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

 

 

 

 

Sumaridge

 - BEAUTIFUL VIEW

Nestled in the Hemel and Aarde Valley...



Sumaridge is a quiet little farm with this spectacular view.  We sat on the balcony overlooking the dam.  There are also tables inside and in the front garden on the bank of the dam.  The young tasting room host (TRH) was very friendly and informative in his knowledge of the farm's wines.   He did manage to pour a Rose tasting into a not yet empty Chardonnay glass and may have spilt a few times, but no-one minded in the least.  We were relaxing on the balcony, enjoying the view and TRH's conversation.  Next time I think we'll take a bottle or two and do our own tasting on the little bench under the trees on the other side of the dam, it looked so inviting.

My wine notes below...
I only had my phone with me for taking notes, so to avoid seeming rude I tried to keet them short and sweet.

SAUVIGNON BLANC 2009
Very very nice.  Crisp, fruity and fresh, a delicious Sav B.  We bought a few to take home!

MARITIMUS 2009 (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon)
As per our TRH, the name of this wine comes from the maritime location that Sumaridge has being so close to the ocean (you can see it in the distance above).  I thought it was an interesting blend, combining the crisp Sav B flavours with the wooded Chardonnay flavours and the Semillon just to smooth it all off.  A little bit tart for me perhaps, but enjoyable and would go well with your Mediterranean fish dishes I would think, the ones with slightly stronger flavours.

CHARDONNAY 2009
Sumaridge's flagship WHITE.  This wine had a nutty wooded nose to it.  It was a lovely smooth and light Chardonnay, not too syrupy.  A buttery sweet taste I thought.  I like their idea of pairing it with a creamy pasta - yum!

MERLOT ROSE 2009
The colour of this wine is like a rose cherry syrup, like the homemade ones you see at farmers markets.  Being a Merlot Rose, this wine has a red grape flavour to it with a delicious Turkish delight flavoured finish.  It is definitely sweet (as is expected from a Rose) but easy drinking and very enjoyable.  A lovely summer wine.

PINOT NOIR 2008
This wine has a strong earthy, mountain trees sort of nose on it.  It even has quite an earthy flavour.  It is quite complex for a Pinot Noir, with a lot of flavours going on.  From the forest fruits to the spiciness and velvet finish.  One of our group absolutely loved it and skipped the next wine to savour the taste.  It wasn't my favourite, too earthy.  Although definitely better than a lot of other Pinot Noir's I have tasted.

MERLOT 2007
Now this wine was much easier drinking.  A chocolate, vanilla nose and a darker colour of the wine.  A delicious berry flavour and smooth finish.  A very nice Merlot which apparently also has good maturing potential.

EPITOME 2008 (Syrah, Pinotage, Merlot)
This wine has a browner colour to it than the ruby hue of the Merlot above.  It has quite an earthy flavour and very spicy, probably due to the large Syrah content (60%, tobacco, cigar flavours) combined with the Pinotage (coffee flavours) in the blend.  Quite an intense wine with hectic legs.  This wine has a lot of character and will definitely age well.  A great blend, a more sophisticated wine.