Tag Archives: JC Martin

Creation wine and food pairing now even more heavenly!

February 26, 2014

I last visited Creation more than two years ago, when I wrote a story about the Hermanus Wine Route, which had been launched in 2011. Since then a number of changes have taken place, new chef Warwick Taylor offering even more heavenly food to match the heavenly Creation wines, living up to promise made in the Tasting Menu heading: ‘Original, distinctive flavours. Exceptional, harmonious matches’!

The road to travel to Creation was never in great condition, having been a gravel road 7 km before the entrance to the wine estate. They were very excited when the Western Cape province announced the tarring of the road to Caledon, and 3 km of the untarred section had been tarred when the construction contractor went bankrupt, a huge frustration for Creation. A number of months have gone by while the province appointed a new contractor, and work has finally commenced again, it taking ten months for the road to be completed, owner JC Martin estimated. The road currently is in a worse condition than it was on our last visit, in terms of its surface, with more accidents on the road, and having a stop/go system in place. Co-owner Carolyn Martin said she is placing pressure on the Western Cape Minister of Transport and Public Works Robin Carlisle to get things moving. Creation will have to possibly change its entrance once the tarring is complete. Despite the poor condition of the road, it was a surprise to see the car park at Creation completely full, Carolyn’s marketing of their wines and the Tasting Room being so excellent that tourists as well as Johannesburg and Pretoria locals come anyway.

I thought I had arrived without being recognised, but Carolyn had seen me (I was sitting with my back to the desk) and she called JC to come and say hello. JC was busy in the cellar with the preparation for the start of the harvest the following day, but made time to chat, reflecting how good they are in connecting with their customers (we stock their Whale Pod range) and visitors. JC said that the harvest is only 3 – 4 days later than last year after the wet winter, and that they have some botrytis, which his staff is picking out. He expected the harvest to take a little longer this year, being 3 – 4 weeks, depending on the weather. He shook his head, almost in disbelief, Continue reading →

Chenin Blanc Summer Showcase: celebrating fresh and fruity fun!

October 12, 2013

While the weather was not very co-operative in offering Cape Town a sunny summer’s day yesterday, it was a fun and friendly tasting of 21 wines for the Chenin Blanc Association Summer Showcase of fresh and fruity Chenin Blancs at the Cape Grace hotel.

Twice a year the roughly 50 Chenin Blanc producers meet to showcase their two styles of wine, rich and ripe in winter, and fresh and fruity in summer. The functions are kept small, with an almost equal number of winemakers and writers invited, allowing a quality interaction between the media and wine representatives. The producers have a passion for Chenin Blanc, which is the largest wine varietal produced in our country at about 18%, yet is not yet well known locally and even less so internationally. Through the work of the Association, the standing of Chenin Blanc is improving, and its benefits of offering value and being an excellent food wine are increasingly becoming known.

In the absence of Chenin Blanc Association Chairman Ken Forrester, described as ‘resident winemaker in the USA’, and Vice Chairman Jeff Grier, who had just arrived for his harvest in France, the most charming Bosman Family Vineyards winemaker Corlea Fourie led the tasting of the wines. She represented Chenin Blanc to me – blonde, soft, sweet, understated, and gentle, yet tough when she needs to be! She fed back that 30 Chenins had been made available for tasting at ‘The Beautiful South‘ wine tasting of South African, Chilean, and Argentinian wines in London last month. Each producer had submitted their Chenin Blanc(s) to be evaluated by Continue reading →

Balance wines are ‘hip, hop, and happening’!

October 3, 2013

The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay was a perfect venue for the tasting of the newest Overhex Wines International’s Balance wines on Tuesday, the venue being as light and crisp as the Balance wines.

The function moved to different venues inside the hotel, a welcome glass of Balance Boldly Brut being served with a canapé of samoosa filled with crocodile (luckily we were not told what was inside when it was served!), bacon, and green apple on an Asian spoon, in Sandy B, the downstairs bar.

The tasting was held in the downstairs Bistro, with an introduction of Overhex Wines International by co-owner and MD Gerhard van der Wath. The company was established seven years ago, and he got Swiss winemaker JC Martin, co-owner of Creation and son-in-law of highly respected winemaker Walter Finlayson, on board as winemaker. JC and Gerhard recently bought out the other partners, and JC makes his own Creation wines as well as blending the Balance wines. The company is one of the top 20 exporters of South African wines. Their strategy is to be different, Gerhard said, which shows in their fun label of an elephant balancing on the letter ‘l’! They develop different styles of wines for different markets. All the grapes are bought in for their wine production, a total of 10000 tons. He shared that they have won the largest number of wine tenders in Finland in the past Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 2 August

August 2, 2013

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* Perfect China has bought the cellar and wine farm of Val de Vie for use by Perfect Wines of South Africa, in which it has a 51% stake (with Leopard’s Leap), reports Bloomberg, the first purchase of a local wine estate by a Chinese company. Close to 3 million bottles of the company’s L’Huguenot wine were exported to the Asian country in 2011 and 2012, representing about 25 percent of all South African wine exports to China. The cellar and maturation capacity are to be increased.

* More storms, including hail, have hit the wine regions of France, especially the Génissac region last week, in which 30 – 100% of the crops were destroyed, reports Wine Spectator.

* USA wine blogger Joe Roberts, writing 1WineDude, will be the keynote speaker at the Nederburg Auction, an interesting reflection of the growing influence of wine bloggers!

* Interesting news is that Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk has promulgated draft legislation to have one united set of legislation relating to tourism nationally, Continue reading →