Thursday, May 02, 2019

Elgin Cool Wine Festival - Iona

We were beginning to run out of steam, but were determined to get to the last farm on our list, one we put high on the list of essential places to visit in Elgin; Iona, 420m high on its ridge at the other end of the valley from the N2, and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean
People were enjoying the wine in the garden in the late afternoon, while the chickens pecked the ground around them
At one point, we thought we had a layer!
In the tasting room with the Cellarmaster, Werner Muller, tasting the 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
Classic Iona Sauvignon, full of green pepper, granadilla, long complex flavours and crispness
A tasting room or a garage. Andrew Gunn's latest acquisition: an immaculate 1958 Austin-Healey 100-6,
accompanied by his first car, a Porsche 356, also in immaculate condition
Lots of car envy from the visitors. He also keeps his Porsche in the tasting room
Not on view is his new Porsche 911 GT3, the ultimate performance car
Cellarmaster Werner Muller in conversation with Manny of Manny's Kitchen in Bot River
Manny's lads were serving prego rolls, calamari and huge prawns
good prices too
Next, the 2017 Chardonnay with its nice hint of wood, mellow yellow fruits, a zing of citrus acidity, peach and pear
and a finish of more lime and lemon. This has just enough soft, dusty chalk
Andrew Gunn brought out a special treat, an Iona 2006 Sauvignon blanc.... 
We were bowled over by how well this has lasted on both the nose and palate
It has almost a semillon note, a tiny spritzy tingle with figs; fig leaves on the nose and palate and was amazingly long and crisp
The 2016 Solace Syrah has perfume, toast and spice with dark berry fruit on the nose. Black plum fruit with cassis and black pepper; exciting to see this age. The 2015 Pinot Noir has smoky wood
 and pretty rose petals on the nose. Raspberry fruit with long elegant flavours and a touch of liquorice on the end. They say comparisons are odious, but we found that the lovely 2013 One Man Band, a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot, Mourvedre and Viognier. rather reminded us of Full Stop Rock from Newton Johnson, despite having completely different grapes. It's a big, bold wine. It has a complex nose of all the varietals, with violets, cassis, pepper and peach notes. Bright sweet berry fruit, a lovely melange; also with liquorice notes, chewy tannins, a seriously good wine, with a little fun added
Andrew, very kindly, fetched another, older, wine for us to taste, the 2004 Iona Merlot Cabernet. So many spoils in one day!
Brick edges, there is good fruit on the nose with incense wood
Velvety on the palate, great fruit, black and red currants and cherries, nice chalky tannins; this has lasted well
There is a touch of salt on the end
The back label of the bottle
Rozie Gunn with Solace, the Shiraz grown on her property in the valley
We were treated to some of these gigantic prawns. So special with that Chardonnay
General Manager Brad Gold's gorgeous son chewing, as you do in Elgin, on an Apple..... He is teething. Tooth no. 2
There is an amazing view from the top of the ridge over the Elgin valley
and this was what it looked like, late afternoon as we headed home
A close up of golden vines, with at least 8 ridges of mountain tops in the misty haze
A picture we would love on our wall at home. Dreamy autumn afternoon after a lovely weekend festival
Thank you to all at Iona and everyone in Elgin who showed us such kindness in your wonderful valley..
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Brad Gold's gorgeous son chewing, as you do in Elgin, on an Apple..... He is teething. Tooth no. 2.
There is an amazing view from the top of the ridge over the Elgin valley and this was what it looked like late afternoon as we headed home. 
A close up of golden vines, with at least 8 ridges or mountain tops in the misty haze.  A picture we would love on our wall at home. Dreamy autumn afternoon after a lovely weekend festival. Thank you all at Iona and all in Elgin who showed us  such kindness in your wonderful valley..

