Thursday 31 January 2013

Today we’re picking our chardonnay – wine tasting in Hunter Valley


‘The thing about being a small boutique winery,’ says one cellar manager.  ‘Is that we choose when to pick the grapes ourselves.  No one tells us when to do it.’ 

Peterson's - a boutique winery
Hunter Valley is full of boutique wineries.  These are small vineyards, where the crop is lovingly grown and the wine is made according to the crop.  It means that their wines vary from year to year, depending on how the crop turns out.  And it can vary tremendously.

‘You don’t normally associate Hunter Valley with cabernet sauvignon,’ we were told at McLeish Estate.  ‘But we had perfect conditions in 2009 that we made some.’  We tried it, loved it, bought a bottle.  $22, what we'd expect to pay for a good wine in the UK. 

By making their wines according to crop, boutique wineries offer something unique.  Not the reliable but same-old of the ‘industrial’ vineyards, which have no choice but to keep on churning out the same wine year after year in order to satisfy the supermarkets, or go bust.  Boutique wineries invite you to compare the 2010 semillon with the 2011 (‘we picked our crop early that year, because of the weather – if we’d left it later, the wine would have been too sweet’).  They explain how their blends differ from year to year (we called this the quartet because it has four varieties – it’s unique).   They tell of how they spend hours swirling and spitting until they have the blend just right.  More of this, less of that, different from last year and the year before.
When you go into a boutique winery, you are asked what sort of wine you like.  ‘Ah, then try this,’ they say.  ‘See what you think and I’ll tell you what it is.’  Or, ‘You should have this one with pasta, this one goes beautifully with lamb.  Can you taste the smokey bacon in this one? To me it’s like English breakfast.’
Actually, I got sausages with that one.  So he took my glass, gave it a good sniff and said, ‘Ah, yes, I see what you mean.’

Kevin Sobels wines - only available at the cellar door
Some boutique wineries are so small they only do cellar door sales – you can’t even buy them at the local bottle shop.  It was at one of these, Kevin Sobels wines, that we tried a rather lovely 2012 semillon (the one that was picked early) and bought it.  We drank it on it’s own that night.  Having been in the car all day, it wasn’t quite as cool as we’d like, but it was still excellent  (the sign of a good white, by the way, is that it still tastes good when it’s warm).  And the thing about this Semillon, is that there was only so much of it made and those exact conditions may never happen again, so we were drinking something rather special.  (It cost $22, which is what we’d expect to pay for a good bottle back home).

Hunter Valley
‘Ah, I see he’s spraying over there.’

This was said of the winery on the hill opposite Peterson’s (where they hardly ever make a cabernet sauvignon, but when they do its damn good).  And he said it because it was a humid day, there were still about 10 days before picking and the spray was to prevent the mould that loves humid conditions.  ‘He picks earlier than us,’ we were told.  ‘Because he gets the morning sun.’ 

It’s not just the picking time, but the end result that is affected by where grapes are grown.  You can get a different flavour from two different areas in the same vineyards.  And this is what wine-makers love – they check conditions, they know their grapes and then they craft the best wine they can from them.  And each year is a new challenge.

And that bottle of Semillon was beautifully crafted.

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Sunrise/Sunset – can you tell the difference?


I can’t.

I mean, I do know the difference – the sun goes down when it sets, up when it rises.  It rises in the East and sets in the West.  But, when you take photos, unless you know the order in which they’re taken, it could be either.  Unless there are any experts out there who can tell the difference?

Sunrise or sunset - can you tell the difference?
We arrived in Australia on the West side.  We stayed just outside of Perth and were treated to a beautiful sunset (see previous blog).  So, when we arrived on the East side, in PortDouglas, just north of Cairns, I went on the internet (when it was up – it was down when we arrived, due to the previous day’s stormy weather).  Sun rose at 6.06 am, the weather was forecast to be clear (and 30°C, but I won’t go into that)  so I decided we’d get up at 5.45.

Eddie has an app on his phone, which tells you time wherever you are in the world.  So, it was set to Port Douglas time.  This might not seem an issue, but we’ve been caught out while travelling across Australia – they keep changing their minds about what time it is and we’ve been moving our watches back and forward like yo-yos.


I am not an early riser, but thought it would be worth it, to see my first ever sunrise.  So, having spent a night of dreams about turning up at the beach at 8.15am to find the sun high in the sky, I managed to do the closest I’ve ever done to leaping out of bed when the alarm on Eddie’s phone went off.  I even managed to get washed and dressed without going ‘bleurgghh’.  Then I put my watch on.

I put it on because I wanted to set my watch by the sunrise.  Because that’s something else I’ve never done before.  I reckoned I had about ten minutes before sun-up.

Wrong.

With a few blinks and a bit of head scratching, I worked out that Eddie’s blessed app was an hour out.  It had woken us up at 4.45am instead of 5.45am.  And I’d been blissfully fast asleep, dreaming of sunrises.

But it was still worth it.  When we left an hour later for our fifty metre walk to the beach, it was already light, with that lovely soft, cool (relatively) light of first thing in the morning.  There was a group of people exercising on Four Mile Beach, one or two early morning joggers, one other person facing the horizon with a camera – and that was all the company we had on this four mile stretch of beach.



Now, here's a question.  Are the above pics in the right order?  And another question - where's the wine?

The pedantic (I mean experts) among you might have spotted that the first picture should have come last.  If you look between the palm trees (sorry, couldn't help taking a pic of them, we don't get many back home) you'll see the sun is higher - because it's going up that is.

