Saturday night hosted a safari food and wine party for neighbors/ friends/ sharon's work mates, etc. Couple no shows and miss a few invitees but overall very pleased with turn out of about 30 people. Plenty/ tons of food sharon cooked up--I also bbq'd a bunch as well. Tons of South African wine and South African Brewing Miller beer products.
4 comments:
Safari Wines: South African wine.
Graham Beck PINNO Pinotage: Typical ripe Pinotage flavors of plums, berries and a hint of tropical banana on the nose. Soft juicy fruit flavors on the palate. The wine is medium-bodied with an easy accessible structure. The finish is clean and rewarding.
Indaba Chardonnay is straw yellow in color, offering aromas of pear and pineapple with hints of vanilla and peaches. The wine is medium in body with good acidity and flavors of crisp green apples, citrus, orange peel, lemon, hints of butterscotch. Fermented mostly in stainless steel, 7% was fermented in French oak barrels. No malolactic fermentation. Nice balance of fruit and acidity. The grapes come from 15-year-old vines in alluvial sandstone and lime soils. This refreshing Chardonnay has a long, clean finish.
Indaba Sauvignon Blanc 2005 : The balance between green peppers and tropical fruits on the nose of this wine give it great dimension and complexity. Lush pineapple and clementine aromas are suitably backed with well-integrated cut grass, hay and bell peppers. The fruit fragrances carry over onto the palate, providing a full, fruity mouthful that balances well with the wine’s natural acids. Has a rich round mouth, and long fresh finish.
Nederburg Pinotage 2004 International Wine & Spirit Competition 2006 - Bronze
Color: Ruby red. Bouquet: Aromas of plum cherries with slight oak spices in the background. Palate: Well balanced, rich fruit flavors with soft tannins and a lingering aftertaste.
Blaauwklippen Shiraz 2003 Swiss International Airlines Wine Awards 2004 - Silver
Veritas Awards 2005 - Bronze
A lively, deep red wine, complex palate with soft, smooth tannins.
NEDERBURG CHARDONNAY: When Chardonnay was re-introduced to South Africa more than a decade ago, Nederburg was one of the first producers to plant this variety and it also undertook leading research on clonal selection at its Ernita vine nursery. The 2002 Nederburg Chardonnay is a full-bodied white wine in which the wine character is not dominated by its wood components. The combination of subtle citrus and apricot notes together with the creamy and toasty flavors derived from partial barrel fermentation ensures a pleasant palate and a lingering aftertaste. It is an easy drinking wine, which should mature well over the next three to four years, provided it is correctly stored.
Excelsior 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon: Red Wine Cabernet Sauvignon by Excelsior from South Africa. Blackish plum in color. A medium-to-full bodied wine. Displays sweet, plummy notes on nose, with vanilla, chocolate and blackcurrants on palate. Has soft, ripe tannins and a long velvety finish.
Safari Wines: South African wine history
"The most dramatically beautiful wine country in the world is surely South Africa"
With its almost perfect Mediterranean climate, cooling winds and rain usually concentrated in winter, the Cape has perfect conditions for producing great wines. However, it has been hampered by many problems, past and present.
The Cape wine industry flourished for most of the 19th century, but the arrival of phylloxera (a vine virus), the Anglo-Boer War and the collapse of the British wine market for Cape wines hit the Cape wine industry hard. This lead to the establishment of the KWV in 1918. The KWV (a huge co-operative) was designed to create a market for everything produced in Cape vineyards and regulate these prices. Quality was not the issue - saving the Cape producer was. The result being that the Cape producers are largely co-operative based: of about 4,500 grape-farmers, most take their fruit to one of the 70 co-op's.
There are about 90 wine estates (producers growing their own fruit); and about 180 producers buying in fruit, and, therefore, not qualifying for estate status.
The KWV also operated a quota system which restricted new plantings of different grape varieties and made it almost impossible to explore new planting sites with perfect growing conditions. The result was a desperate lack of good wine, as most plantings were focused on supplying wine for distillation purposes (quantity, not quality was the priority); and a lack of old vines for making wines such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
Because of South Africa's general isolation, vineyard practices and winemaking techniques are only now being brought up to date. In 1992 the KWV was stripped of its governing powers, and could no longer dictate to the Cape wine industry. Entirely new wine producing areas are being established, vineyard practices and winemaking techniques are improving massively (yet a lot of work still has to be done).
