Wine and Holidays

I hope you're enjoying the long weekend... and if you are at work today - at least you know, tomorrow is a holiday!
For South Africans tomorrow is Heritage Day, more commonly known as National Braai Day, so people across the country will be coming together to enjoy some good wholesome homegrown specialties on the coals (wood if you are serious about braaiing) and a relaxing holiday with family and friends.

Canola Fields of the Western Cape

 

Kleinmond, Western Cape

This weekend was an awesome time with friends in Kleinmond, braaiing for just about every meal - ribs, chicken, steaks, you name it.  Between the group we managed to produce some great wines to  with our delicious meals.  Beyerskloof Pinotage a perfect match for a relaxed Sunday evening, with its easy drinking, always enjoyable full fruit flavours.
The Hidden Valley Hidden Secrets and Mischa Wine Estate Cabernet Sauvignon followed on from one another complimenting the ribs, braai broodjies and salad.  Lovely spice in the Hidden Secret coming through from the Shiraz and softened by the Tannat and Mouvedre.  The smooth sophistication and well rounded black cherry, nutmeg flavours of the Mischa Cab Sav were thoroughly enjoyed by the whole table.
And of course, what would the weekend be without some bubbles from JC Le Roux, La Vallée (the gold bottle) for the girls while enjoying a leisurely game of boules on the lawn.  It tastes like apple juice with the soft bubbles creating the dry finish.... delicious!

This past Friday night was also the 2013 Perold ABSA Cape Blend Top 10.
The Cape Blend is in fact still a relatively new blend, the requirements being a that minimum of 30% and maximum of 70% of this red wine blend needs to be our indigenous red wine cultivar Pinotage.
The top ten winners are listed below:
 
Top 5:
Anura LB Cape Blend 2012
Clos Malverne Spirit of Malverne 2011
KWV Abraham Perold Tributum 2011
Sumaridge Epitome 2009
Viljoensdrift River Grandeur Cape Blend 2011

Runner's Up:
Flagstone Dragon Tree 2011
Namaqua Cellar Door Pinotage/Malbec 2011
Warwick Three Cape Ladies 2011
Welbedacht Hat Trick 2010
Windmeul Cape Blend 2012

I am glad to say we have at least two of those currently on our rack and will be enjoying them with our Heritage day celebrations.  So, why not get yourself a proudly South African Cape Blend to celebrate this Heritage day or even an easy drinking Pinotage.  If the sun comes out and the weather is fine, perhaps you would prefer a white to welcome the back the summer... try a dry pinotage rosé, or a crisp peachy Chenin Blanc (Beyerskloof Chenin Pinotage), there are loads of great South African wines to choose from.

What are you drinking this Heritage day?

Franschhoek Valley from the top of the Pass

 

 

 

 

Beyerskloof Pinotage Burgers

 - BOTH WINE AND FOOD - DELICIOUSNESS!!

On Saturday we decided to earn our breakfast and ran the 13km to Windmeul Market, a bit ambitious maybe but we made it.  The marker was more festive than usual with all the potjie competitions tents and waterblommetjie stations.  The usual breakfast and a few sneaky snoek and feta samoosas were delicious as always, and well earned.

 

Someone mentioned they were heading to Beyerskloof to pick up some wine for friends and family in Pretoria, and with no other plans we all decided to jump on the bandwagon.  With such lovely weather why wouldn't you want to be out and about in the beauty of the winelands!?
 
If you are ever at the Beyerskloof tasting room, find Jacques - what a treat!  Great entertainment and certainly not shy when pouring you a sample to taste... you probably will end up leaving with a few bottles in the end!
 
A few of us were shouted at for being anti-social, tasting wines while the others sat on the deck.  But Jacques was convincing us of how the 2013 Chenin Blanc Pinotage is one of the best thus far and how the Pinotage Dry Rose is so lovely - you can drink a whole bottle and not have a headache the next day, because it is DRY and not SWEET.  He even topped up our glasses as we headed out to the restaurant for some lunch.

The Chenin Blanc Pinotage is lovely, very light in colour, pears and peppers on the palate and perfectly crisp for summer!  The Pinotage Dry Rose is also great, with the rich crimson rose colour you expect that sometimes sickly sweetness, but it is not at all, it is berries and creaminess with a dry finish - really quite enjoyable!

Lunch orders were for Pinotage burgers all around, I don't think anyone even looked at the menu for other options.  They are enormous, and DELICIOUS!!!  The meat is fantastic, great quality and I'm not sure how they make their onion marmalade (except for the Pinotage inclusion), but there are definitely some secrets there.  We've tried to replicate it and failed.  On a beautiful day, paired with the Chenin - we had one very satisfied table! 
The last time we were here with a group of Londoners and they declared outright, "The Best Burger they had ever had!!"