And as for the wine - this was the great barrier reef but there's no wine there! part of our trip.  The reef was amazing.  The wine came from a bottle shop.  Two bottles of very nice sav blanc, one from Australia and one from - er - New Zealand.
   

Saturday 26 January 2013

After a day’s wine tasting, what you need is – a beer!


How do you choose which winery to visit?

Margaret River boasts 200 wineries, Barossa and McLaren Vale have dozens, Coonawarra has 25 along a short stretch of road.   We can manage 5 wineries in a day, fewer if we’re visiting on passing.  So, how do we choose?



In Margaret River, we went to Stella Bella, because my mum’s name is Stella.  It turned out to be a lovely boutique winery with an interesting Semillon Sauvignon Blanc called Suckfizzle.  We also went on recommendations, chose wineries that fitted into a convenient route that took in scenic drives and even the odd cave (see previous post).  As I’ve mentioned, cellar managers are very generous about recommending other wineries.

When we were passing through McLaren Vale, we stopped at the information centre, picked up a winery map and spotted our first port of call immediately – Fox Creek wines.  That’s because, a few months ago, we went to a live Bid for Wine for wine auction in London.  It was a lavish affair with champagne, delicious canapés and a chance to taste some of the wines on offer.  We bought a case of Fox and Hounds 2003 and have been enjoying drinking it since.  So, Fox Creek was a must.

Tasting the Fox Creek Wines
It turned out to be a typical boutique winery, where we had a lovely long chat with cellar manager Amelia, who gave us advice about scenic routes that took us to some recommended wineries.  She also advised us to stop by the Blue Lake as we passed Mount Gambier on the way to the Great Ocean Road.

And she gave us a taste of their reserve 2010 cabernet sauvignon ($40), which won the South Australian wine of the year.  And deservedly so, it was delicious.  She took a photo of the two of us (many cellar managers did this) and recommended our next winery, Olivers, because they were mentioned in an article about the 20 wines that defined Australia.  Their Shiraz was described in said article as ‘a big generous shiraz’.  I know because their cellar manager showed me the article and said they were extremely pleased about it.

We were also advised to take the route through Coonawarra on our way to Beachport (our stop before the Great Ocean Road).  Which we did.  And visited two wineries in passing, by sticking a pin in the map!  I have to admit that, without delving into my notes (which could be anywhere) I can't for the life of me remember what they were called.  

Perhaps it's time for that beer. 

The Blue Lake at Mt Gambier - it's in a volcano and it really is blue!

Friday 25 January 2013

Don’t drink it if the top’s bent! Wine tasting in Barossa


Cork vs screw-top?

We asked this at Torbreck winery (can highly recommend the Woodcutter Shiraz $20 per bottle).  ‘We’re changing to screw-top, because cork isn’t so easy to get hold of in Australia.’

Torbreck cellar door - where you can taste some excellent Shiraz
But that’s not the only reason.  The problem with corks is that the wine can become ‘corked’.  Which happens when the cork reacts with the wine and makes it (the wine) taste funny.  This is why you are asked to try the wine at a restaurant – it’s not to see if you like it, it’s to see if it’s corked.  And, if it is, you send it back.

That’s why I thought it was interesting that, even with a screw-top, you are asked to taste the wine.  To be honest, I thought it was because there is something about the ritual of the man having to taste the wine before the woman’s wine is poured.  That’s always amused me.  But, with the corks gone, does that mean this little ritual is redundant?

Far from it.  If air gets into a screw-topped bottle, it will cause the wine to go off.  So, if you’re checking wine at a restaurant and think it’s off, ask to see the top.  And, if you’re buying wine – make sure the top isn’t dented!

Wine tasting in Torbreck
We had this conversation over the tasting of several wines (I can highly recommend all the Torbreck Shiraz) in a lovely little ‘cellar door’, just the way I like it.   We came away with a bottle of Woodcutter Shiraz, which is perfect for drinking now. Which means we have now dunk it.

Wine-tasting in Barossa is almost as laid-back as in Margaret River, but without the cleaning.  Everyone is very friendly, keen on their wines, they have no problem with the fact you probably won’t buy any (‘it’s cheaper for you in the UK, because of our taxes’).  At Gibson we talked about our travels and were recommended other wineries and a great place for fish and chips, while we picked up a bottle of very passable Semillon Sauvignon Blanc for $10 (went down very well with the fish and chips).

Getting recommendations from Summer at Gibson
At Charles Melton we sat round a table, which was even more informal than the counter, chatting with fellow wine tasters.  We’d been recommended this winery by someone we met tasting wines in Margaret River, as well as Summer from Gibson (mentioned in my blog, as promised!), and it lived up to both recommendations.  We bought a bottle of ‘Father-in-Law’ Shiraz.

All the while, we enjoyed the scenery.  A bit dry maybe, but still lovely – left us wondering what it must be like in spring when the grass is green.


Monday 21 January 2013

Are you the no Moo-Cow? A day tour Aussie style


‘I’m lactose intolerant.’

Not me, thank goodness, I’ll tolerate anything (almost), but someone on our one day tour from Alice Springs to Ayres Rock.

‘Oh, so you’re the no moo-cow!’ replies one of our guides (the one with the handlebar moustache that got a lot of stick from our co-guide).