Posted by MENU at 12:49 am 1 comments

Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Elgin Cool Wine Festival - Almenkerk

Next down the road to Almenkerk, who also have superb views of the valley from their position, high on a hill
The main building, designed by Derick Henstra, which houses the wine cellar and tasting room, has won architectural awards
Derick Henstra also designed, more recently, the Norval Foundation building in Constantia
and the gardens are planted with sustainable local fynbos with a few Mediterranean additions like lavender and rosemary
We always enjoy meeting Natalie Opstaele. She and her husband Joris van Almenkerk bought an apple farm in 2002
and transformed it into a successful award winning wine farm with vines, and apples and pears
They were very busy... here greeting David Brown, an American visitor, who was also at the Mount Bullet tasting at Shannon
... but we managed to steal a picture of them together, looking very happy. Quite an achievement after a very hectic weekend
Off to the tasting counter to try some of the wines. Their Sauvignon Blanc was the best of the weekend for us, Capsicum and granadilla (for us, an Elgin signature), very drinkable on its own and a lovely crisp wine to go with food. Rock on Almenkerk and Elgin! The Chardonnay is clean and crisp with limes and citrus, full on the palate with some wood support. The 2014 Syrah is perfumed, with good fruit, sweet and sour freshness with a long end. And the 2015 Merlot has beautiful fruit on the nose, soft cherry berry flavours, outstanding with chalky soft tannins and fresh fruit acidity





All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 11:27 pm 0 comments

Elgin Cool Wine Festival - Lothian

Because we were early for the tasting at Shannon, we shot down the road to Lothian to taste two wines that people were talking about (thank you Rebecca). Winemaker Richard Kershaw MW is making the wines for Lothian and his wines come with a huge pedigree. This view is of the house over the lake
A Kokerboom aloe tree, also known as the Quiver tree from the San peoples’ practice
of hollowing out the tubular branches of Aloidendron dichotomum to form quivers for their arrows
The front of the house is covered in the most exquisite green wall we have ever seen
It is planted with different coloured Streptocarpus plants, ferns and some succulents
A view of the autumnal vines over the lake
and the pool. Lothian has luxury accommodation and some festival goers were staying there
A warm welcome awaited us from Ewen Wilson at the tasting room area, despite the early hour. We were their first customers of the day
The line-up of wines for tasting
We loved the 2018 Isobel Mourvedre Rosé. The wine is fruity, refreshing and crisp and identifiably Mourvedre
Made one think of lunch in Southern France. So we bought some
We also thought that the 2017 Chardonnay was superb
Lightly toasted Burgundy barrels impart just enough elegance to the wine;
there is a beautiful balance of fruit and wood, layers of exciting flavours of citrus, lime, butter and pineapple
So we bought some of that too
The 2017 Pinot Noir is also a well made classic from Richard Kershaw and speaks of the good valley fruit
Sadly, our budget did not quite stretch that far. Another time perhaps. These wines have come on so well
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 10:59 pm 1 comments

Elgin Cool Wine Festival – Elgin Ridge

After Shannon we headed for Elgin Ridge to taste their wines and have some lunch from the Goose Roasters' food truck
The tasting counter was inside the winery and we sampled their White Crunch Sauvignon Blanc which is very quaffable and went well with our lunch. We also enjoyed the fruity Crunch Pinot Noir, which is made with some carbonic maceration in an egg - you can see them at the back of the cellar. It did remind us a little of a Beaujolais Village
Choices choices...
and good music while we ate, from this young singer Jay P Storm
We both went for the Pork Belly burger with its rich creamy curry sauce and lots of salad vegetables crammed into the soft bun. It was incredibly difficult to eat this with grace and delicacy, not made any easier by some idiot with a long lens focusing on our faces as we tried to eat. Lynne was very tempted to go and give him a piece of her mind, if not a piece of her burger (or the flat of her hand). Good chips too but far too many for us
John's crisp version with little or no fat on the pork as requested
We risked it and sat on the hay bales and have had no bites from hay mites. We are still very cautious...
Time to move on to the next place. We do want to thank Marion Smith (owner of Elgin Ridge with her husband Brian)
for organising this great weekend for us and hosting us
We had a wonderful tasting of their wines at Aubergine and you can see it at https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/2016/10/lunch-at-aubergine-with-vertical.html
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 10:40 pm 0 comments

