted on Jordan
And a view of the very rocky soil it will be grown on. Assyrtiko performs best in a terroir which is high, dry and cool with rocky soil
Winemaker Sjaak Nelson is very excited about this new grape and has already put in an amphora
which will be used to vinify some of the grapes
Time to taste the Assyrtiko wines
The wines from Greece certainly are warm country wines, some aromatic in a rather Riesling way, others wild and crisp and sunny, all have lots of fruit characteristics, often layered, many with citrus and herbs. The sea is present on some, there is good minerality and there are good fruit acids despite the fruit being really ripe (this is a notable characteristic of Assyrtiko), and many have fullness and roundness
About half had wood influence which adds to the flavour without overwhelming the fruit and nearly all were really enjoyable. We definitely think this is a grape that South Africans will enjoy drinking, especially with food. The Australian Assyrtiko which was only planted in 2012 is much more like an Australian dry, crisp Riesling. Quince like flavours, rather mouth puckering in its youth
Gary wanted to know which wines had impressed us, so asked us to vote for our top two. The room had many different favourites, but two wines did emerge as top versions of this grape. One of these had very familiar Riesling flavours and Lynne asked whether people had liked it so much because it was familiar. Why would we need to copy Riesling when we can allow the real Assyrtiko flavours to develop when it is grown on our soils in our climate. Now that prospect is really exciting
and who should pop in to say hello but Gary's father, Ted Jordan
Then it was time for a light lunch from The Bakery. We sat out on the deck under the trees
They have such great, happy serving staff
Our lunch menu
Three wine tastings you can do on Jordan
Our starter of Spanspek (orange sweet melon) topped with a goats cheese mousse, thin grilled slices of fennel bulb and fennel flowers and some slivers of smoked snoek. It sounded like a disparate combination of flavours but in fact was rather good blend of texture and summer flavours. We had The Outlier Sauvignon Blanc with this course
The main course was a roulade of roasted Pork Belly, with a spiced beetroot and orange purée which cut through the richness and fattiness of the pork and added the necessary fruitiness that pork shines with. Topped with a Waldorf salad of apple and walnuts and dressed with the jus from the meat. The 2017 Nine Yards Chardonnay and the beautiful Sophia Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot
Desserts were tiny crisp pastry 'boats filled with lemon curd, or dark bitter chocolate ganache topped with cream and a sliver of strawberry. And good coffee and tea were served before we took our Uber back to Cape Town
We visited Santorini, the home of Assyrtiko, in 2015. Click here to see the island and its vines in our 2015 story

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Steenberg Nebbiolo 2015


Our favourite wine of the tasting at Steenberg and so good that it is our Wine of the Week
It is a wine with wildness from a grape that gives so much
Wild strawberries, rhubarb, mulberries on the nose, with some perfume and incense wood. Soft sweet cherry berry on the palate, so deep and long with delicious fruit flavours, good acid fruit balance and gentle chalky tannins on the end. A stupendous food wine, especially with Italian or Mediterranean food


Expect to pay about R275 per bottle
Platter gave it 4½ stars (90-94 points/100, Outstanding)


On the MENU this week. Stir fried Chicken with Asparagus


This recipe is really simple to make, just do the preparation beforehand and you can assemble the dish in just a few minutes. The flavour of the sauce is really good. If you can’t get Sichuan pepper corns, just used good, freshly ground black pepper

2 chicken breasts, sliced in to 6 cm x 2 cm pieces - 1 t corn flour– 1 t crushed Szechuan pepper – 2 T soy sauce – 1.5 T honey – 1 T rice wine vinegar (or dry sherry) – 1/2 cup chicken stock – 1 t corn flour – 2 T peanut or coconut oil – 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped – 5 c m fresh ginger, grated - 350 g green asparagus, - 4 spring onions, finely sliced – sesame oil - toasted sesame seeds
Slice the chicken and put it into a bowl with the corn flour and Szechuan pepper, stir to coat the chicken. Leave to marinade for half an hour (this tenderises it and give it a silken texture). Mix the soy sauce, honey, rice wine and chicken stock. Stir in 1 t corn flour. Heat a wok till hot and add the peanut oil. Stir fry the garlic and ginger quickly then add the chicken and stir fry rapidly for four or five minutes or until tender and just cooked. Remove from the pan. Add the asparagus and the spring onions and continue cooking for a couple of moments until the asparagus is bright green and still crisp – add a little more oil if necessary. Put in the soy honey mix and cook for a few minutes until thickening. Then add back the chicken to warm and then serve on rice or noodles topped the sesame oil and seeds and a few more spring onions

Prawns, horses, wine and art on a Saturday afternoon

We decided to go to the Prawn Festival last Saturday which was held at the Kenilworth Race Course. It turned out to be a market with food and only one venue had prawns. You bought your voucher for R99 per person ....