To be fair, it is 6.00am and we're all a bit bleary-eyed as we board the coach, clutching our breakfast pack (cereal bar, orange juice, crackers and cheese, marmalade for the no moo-cow).  And we all know that we won’t return until 1.00am.  After losing 7 hours when we flew from Jo’burg to Perth four days ago, we lost another hour and half when we landed in Alice Springs – which meant we just had enough time to nip to the bar next door for dinner, then back to The Airport Motel for the bottle of Merlot we bought in Margaret River (see previous blog) and an early night.

Despite Eddie’s protestations (what do you want to look at a rock for, there’s no wine there!)  I persuaded him that you can’t visit Australia and not go to Uluru, which is the traditional name for Ayres Rock.  So we went.

It's a long road from Alice Springs to Uluru
The tour took all day and most of the night, we travelled 1100km and walked around in 42 degrees heat - and we were lucky.  The weather cooled for us just before we came, otherwise I’d have melted like tar in the coach park.

Why did we do this to ourselves?  Because flying to Ayres Rock means going via Alice Springs, staying at Ayres Rock means taking out another mortgage and using up another day, so we decided to stay 2 nights in Alice and take the day tour.  We chose Emu Run Tours, because they looked the friendliest. 

Which turned out to be great fun, hugely interesting and informative, with lots of add-on wow factor.  Exhausting, but absolutely worth it.  And once we were on that bus, we didn’t have to think about anything other than getting off the bus to take snaps and have a comfort break when we were told.  (‘The bus does have a toilet, but please only use it in emergencies and no number twos, they stink the whole bus out.’)

The first walk was the longest, hottest and hardest – 45 minutes at Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas as they were known before the area was handed back to its rightful owners.  When our guides said they were going to wait by the bus for us, we should have been warned – but at least they kept the engine running and the air-con going.  The walk was hot, but worth it, the scenery spectacular.

Kata Tjuta - the Olgas
When we got back, there was ice-cold water melon waiting for us.  Plus another chance (there were a lot of these) to fill up our water bottles.  We had a visit to the cultural centre, where we were promised ice cream, but arrived to find they had none left.  Still, it was nice to sit with a bottle of ice cold apple juice.  There were two walks at the base of Ayres Rock, accompanied by one guide while the other kept the air conditioning going.  Each time there was a cool treat waiting for us on our return.  Each time we were grateful to get back inside, then sat fanning ourselves as our poor bodies told us how hot we were.

The thing about walking around in the heat, is that you don’t notice that you are sweating.  It just evaporates away.  But the moment you’re back under the a/c, it decides to register – in a sort of glazed-eyed, tongue-lollong, panting sort of way.  Then, just as you’re comfortable, off you get again.

But, it was worth it.  The place is stunning, atmospheric, like nothing else you’ll experience.  It’s the most photographed rock in the world and it really does change colour depending on how the sun is shining on it (it goes purple when the sun is behind a cloud – yes, we got clouds.)  So, I’m not going to bore you with hundreds of different coloured Ayes Rocks/Ulurus, but leave you with the one of us just before our barbeque dinner was served, all taken out of the bowels of the coach and cooked while we waited.


And yes, that’s bubbly in those glasses – and we had wine with our meal!  (And a very interesting conversation about why the red wine was decanted into a bottle that was stained an unusual shade of pink – but I won’t go into that, we drank it and survived.   And I’d better not tell you about the conversation I had with a young Frenchman about Australian wine . . .)


Saturday 19 January 2013

Who's afraid of the big bad WET?


‘We’re all afraid of the tax man.’
 
The voice comes from somewhere under the counter, while our wine seller does a bit of cleaning.  ‘I’m in cleaning mode at the moment.’  She pops up again.  ‘Would you like to try the semillon?  It’s my favourite, now that I’m getting too old for the sharpness of sauvignon blanc.’

This is typical of the upfront honesty of your average Australian wine seller.  This particular one was enjoying a coffee outside on the terrace when we arrived, having a laugh with her companions, who waved us good morning as went in.
 
Turns out they were the actual wine makers on their morning break.  ‘That’s Linda* out there,’ says the lady behind (and under) the counter.  ‘She makes the merlot.  How do you like the Semillon?’

We did like it.  But we didn’t mention that we had a bottle of Semillon from La Chataigne in South Africa, the last of the four bottles that we brought over.  But back to the taxes.  I ask her what  WET stands for.

‘Wine something-or-other.’

‘Wine Equalisation Tax?’  I offer, remembering what I’d learned on another visit.
 
She nods.  ‘That’s the one.’

‘But what exactly does it mean?’ I ask.

‘It means give us your money.’

She goes on to explain that there is no subsidy for Australian wine growers.  In fact, they have taxes instead, and the ‘wet’ tax isn’t the only one.  ‘You have to pay 29% per bottle before you even sell it,’ she says.
As I’ve mentioned before, this accounts for the fact that we can buy Australian wine cheaper in the UK.  (‘We do send you the rubbish as well, and you know we don’t drink Fosters?’  ‘Neither do we,’ I reply, with a sense of déjà vu).  Ah, but what about our alcohol tax, I hear you asking?  Australians have that as well, on top of the wet tax.  And every bottle that is kept in storage is taxed – every year.  It’s why you rarely find a bottle of wine over 2008 here, it’s why they drink their vintages very quickly – sometimes selling the lot within four hours.

‘And we like to drink it.’ Our host pops up from her cleaning again.  ‘What’s the point of keeping it?’
She illustrates her point by offering us two merlots, 2011 and 2007.  The 2011 is what you’d expect from a young merlot – peppery, tanniny, with hints of fruit and a trace of vanilla.  Not bad with spag bol.  But the 2007 is smooth and mellow, the flavours combining to make a very pleasant drink.