Elgin Cool Wine Festival - Shannon Mount Bullet vertical

Sunday morning was a bit of a rush, as we thought we had overslept; had a very quick breakfast of toast, tea and coffee and then rushed to Shannon for their Vertical tasting, only to find that we were an hour early! Owners Stuart (Marketing and Sales) and James (Viticulturist) were manning the Festival bar
The views from Shannon of the Palmiet river and valley are absolutely stunning
And below the red autumnal vines are three modern Deutz tractors,
as James says, paid for by the apples and pears they also grow
Time to take our seats for the Vertical tasting of Mount Bullet Merlot, often recognised as the best merlot in South Africa
These three young men work in the in the industry - two for Wine Concepts and the other for L’Avenir
It was a very relaxed Sunday morning and Shannon was a very popular venue to visit, despite being a bit off the highway
A warm welcome from James Downes
The festival was pet friendly, as long as they were on leads
We saw numerous dogs and one small, very docile, black cat, brought by the visitors!
The wines are made for Shannon by Nadia and Gordon Newton Johnson. James wanted to know if we could tell where the wine starts to change as it ages, at what age the tasters want to start drinking it and if there is a correlation between vintage variation and climate, which we believe is visible. Shannon has 50% French Merlot clones and 50% Italian. They have 3 hectares of Merlot, all on East facing slopes. The cool climate of Elgin means that ripening is slow, which merlot needs and, as they say, “Good even ripeness” is the key
Christine Rudman bringing the dogs some water. She was the principal of the Cape Wine Academy
when we were awarded our Diplomas and is now a wine judge. She runs the Michelangelo Wine Awards each year
We began with the youngest vintage of Mount Bullet Merlot, the currently available 2016, which sells for R465 on the farm
Notes of rose, rich dark cherry and red berry fruit initially
Black cherry fruit on entry with dry chalky tannins, dark toast from the wood and a long finish with a hint of liquorice
Infanticide to drink now; buy to put away as it has such class that it will develop beautifully and pay dividends
Enjoying the wine. The 2015 has a beautiful nose of seductive, rich berry fruit that you want to dive into
Silky soft, with chalky tannin, rich berry fruit and nice freshness and tension. It needs time too
A long finish with some umami flavours and dark toasted wood supporting, not overwhelming
The 2014 has milk chocolate and cherry with a hint of amaretto on the nose and is also soft and seductive
Full-on salty liquorice and black cherries on the palate, with soft, chalky tannins and freshness on the end
A food wine. Lynne scored this 19/20
The 2013 is shyer, but has a similar nose and is more integrated, with cherry fruit and a hint of balsam
Softer, shyer again on the palate with very grippy, chalky tannins, and some warmth and freshness on the end
This wine is resting, gathering itself for a big reveal in the future
The 2012 has cherries and smoke, a rich fruit nose with rose petals
Wonderful bright cherry fruit, soft chalk on the teeth, not the cheeks, lighter in style but delicious to drink now
Some umami notes
The 2011 so impressed. It is an integrated wine, very French in style - you cannot distinguish separate fruit flavours
It has lovely complex fruit, its opulence is rich and full, with depth of flavour and structure from soft ready tannins,
some chocolate, some umami and dark oak hints on the end palate. Reminds us of a St Emilion
Another 19/20 and a wine we wish we had bought. If you have some, you are very fortunate
Another view of that beautiful Palmiet river.
In the tent, people enjoying the wine and food
We tasted just a couple more wines before we left for the next farm; the very excellent Semillon which, at first, shows a slight sweetness on the palate but then reveals its secrets and its crisp and rich rounded mouthfeel. We wondered if there is a touch of botrytis on this? And the Pinot Noir, a classic Elgin with beautiful fruit and the aroma of raspberries and roses does show the style of the Newton Johnsons
Happy wine people James and Stuart Downes
The taco stand was doing well
And you could help yourself to some of these lovely Pink Lady apples
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 9:58 pm 0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)