and stood in the longest queue imaginable. John went to find a table and some cold beers and Lynne stood, and stood and stood in the slowly moving queue for nearly an hour
The prawns were being braaied on fires in the tent at the back and then served by very few staff to the huge crowd of people. We arrived at about midday. Lynne saw the ticket numbers of the people in front of her and they were 1225 - we reckon they served over 3,000 people that day, just very slowly...
John was not delighted to discover that AB InBev have the only beer concession
NOT his favourite beers of choice, but the only port in a (hot) storm
Smaller queue there
Castle lager, with the familiar persistent, astringent, bitter finish. First taste of it in several years and the last for a few more
What you got for the R99 was a generous portion (23 each in fact) of prawns in various states of undress and doneness in a prego sauce, served on yellow rice with slap chips. So it was hands to the shells and one became very messy. We saw many people taking their prawns home. Elsewhere you could buy calamari and a few other ready prepared foods
The races take place all afternoon
and we watched the last race
Nice action shot! The number was well chosen. He came in 6th
Lynne looking for John! Who was taking these photos
To get to the parking, you have to cross the fairway. But not when the horses are out on the track
Next, we wanted to sit somewhere cool and enjoy some good wine,
so we headed for chic Steenberg as, later, we had an appointment at the Norval Foundation gallery next door
We couldn't find any seats on the terrace, so we sat at the bar and had a really good tasting of some of the wines. We began with the excellent 1682 Steenberg Blanc de Blanc MCC with brioche on the nose, crisp, clean lean limes and lemons on the palate, and perfect to cool down with on a hot summers day
Then the Black Swan 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, grown on the hills above the farm. Fynbos on the nose herbal, figs, green pepper as one would expect from a Constantia Sauvignon Blanc, a good mouthfeel with some lees contact fullness, fresh lemon. gooseberry and some grapefruit bitterness
The 2017 Semillon has a rich, grey grape nose with some seaweed and a hint of wood. Round palate full, some initial honey sweetness then crisp long flavours of citrus pear and grapefruit
The iconic 2017 Magna Carta is a Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc 60% and Semillon 40% and is perfumed with lemongrass, full of green pepper pyrazines and seaweed. Full crisp layers of fruit, orange lemon, melon, lime. A blend of the two previous wines but better. Lively and long and a food wine
Our enthusiastic hostess, Zelda pouring the Steenberg MCC
That hanging 'bunch' of red and white glass grapes over the bar makes a wonderful feature
Girls, it’s a little rude and not a little selfish to occupy chairs with your handbags. People were desperate to sit down and taste
Our favourite wine of the tasting and so good it is our Wine of the Week, the Steenberg Nebbiolo. It’s a wine with wildness from a grape that gives so much. Wild strawberries, rhubarb, mulberries on the nose with some perfume and incense wood. Soft sweet cherry berry on the palate, so deep and long with delicious fruit flavours, good fruit acid balance and gentle chalky tannins on the end. A stupendous food wine, especially with Italian or Mediterranean food.
WOW! The Steenberg Merlot is back! This used to be Lynne’s favourite South African Merlot way back, but it was overtaken by some tight tannins, mint and green flavours in the intervening years, a style many like, but not preferred by us. But this vintage is superb. So elegant and beautiful with a sophisticated nose, more French in style than SA. Soft, velvety, sweet cherry berry fruit with a good zing from plums and some richness from dark chocolate, with very soft tannins. Already winning awards
We had a good chat to our neighbours and this member of staff who was explaining the wines for us. We also tasted the Catharina 2016 Merlot, Shiraz, Petit Verdot. Incense wood elegance a classic French nose with hints of violets. Soft sweet cassis and blackberry fruit, a little spice and long flavours, chalky tannins and warm alcohol
and then it was nearly 5.30 and we went next door to the Norval Foundation
where we had booked to join a tour of the new exhibitions, guided by curator Karel Nel
He explained that we would take a tour with him of the David Goldblatt photographic exhibition On the Mines,
then the Nudes in the Sanlam collection and a brief spell in the installation Labour of Many by Ibrahim Mahama
He also gave us a briefing on the Atrium Commission which is by courtesy of the Claire & Edoardo Villa Will Trust who give One million Rand to support an artist. This is currently the installation behind him by Serge Alain Nitegeka’s entitled Structural Response III .To quote the Norval: "The theme of disrupted lives, disrupted work and disrupted spaces is, through his intervention within the Atrium, intended to enable a discussion about displacement. His use of simple building materials such as pre-cut timber, references the aesthetics of temporary structures that forced migrants often construct." When they dismantle the installation, the timber will be donated to refugees and homeless to use it in building their homes and his next project will be to document that work
The Sanlam Collection Nudes exhibition had some surprises
Some interesting bronzes and other nude sculptures
Each of these surrealistic drawings was the work of three artists; one did the top, one the middle and the third the bottom
We were very surprised to see this Pierneef nude, so different from his usual style of paintings
Very Art Deco in influence and done in the 1930's
And a new sculpture in the garden by Yinka Shonibare CBE, Wind Sculpture SG (III), 2018, which is a reference to African fabrics
Karel Nel was so informative about the works and it really does enhance one's experience of the gallery to have explanations of the artists' work, their influences, their eras and some of the meanings
You do need to visit and see the exhibits for yourself. The Goldblatt On the Mines exhibition is very, very powerful
They also have the book for sale in the shop with the words written by his friend Nadine Gordimer
Hearing about the background to this body of work by the photographer, recently deceased. Karel Nel worked with David Goldblatt on this exhibition until just few days before his death in 2018. "Goldblatt is revealed as the great chronicler and documenter of South Africa: the quiet observer of how the country, its peoples, its institutions and landscape have been inscribed by politics and power"
Standing inside the monumental installation Labour of Many by Ibrahim Mahama. "Mahama’s rigorous, socially engaged and process based practice, brings to the fore Africa’s role in the global exchange of commodities while considering the movement of its people and how labour is valued." It is quite moving, you can see the humble cocoa sacks he collected and their many uses and reuses over the years are visible. They have been painstakingly sewn together. You get a sense of the labour that has carried these and the places they have been and the people who were involved in the different trades that used and carried them. Our large group was dwarfed in this marvellous gallery space
After the hour long tour, we were offered a glass of one of the Skotnes wines, which are sold in the shop and the restaurant, and had a chance to chat to other visitors and to Karel Nel
before heading home after a rather long day