‘It’s on offer at $10 a bottle,’ she says.   ‘We want to get rid of it.’

I explain that ‘back home’ it’s the other way round.  As a general rule, the longer a wine is kept, the rarer it becomes and the more it costs, especially if it was a vintage year.

‘Nah, we just want to get rid of it.’

So we bought a bottle.  It’s a bargain even by our standards, the cheapest wine we’ve come across in Australia by far.  In fact, all the wines at this winery (Driftwood, in case you’re wondering, and our favourite of all the wineries we've visited) were priced well below any other’s we’d visited – and this was vineyard No 8 for Margaret River.

‘We make our wine to sell,’ she explains.  ‘So we sell it at a fair price.  Some may think that cheap wine means lesser quality, but we’ve won a lot of awards with our wine.  And, with 200 wineries in Margaret River now, we have a wine war.  Would you like to try our sparkling red?’

This is a shiraz, and it sparkles, with a bit of help from co2.  It’s drunk chilled.  It tastes – well, a bit odd.
‘What do you think of it?’

We tell her it’s a bit odd.

She sighs relief.  ‘To tell you the truth I don’t like it,’ she whispers.  ‘But don’t tell Barry* that.’

*Names of winemakers have been changed, due to the fact that I can’t actually remember them.  But they were all very friendly and very enthusiastic about their wines.

Thursday 17 January 2013

Are you spitting? Wine tasting Aussie style


So, how does wine tasting in Australia compare to South Africa?

Two differences.  Firstly, wine tasting here is very much like it used to be in South Africa - it takes place over a counter and you chat with the person pouring your wines, someone who loves their work and loves wine, especially theirs.  They chat about the weather (heatwave last week, it was 43 degrees, now it's a lovely cool 23 with a strong breeze - it's always breezy in Margaret River).

Chatting and tasting at Watershed Wines

Then there was Prevelly, which we tasted in the general store, where the assistant had to rush over as soon he'd finished serving a customer, pour our wines, then dash behind the counter.  All the while chatting about the wine.  And at Watershed, we really were asked 'are you spitting?' before the bucket went on the counter.  (We don't spit, but we do pour away).
.
The other difference is the price.  It costs about four times more over here, for wines that are, at their best, on a par with South African.  And they are way over the price you'd expect to pay in the UK.  At one winery we were told it's because we're sent the rubbish, but we soon found out that isn't true  (although we do get some rubbish, which the Australians don't drink over here.  We were told they don't drink Fosters either.  'Neither do we', we replied).

The fact is, that wine growers are subject to high taxes, which are not levied on wines for export, which means that they are cheaper in the UK.  Several wineries offer free shipping to the UK, at a cheaper price per bottle than you can purchase from the winery.  This means there is no expectation that you are going to buy (we didn't mention the five bottles we brought over from South Africa!).  In fact, many wineries just tell you where to buy their wine (cheaper) in the UK.  Including Majestic and Waitrose, both round the corner from us.

But like in South Africa, you also get roses growing at the end of the vines (because roses pick up diseases first), although they grow them higher (to let the warm air circulate).

Vines are grown high in Margaret River, to let the warm air circulate
Everything else is similar - the beautiful settings, the restaurants with the lovely views (compared to South Africa, where we ate like kings, these were priced out of our league, so we had packed lunches!).  And there is other diversification too - you can have Movies at Cape Mantelle and open air concerts at Leeuwin.

And there are caves.  Like Calgardup, where they give you a torch and a hard hat, ask you not to touch anything, especially with your hard hat when you have to duck, and then send you on your way.  It was a refreshing experience not to have to follow a guide along an artifically lit path, making discoveries ourselves, albeit on a boardwalk (to protect the caves) appreciating the silence - and, when we turned our torches off, the absolute darkness.  Oh, and the perfect conditions for storing wine.

In Calgardup Caves, you are asked to mind your head - so you  don't damage the cave






Wednesday 16 January 2013

An unexpected surprise - and some more wine

I suppose you could call it serendipity.  Which happens to be one of my favourite words.

But I love it when you go somewhere with certain expectations, to find something completely unexpected.  This is what happened when we stayed over night in Perth.  We only wanted somewhere near the airport to bed down for the night, to recover from our overnight flight from Jo'Burg (the seats went flat, but ended up digging into places I didn't know I had), to get over the jet lag and be on our way to Margaret River next morning.

What we found was a lovely B&B in a leafy suburb that looks straight out of neighbours.  Our hostess couldn't have been more friendly and helpful, rushing out to great us with a big smile as soon as we arrived.  She gave us a map of the area, on which I spotted a green area marked Kalamunda Falls National Park.  So we bought a picnic of salmon fillets and salad from the supermarket (which cost the same as a meal out in South Africa), packed a bottle of wine and set off.



Five minutes later, we were sitting in peace and tranquility, toasting our arrival down under with a lovely bottle of LIFE FROM STONE SAUVIGNON BLANC.  This is one of South Africa's finest, which we'd picked up in a supermarket in Franschhoek for the princely sum of £8.00.  It was one of five bottles that we bought over with us.  Why?  Well, a half-decent bottle of sauvignon blanc in Australia will set you back about £20.00.

After our picnic we followed a well marked trail to the waterfall.  And what we found there was a spectacular view, from where we could see right into Perth - and the horizon beyond.  Over which the sun was setting.  So, we stayed and watched it set.