The focus is shifting from mass produced wine to more fashionable red wine varieties. South Africa's Pinotage is finally being valued as a "local treasure". Areas outside the traditional wine making regions of Constantia (Klein Constantia), Stellenbosch (Warwick, Meerlust, Mulderbosch, Vergelegen) and Paarl (Veenwouden, Glen Carlou) are gaining in status, such as the Overberg (Bouchard Finlaysin), Darling, Elgin and Cape Agulhas.
Vines are being planted in areas best suited to them or vice versa, sites are being planted with the variety best suited to their conditions. This all points to a shift in attitude - quality has become an important issue. In general, the warmer micro-climates are better suited to reds and the cooler micro-climates to white. This attention to detail has already helped establish some South Africa wines as of high quality and are widely sought after.
This "dramatically beautiful wine country" is definitely set on its way to being one of the major wine producing and exporting countries in the world. Just a little time and patience are needed.
What do South African wines taste like? It’s difficult to generalize, especially since there are distinct differences among districts, not to mention the microclimates within them. But it is often said that South African wines combine the best of traditional Old World winemaking from Europe, primarily France, with the favorable weather conditions and sense of innovation from New World wine regions such as California and Australia. “We’re halfway between old and new,” says Robin Back of The Wines of Charles Back (an umbrella term that encompasses Fairview and Spice Route wineries owned by the Back family). “Nice New World fruit and Old World structure.”
Sauvignon Blanc is the varietal that created the first big splash for South Africa wines, and many still think it is the white wine on which South Africa should hang its hat. It generally strikes a balance between Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire Valley in France and those of New Zealand. “South African Sauvignon Blanc is more tropical fruit (than New Zealand), which can sometimes be too heavy. In the mouth it’s more minerally, like a Sancerre,” says Shearer, who imports Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blancs, considered the cream of the crop. Others to look out for include Delaire, Jardin, Buitenverwachting, Ken Forrester, L’Avenir, Bellevue, Seidelberg, Fairview, Boschendal, and Thelema.
Only the Loire Valley does as well as South Africa with Chenin Blanc, traditionally called Steen, though some winemakers would just as soon go back to the classical name. However, where Chenin Blanc can be off-dry, even sweet in France, it is almost always dry in South Africa, exhibiting tropical fruit flavors such as guava and passion fruit. Brands to look for include Rudera, Mulderbosch, and deTrafford.
While South African Chardonnays offer ripe fruit, they are balanced by crisp citrus-like acidity and good minerality. Malolactic fermentation is seldom used, and when it is, it creates a creaminess rather than a buttery character in the wine. Top producers include Mulderbosch, Buitenverwachting, Neil Ellis, Brampton, Drakensig, Fairview, Seidelberg, L’Avenir, and DeWetshof.
Though South Africa’s initial success was based on its white wines, red wines have made tremendous strides in recent years. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted red, used for single varietal wines as well as in Bordeaux blends. “They’re not blockbusters like California,” Lovett says. “They’re drier with good body and character.” Names to look for include Neil Ellis, Engelbrecht-Els (the Els being golf pro Ernie Els), Rustenberg, Stark-Condé, Drakensig, Rupert & Rothschild, Thelema, Rust en Verde, and Meerlust.
If Sauvignon Blanc is the signature white of South Africa, many believe that Shiraz is, or will be, the signature red. “It’s more Rhone in style, with tobacco and spices,” Lovett says. “The plummy fruit is residual, not upfront and jammy.” In warm areas such as Paarl, Shiraz is leading a virtual charge of Rhone varietals, including Grenache and Viognier. Back has torn out his Bordeaux varietals in Paarl and planted only Rhone grapes for his Fairview label because the warmer climate is more suitable. Other Shiraz (or Syrah) producers of note are Neil Ellis, Mas Nicolas, Drakensig, Rust en Verde, Spice Route, and Thelema.
That leaves Pinotage. Some, such as Helen Gregory of 57 Main Street, think that this uniquely South African grape can be too much for the uninitiated. “It can be tarry and smoky and too complicated for people tasting it for the first time,” she says. Others, like Mary Ewing-Mulligan and Ed McCarthy, authors of Wine for Dummies, think “it can be a truly delicious, light-to-medium-bodied red wine that makes for easy drinking.” Good producers include Fairview, Seidelberg, and Spice Route.
SAFARI WINE and CHEESE Party
Join us for South African wine, beer, and a harvest of African Flavors.
Saturday, Jan. 6 7:00 p.m.
The Scheidhauers—
Adults only
RSVP please
Post a Comment