After seeing a tray of purple coloured beers being delivered to the table next door, the boys enquired and ordered themselves one of the Pinotage Beers for tasting.  It was surprisingly quite good.  Very heavy, a bit like a dark Weiss beer - I don't think you can do more than one, unless you are a dark beer kinda guy.  Well worth the taste though.

We headed back to the tasting room after lunch to make a few purchases and sampled some of the Lagare 2010 Fortified Dessert Wine, which is quite delicious.  It is made with the typical Port varietals (Tinta Barocca &Touriga Nacional) as well as Pinotage grapes (Being Beyerskloof and embracing ALL things Pinotage).  It is very dark in colour and the Pinotage adds a lovely dynamic.  It is not too syrupy or heavy like some dessert wines, but has lovely plum and dark berry flavours.  I would like to have some vanilla ice cream on the side next time to compliment it - yum!
We took a case of Beyerskloof Pinotage home with us (a good household favourite that always goes down well - your typical plum,cherry, mocha and cedar flavours altogether in an enjoyable above average easy drinking wine) as well as a bottle each of the Chenin Pinotage & Pinotage Rose to increase the summer wine collection on our rack. 

Beyerskloof really have done an excellent job of capturing their market.  Their wines are reasonably priced and of a good standard, they embrace the student market rather than trying to avoid it and yet somehow still make you feel like you are wining and dining in the winelands.  A relaxed, simply designed, thoroughly enjoyable farm to visit.  We often pop in for a burger or even to share a bottle or two on the restaurant deck.  I also enjoy how they have managed to fully embrace the Pinotage grape and find ways to bring it into most of their wines, remarkable. 

A beautiful afternoon in the winelands - great wine, delicious burgers and a chilled, bustling atmosphere throughout the restaurant and winery.

BEYERSKLOOF WINE ESTATE
Along the R304 between the N1 and Stellenbosch
Tel: +27 21 865 2135

 - Closed on Sundays

South Africa's Pinotage

Look what popped into my inbox today...

http://link.newsletter.epicurious.com/view/508991aadc87ac0b4fab855c13obe.opg/d4ff745d

The Epicurious Daily Sip newsletter all about our Country's signature varietal.

Now Epicurious is obviously international, but from the advertising and content one can assume their general market is the US of A.  Which is why it is so fantastic to see a uniquely South African varietal getting some airtime!

Of course the Beyerskloof Pinotage "Diesel" which they recommend goes without saying.  Beyerskloof is synonymous with all things Pinotage (Pinotage burgers,  Chenin Blanc/Pinotage white wine, Lagare fortified Pinotage) and really have made their mark in this varietal with awesome wines.  The farm itself is so inviting, a beautiful view from the restaurant deck and a completely relaxed and comfortable environment.

The other wine they mention is Kanonkop, this farm is just down the road from us, so I will definitely be making a stop there sometime to check out their Pinotages.  According to the Pinotage history, Kanonkop was actually one of the first farms in the country to plant Pinotage grapes.

Image: Diemersfontein website

Another predominantly Pinotage farm is Diemersfontein which make awesome wines.  Their Pinotage-on-tap festival is actually coming up on 12th October 2013.  When I tasted Diemersfontein Pinotage the first time I told the lady it was one of the few times I actually tasted the flavours she described, dark chocolate on the palate and coffee in the aftertaste.

While the newsletter gave a great description of a typical Pinotage, they forgot to mention the distinctive coffee and chocolate flavours one would usually find on the nose and palate. 
A lovely wine and proud to see it getting some recognition across the pond over there!

If you are looking for some other good bottles, the 2012 ABSA Top Ten Pinotages were as follows:

• Altydgedacht Estate 2011 (Durbanville)
• Diemersdal Estate 2011 (Durbanville)
• Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Pinotage 2011 (Durbanville)
• Painted Wolf Guillermo Pinotage 2009 (Swartland)
• Rijks Private Cellar Pinotage 2008 (Tulbagh)
• Simonsig Estate Redhill Pinotage 2010 (Stellenbosch)
• Spier 21 Gables Pinotage 2010 (Stellenbosch)
• Swartland Bush Vines Pinotage 2010 (Swartland)
• Wellington Wines La Cave Pinotage 2010 (Wellington)
• Windmeul Reserve Pinotage 2011 (Paarl)

 
Got get yourself a bottle to enjoy and let me know if you find some other good ones!