I don't know what it is about the sun setting that makes it such a special experience.  It's like watching paint dry, but in a spectacular fashion; it's about watching something fundamental about our existence, that has been happening since Earth began; it just looks beautiful; it's romantic; or maybe it was the lovely wine we had to go with it . . .

But most of all, it wasn't at all what we'd expected to do in our one night near Perth.



Saturday 12 January 2013

Wildlife and Wine - and a bit of spectacular coast

The Garden Route.  It's a stretch of road that hugs the South African coast and it's lovely to drive along, even the motorway.  Traffic?  Virtually none.  And if you catch someone up, they move over so you can pass.  No getting stuck behind a lorry here.

Then there are the national parks, where you can hike along trails, animal sanctuaries, adventure stuff like the world's highest bungee jump and a spectacular coast.  Oh, and weather.  Nice warm sunny weather.  Most of the time.  It does rain a bit as well, but it never lasts.

And don't forget the winery!  Bramon is the area's first winery and it produces the only sparkling wine made from 100% sauvignon blanc.  We tried some of course - crisp and dry as you'd expect and extremely drinkable at less than a tenner.  I've already mentioned the range of wines at Moreson's named after their dog Molly, the Bramon winery was named after the owner's two kids, photos of whom are on display in the tasting room.   I think that speaks volumes about how South Africans care about their wine.

Bramon's is also another example of an excellent gourmet experience.  Here you can have a tapas style lunch amongst the vines, ticking the menu boxes and waiting to see what comes to the table.  It was all delicious.

lunch amongst the vines at Bramon's
But it wasn't just about the wine.  We also visited the wonderful Tenikwa Wildlife Awarenes Centre where you can get up close and personal with South Africa's wild cats.

Cats that are captive bred, raised from young, or not suitable for  return to the wild, are used to people at Tenikwa  Wildlife Awarenes Centre
And then there's the elephant sanctuary, where they have a very small herd of rive African elephants.  These are young elephants, ie teenagers, who have only reached half their full-grown size.  You wouldn't think it - they are huge.  But they have been carefully trained, using only rewards, and are truly gentle giants.  These are Savannah elephants, which are easier to train than forest elephants, but even so, it took about three years of careful patients to train these.  The ultimate aim is to release them into the semi-wild, ie in a game park, but that will take about another eight years.  In the meantime, you can go and see them, touch them, walk with them, feed them and ride them.


Then there's the coast.  And what a coast it is.  At Storm's River Camp you can stay right by the sea and sleep to the sound of crashing waves.  Which is much needed after a day of activities, including traversing a suspension bridge, scrambling up a cliff path to see a spectacular view, or clambering over rocks marked with painted arrows while the water crashes around you feet.  There are one or two sets of wooden steps here and there, but the trails are definitely not what you'd call easy strolls - we slept very well to the sound of crashing waves!

The Coastal Footpath at Storm's River - the rocks have arrows on , so you know you are going the right way


Thursday 10 January 2013

The Cape Vineyards – Boekenhoutskloof and Antonij Rubert

This area has changed a bit since we were here in 1988.  Then there were a handful of wineries and you just turned up, knocked on the door if necessary and then stood behind the counter while the winemaker or his manager offered you various wines and you  discussed them with him.  If you liked one, then you bought it.  One or two wineries offered bread and cheese.  And that was it.  Friendly, informal and fun.  I think it was that day in the vineyards of the Southern Cape that awoke our love of wine. 

And we also realized what a good wine is made in South Africa, and at what a good price.  It’s still the case now – South African wines are amazing value for money.  Sometimes  I wonder whether their value gives the impression that they are not so good.  In which case, they are a very well kept secret.

Wine tasting here is different now.  Flashy flagged entrances, long paved driveways, stunning buildings and specially built decks to enjoy the spectacular views.  Instead of leaning over a counter, you are invited to take a seat outside and someone will be along shortly.  Someone arrives with a menu and explains the cost of the tasting, if any.  This varies from vineyard to vineyard, but is normally about £2-4.  Sometimes the menu is divided into ranges, with cheaper and more expensive options.  This means that you can’t choose one of each, which can be annoying.  But if you buy a bottle, then the cost of the tasting is deducted.



Boekenhoutskloof
You sit outside as if you were in a restaurant, while a server brings your wines out, normally one by one (this can be quite a leisurely process!)  You can have one tasting between two, which is advisable if you are driving – and you can pour the extra into the bucket provided.
Now to business.   Here are some of the wines from two of the vineyards we’ve visited:

Platters* winery of the year 2012.  Beautiful surroundings, complimentary tastings of their own range plus PORCUPINE RIDGE and THE WOLFTRAP.  We were offered six, but could have had more if we wanted.  This is what we had:

PORCUPINE RIDGE SAUVIGNON BLANC.  A good grassy, fresh nose.  Fresh on the palette with a hint of pair.  Very good drinkable summer wine.  Costs under £3 from the winery.  We bought a bottle.

PORCUPINE RIDGE VOIGNER/GRENACHE BLANC oaked, unfortunately, which makes it sweet and sickly, but I know people do like this in a wine.  But not us. Under £4.

PORCUPINE RIDGE CABERNET SAUVIGNON Spicey and rubbery nose with a lingering taste. Slightly smokey, which we don’t mind in a red wine.  Under £4

BOEKENHOUSTSKLOOF CHOCOLATE BLOCK one of their well known reds, a blend with a complex smokey rubbery nose, with hints of blackberry.  Nice on the palette.  Have completely forgotten why it is called ‘chocolate block’, but it’s not because there is a hint of chocolate in it!   About £12 per bottle.







This used to be one winery, but he’s bought two next door as well.  And a few up the road.  ‘He’s going to end up owning the whole of Franschhoek,’ I heard someone say.  On arrival you have to pass a security barrier and announce yourself to the guard.  It’s incredibly plush with green lawns and sprinklers.  More guards point you to the parking area.  You then have to walk back over the road and into an imposing building flanked by two large bronze lions.  It’s all a bit intimidating.

The rather imposing Antonij Rupert  tasting room

The tasting menu has been divided up into sections, ranging from under £1 to about £4.  Each group is called a flight, and you may have as many flights as you like.  We went for the cheapest red flight, plus a mid-range white flight between the two of us.

I have to say, that despite the imposing grandeur, you do get to sit at the counter and can discuss the wine.  This is what we thought:

VAN LILL AND VISSER CHENIN BLANC Smokey and not to our taste, which is unusual, as we normally like chenin blanc.  £8

LAING SEMILLON Herby and lemony on the nose, fresh and woody on the palette.  Not bad, but we preferred the Semillon from La Chataigne.  £10

SERRURIA CHARDONNAY full nose, buttery and creamy, with a fresh pallet fresh with a hint of lemon.  Unoaked and we liked this one.  £10

MERLOT Pickled onion on the nose (another thing I often get!) but also fruity and the vanilla came out on the palette.  £4

CABERNET SAUVIGNON Definite blackcurrant in there, plus rubber and a hint of instant coffee, quite tanniny on the palette and a little sharp.  £4

RESERVE BLEND Rose petals, rubber, straw.  Fairly light bodied.  Under £6

*Platters is the wine bible for South African wines.  Very useful to have, but many vineyards have one on the counter.  To get a four star rating in Platters is something to be proud of and is often mentioned on the wine tasting ‘menu’.

    

Eating in the Cape Winelands

‘Franschhoek is the foody capital of South Africa.  You will have no problem finding excellent restaurants there.’

How true.  We had so many recommendations we were spoilt for choice.  We were warned that many places required booking, but we decided to take a chance because we didn’t know exactly where we’d be at ‘lunch time’.  And we got lucky.

We’d arrived early at La Chataigne, before the lovely Chestnut Cottage was ready, so we left our bags at the office and headed into Franschoek.  Until recently this was a sleepy village, now it is a thriving street of restaurants, craft shops and other foody and drinky places.  Then we headed to one of our host’s recommendations – Dieu Donne.  And, being early, we managed to get a table, with a magnificent view.


View from our table at Dieu Donne restaurant

The service was friendly and excellent, the food heavenly and the wine delicious.  We had a glass of SAUVIGNON BLANC 2012* to go with our starters (smoked salmon salad, pear and stilton salad) and chose a glass of MERLOT 2010* to go with our mains (roast sirloin and ostrich fillet, both delicious).   We finished by sharing a platter of three sorbets to cleanse our palettes before the business of wine tasting.

Our wines lined up for tasting at Dieu Donne

*To add to the two we’d tasted over lunch, we tasted a cabernet Sauvignon, shiraz and and voigner.  The voigner was a lot less sharp than one we’d tasted earlier in Franschoek, but don’t think it’s one for us.  The shiraz and cab sav were both good mid-week chilli wines, but we’d already fallen for the merlot – rich and fruity, I wrote down ‘Magnum ice-cream and raspberry coulis’.   We bought a bottle, about £8.  We also bought a bottle of the sauvignon blanc for less than £6 – lovely grassy nose, crisp and fresh.

Then we went next door to Chamonix, which is Platter’s 2013 winery of the year.  We sat in the shade and waited for our choice of wines to be brought out.  We loved the sauvignon blanc, liked the Chamonix blanc, weren’t keen on the oaked chardonnay (but I heard someone at the next table say it was  ‘faboulous’), found their Rouge 2010 perfectly drinkable and the cabernet sauvignon full and rich. 

Wine tasting in Chamonix

Next day, on the recommendation of our host, we tried a picnic at Warwick.  This is a fairly new idea, where you choose a spot, either at a table in the shade, on the grassy bank where they bring out cushions and rugs, or in a secluded ‘pod’, the option we chose.  We sat in the shade and ate wonderful pates, breads, cheeses, meats etc while sipping an excellent PROFESSOR BLACK SAUVIGNON BLANC, of which we bought a bottle.  After we’d done the wine tasting.

The wine tasting was taken under the shad of a huge spreading chestnut tree.  It was very busy and we had to wait quite a long time between wines.  But each one came with its own story – of particular interest was the ‘Three Cape Ladies’ named for the first female wine makers in South Africa.

A picnic 'pod' at Warwick
On the way home, we passed Dalewood Fromage and went in for a bit of cheese taasting. Here they have their own herd of Jersey cows described as ‘pampered’, who produce all the milk for the cheese.  We came home with the cheese for our supper, washed down with our bottle of Professor Black Sauvignon Blanc.

On our final day, we tried another recommendation – Moreson’s winery and its restaurant Bread and Wine.



Although they had no tables, we were told to try again after a bit of wine tasting.  We tried six wines and ended up buying two:

METHODE CAP CLASSIQUE CHARDONNAY PINOT NOIR.  A sparkling white that we found drinkable and refreshing, and cost less than £10.

DR REASON WHY UNWOODED CHARDONNAY.  I’ve mentioned that we’re not fans of oaked chardonnay, but drink a lot of Chablis.  We found this chardonnay had a lovely fresh nose with hints of butter and lemon, plus excellent palette that left a hint of sweetness.  It cost less than £6.

By the time we’d finished, we were told there were still no tables, but we could sit on the comfy sofa used as a waiting area.  And that is where we sat to enjoy yet another excellent meal, washed down with a glass of the excellent IN MY BED SAUVIGNON BLANC*.

Bread and Wine at Moreson's winery

And when we’d finished, we bought a loaf of their homemade bread to go with the cheeses we’d bought the day before.

*As you may have guessed from the sign we passed on the way in, Moreson’s winery is very fond of its dog, Molly.  So fond that they have named a range of wine after her, including the above mentioned IN MY BED SAUVIGNON BLANC.  


Miss Molly Kitchen Thief Sauvignon Blanc from Moreson's 

Wednesday 9 January 2013

La Chataigne Vineyard and Chestnut Cottage

For our three nights of wine-tasting in Franschhoek, we based ourselves in the middle of a vineyard, surrounded by vines on one side and a river on the other.  Nothing else.  We were all alone in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but vines and the mountains for company.  And the cicadas, who joined us every evening at about the time of the second glass.



'Exit to the outside world' from La Chataigne vineyard

La Chataigne is a working winery, with three secluded riverside cottages to let.  We stayed in the smallest, the one-bedroomed Chestnut Cottage.   You check in at the winery (more of that later), where the friendly welcome includes a big soppy golden retriever and just as soppy rottweiler demanding a fuss. 
We had to drive through rows of vines, to find Chestnut cottage nestling under the shade of its trees.  The front overlooks the vineyards, the rear overlooks the river.  Its setting is perfect and comes complete with a supply of wine in the fridge.

Chestnut Cottage at La Chataigne

There is no internet in the cottage, so we made use of the wifi in in the tasting room each morning before setting out – apart from the morning we decided to start our tasting there.  This was the sort of tasting I’ve mentioned before, where you sit at the counter and discuss the wines as they are poured.  This is what we thought:

LA CHATAIGNE SAUVIGNON BLANC 2012 Fresh and grassy and very nice on the palette.  Under £4, we bought a bottle.

LA CHATAIGNE 100% SEMILLON They have only just started producing this and we were one of the first to taste.  It was fresh and creamy and we both liked it.  A bargain at about £8.

LA CHATAIGNE ROSE 2012 Fresh and dry with only a slight sweet aftertaste.  We’re not big rose drinkers, but we liked this one.  Under £4

LA CHATAIGNE MARRON 2009 Berries and rubber (I often get rubber on the nose, it normally bodes well), with pleasant smokiness.   Under £6

LA CHATAIGNE MARRON 2008 Smoother and more mellow that the above.  £5 – we bought a bottle.
We also walked away with some great recommendations for other wineries and restaurants, which will be blogged about separately!

None of the bottles have labels.  Instead, each one is indivdually written by hand.



Monday 7 January 2013

Wines don’t smell, they have noses – our guide to wine tasting


It’s time to start blogging about the wine.  After all that is what this trip is about.  According to Eddie, that is. Mine’s the get-away-from-the-winter bit.  Which has been a massive success.  A sort of blue skied, azured sea sort of success.

Chapman's Peak - Cape Town

But back to the wine.  I should start by saying that we are NOT wine connoisseurs.  But we like drinking it.  Quite a lot.  We buy most of our wine half-price from supermarkets, six at a time to get the extra 5% off.  We buy a lot of wine from Costco, six at a time, when it’s on special.  We drink about four or five bottles a week, Fridays and Saturdays, many Sundays and once or twice during the week.  We seldom have more than a bottle between the two of us.  We very rarely leave wine in the bottle overnight.

We belong to the Wine Society (well, Eddie does, it was my birthday present to him a couple of years ago).  We’ve been going to the Tesco Wine Fair for the past ten years, firstly on our own, but we’ve gradually picked up friends and relatives who like to come with us, so now I always buy 8 tickets as soon as they go on sale, because I know I’ll have no problem gathering together a group of 8 for it. 

We drink a lot of wine with friends.  This normally means pottering up the road to our neighbour’s with a bottle of wine, or inviting them to join us.  This is when we will have more than a bottle between two, but all in the name of comparison.  Wine is good to share and discuss. 




Our favourite white is sauvignon blanc, our favourite red is probably malbec, but we enjoy a good merlot, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon as well.  We enjoy Bordeaux reds, detest Australian chardonnays, and most ‘new world’ chardonnays, but we do like Chablis (same grape, completely different taste.  Sorry, palette.)  We have ‘mid-week’ wines which go with chilli or spag bog and we have smoother wines for drinking on their own.  We drink a lot of Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, and have enjoyed many other NZ Sauvignon blancs.  But, when we want something a bit more special, we’ll go for a Sancerre.  We believe that you can’t get better than a good French wine, but that doesn't stop us from drinking ‘new world’ wines and it certainly didn’t stop us from touring the new world for wines.

That’s about it.  We are just two ordinary people who like wine. 

But – I do know how to taste it.  And that’s because, when I was expecting child No 2 some time ago, I wanted to go to an evening class.  Anyone with young children will understand why it’s important to get out of the house without them and do something adult once in a while and evening classes are perfect.  As I was expecting in February and Eddie was a way often , but seldom on a Monday night, I had to choose a course that lasted one term only and was on Monday evenings.  I had two options – wine appreciation or knitting. 

I know that knitting is getting quite popular, but it wasn’t a hard decision to go for the wine.

We tasted six wines each week, spoke about them, decided whether we liked them or not and, if we did, we went out and bought them – they were all easily available.  We learned about grape varieties and why two of the same grape will make different tasting wines.  It’s all to do with the soil, micro-climate of where they are grown etc.  And it’s why you can make any sparkling wine you like using chardonnay grapes and the ‘methode champagnoise , but it will NEVER taste as good as the ones that come from a small region in France called Champagne.  Nothing else compares, even if it is cheaper.  Sorry.

So, how do you taste wine?  Here’s my simple guide:

Use a class that’s wider at the bottom than the top – this keeps the nose in (not yours, the wine’s)
Use a clear glass, no fancy patterns and no colour – and definitely not a red one, makes the wine look terrible.



Fill the glass no further than the top of the ‘bulge’.  NEVER fill a glass to the top, the point of all that extra space isn’t so you can drink more than anyone else, but to allow the wine’s nose to be held in there for your nose only.  If you use proper large wine glasses, you will find it very uncomfortable to drink out of it if it’s full.  And, it just looks – well, bad.  And for tasting you really don’t need much in there.

Swirl.  Give it a good swirl to get all the different flavours out.

Breath out, stick your nose right in, shut your eyes, and take a great big inward breath – or long, large sniff.
Imagine what you can sense in there.  It could be absolutely anything, from old rubber tyres, cat’s pee to blackcurrents and freshly cut grass.  A lot of people don’t understand this, but those aromas don’t mean that is what the wine should taste like.  And it doesn’t mean you should be able to pick up ‘grape’ or ‘red wine’ in there.  Go on, give it a try and see what you can smell in there.

Now for the fun bit.  Put some in your mouth, but don’t swallow it.  Open your mouth a tiny bit and breathe in, through the wine.  It will make a bubbly sound, but don’t worry about it, it makes you sound professional.  And the effect will be an explosion of all those flavours you’d never think to find in a glass of wine.  This is called the palette – did I mention that wines have palettes as well as noses?

Now you can swallow it.  Now take another sip and decide whether or not you like it. 

It’s as simple as that and anyone can do it.  And, when you go wine tasting and are told that your wine will have hints of this that and the other, it doesn’t matter if you find something completely different in there.  

That’s the whole point – and the fun of wine tasting. 

The most important thing is whether or not you like it.  Cheers!



Robben Island


‘For some reason, it was assumed that people like me didn’t eat bread.’ 

This is what our guide, a former inmate of Robben Island told us.  By ‘people like me’, he meant class ‘C’ prisoners, also knows as ‘Bantus’, no matter what tribe they belonged to.  It was basically the term used for anyone who was black – and, according to the Apartheid system, Bantus didn’t eat bread.  It also appears from the ration card we were shown that they ate less than their category ‘B’ (Asiatics) counterparts.
We were told this while sitting in a barrack that was supposed to house 30-40 prisoners in narrow bunks.   But the normal number was generally well above 60, sometimes even twice that.  Our former inmate also showed us the straw mat and rough blanket he was given to sleep on the floor.

The ration card, showing who got to eat what


Eddie didn’t argue when I said I wanted to visit Robben Island.  ‘You’ve got to see it,’ he said and he’s absolutely right.  A visit to Robben Island is much more than a wander around a nature reserve, a world heritage centre, a chance to have a peek inside a high security prison, a comparison with the ‘Alcatraz’ experience.  Visiting Robben Island is about looking at a nasty piece of history and being thankful that it’s over.

I lived in South Africa during apartheid.  I was ten years old when I started three years at a boarding school, but the first thing I remembered was the term ‘boy’. If you were eating dinner and wanted more food, you stuck your hand up and said ‘boy!’  A black servant would then rush over. 

‘We class C prisoners had to wear shorts no matter how cold it was,’ said our Robben Island guide.  ‘Because that’s what boys wore.  And that’s what we were – boys.  I have no idea why the apartheid system didn’t allow us to grow up.’

He said we could ask him any question we liked.  And that’s how we found out that he was 18 when he was arrested for trying to set fire to the rent office, because his parents were too poor to pay their rent and he didn’t want them evicted.  This classed him as a political prisoner and he was sentenced to 7 years for sabotage.  But, thanks to Nelson Mandela, he was released long before his sentence was up.

He spoke of beatings and cruelty.  But he also spoke of kindness and compassion.  Most of all he was at pains to stress how many white people were against apartheid, how many of them too became political prisoners (they went to Pretoria, black and white prisoners were never held together).  And he spoke of Afrikaaners, known to the world as harbingers of apartheid, who stood up against the system. 

His talk was not bitter, it was not about retaliation, but reconciliation.  He spoke of his gratitude to the rest of the world for sticking up for him with sanctions etc.  He said that South Africa is a beautiful country.  It might be in a bit of a mess in places, but it’s still a beautiful country.  Some of his fellow inmates have struggled with psychological problems as a result of their incarceration, but our guide uses his experience to live on the island and tell everyone about it.  ‘In any case,’ he grins.  ‘My family all think I’m mad anyway.’

Nelson Mandela's Cell


So, if you’re visiting Cape Town, you should go to RobbenIsland.  But remember to book if you’re going in the busy summer season, which you can do online.  Oh, and the 45 minute boat journey there can be a bit choppy.