Tag Archives: lees

House of Hier wines launches with two cultivars hier and now!

 

On Sunday evening I was one of the invited guests who were introduced to the new House of Hier wines by its owner Jaco Pienaar, in the home of Tania Olivier, whose White0000 company crafted the unusual name of the wine brand, and designed its unusual labels.

Jaco explained that Hier in the name denotes the location and terroir of his wines, being on the Breede River, between Bonnievale and Robertson, in one of the most southerly vineyards of the Robertson Valley, facing the sea breeze.

Hier is a collaboration between Jaco and Arendsig owner and winemaker Lourens van der Westhuizen.

Continue reading →

Garden of Babylonstoren is its heart, reflects passion of owner Koos Bekker!

I have previously written about the new Babel Tea House and also about Babel Restaurant at Babylonstoren.  On each of these visits I did not fully comprehend the wealth of work that has gone into planning, developing and maintaining the extensive 3,5 ha fruit and vegetable garden, with 350 edible fruit and vegetable varieties.

Wishing to spoil my parents, I invited them for a visit to the wine estate, and we were taken around by head gardener Liesel van der Walt, a charming and passionate ambassador for the garden, providing lots of information, and picking edible flowers (Day lilies) and berries for us to eat, and vegetable flowers (carrot and onion) for us to keep.  Liesel was at Kirstenbosch for 20 years, and originally did some contract gardening on the estate before joining Babylonstoren a year ago, managing a team of 15 gardeners.  She showed us the Babylonstoren, a hill after which the estate has been named, and laughingly said that soon they too can have the ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’! There are three ponds closest to the shop, and we started the garden tour here. A dam each contains waterblommetjies, tilapia fish, and rainbow trout. Continue reading →

‘Celebrating Méthode Cap Classique’ a sparkling success!

A most beautiful as well as informative coffee table book about South Africa’s sparkling wine industry has just been published.  ‘Celebrating Méthode Cap Classique’ has been written by Di Burger, and is the first complete bubbly book.

The book traces the history of champagne to South Africa’s sparkling wine industry, which innovated with Cap Classique forty years ago, being a bottle-fermented bubbly made in the traditional French style.  Kaapse Vonkel was made for the first time by pioneer winefarmer Frans Malan at Simonsig in 1971, while ‘Cap Classique’ wines were made for the first time in 1992.  Chairman of the Cap Classique Association, Pieter ‘Bubbles’ Ferreira of Graham Beck Wines, writes in the introduction to the book that ‘South Africa has the oldest grape growing soils in the world’.  Combined with its bountiful sunshine, the Western Cape is a perfect location for growing grapes of excellent quality for the production of Cap Classique. 

Méthode Cap Classique (MCC) is the term which describes the South African bottle-fermented production of sparkling wines in the French méthode Champenoise style.  They are dry, with less than 12 grams of sugar per litre.

The book includes profiles of the major sparkling wine producers (Simonsig, Boschendal, Graham Beck, JC le Roux, Pongrácz, Villiera, Haute Cabrière, The House of Krone, Laborie, Backsberg Estate, Avondale, Bon Courage Estate, Van Loveren, De Wetshof, High Constantia Wine Cellar, Steenberg Vineyards, La Motte, Morena MCC, Saronsberg, Colmant, Veenwouden Private Cellar,  Mooiplaas, Quoin Rock Winery, Chabivin, Klasiek by Catherine, Namaqua Wines, MC Square, Domaine des Dieux, Lourensford, Old Vines Wine Cellars, Neil Joubert, Teddy Hall, Welteverede Wine Estate, Charles Fox, Francois La Garde, Longridge, Silverthorn Wines, Genevieve, LovanE Boutique Wine Estate, Saltare Wines, Tanzanite Wines, Ros Gower Wines, Wonderfontein, Cederberg Private Cellar, Riebeek Cellars, Groot Constantia, Dieu Donné Vineyards, Roodezandt, Aurelia MCC, Bramon, Viljoensdrift Wines,  Sterhuis, Perdeberg Winery, Véraison MCC, and Allée Bleue Estate). 

The book describes four styles of making sparkling wines: the ‘impregnation method’ (injecting carbon dioxide into vats of still wine); the ‘tank method’ (second fermentation in tank instead of in the bottle); the ‘transfer method’ (second fermentation in bottles, the cloudy wine is sucked out of the bottle through a filter to remove the sediment); and ‘Méthode Cap Classique’ (second fermentation in the bottle, with a solution of sugar syrup, yeast and aged wine added to create carbon dioxide and alcohol in the bottle, aged on the lees for 18 months – 5 years).  In total, there are 90 sparkling wine producers in South Africa, of which 53 are featured in the book.  Grape cultivars used most often in the production of sparkling wines are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Beautiful photographs by Riehan Bakkes reflect the vineyards, cellars, and products of the wine estates producing sparkling wines. 

Woolworths’ Allan Mullins recommends serving a glass of bubbly at the start of a function, to ‘awaken the taste buds’.  Food and Cap Classique pairings for breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in the book, and recipes by TASTE and Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly are featured, as are recipes from Simonsig’s Cuvée restaurant, The Salmon Bar, David Grier, and Terra Mare Restaurant.  Pairings with Lindt chocolate desserts, and cheese are also featured, as are cocktail recipes with sparkling wine, created by the Cape Grace Hotel.

‘Celebrating Méthode Cape Classique’,  Stacked Publications, www.stackedpublications.co.za. Tel (021) 685-2146.   R300. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Wine News: Allée Bleue tickled pink at launch of new Brut Rosé

Last week Allée Bleue launched its first sparkling wine, the Brut Rosé 2009, and dressed up its lunch venue in pink, in contrast to its blue corporate colour.  Flowers on the tables were pink, pink and white balloons decorated the entrance to the venue, and GM Wolfgang Leyrer wore a pink jersey in honour of the event.

The new Brut Rosé is made from 53% chenin blanc and 47% pinotage, and has “delicate flavours of strawberries, rose petals and candy floss”, according to the tasting notes.  The wine spent 10 months on the lees.  Only 6000 bottles have been made. 

Using the colour and flavour descriptions as a cue, the food and wine journalists and bloggers invited to the celebration of the new bubbly were treated to a most wonderful lunch:

*  The starter was a Trio of Salmon, with wasabi cream, beautifully presented.

*  The main course was Chicken Supreme and prawns in a saffron sauce

*   The most beautiful of the three courses was the strawberry dessert, a strawberry pannacotta surrounded by fresh strawberry slices

For the past 18 months Allée Bleue GM Wolfgang Leyrer has been driving the development of the wine estate, now the largest venue in Franschhoek as far as weddings go, and he was proud to announce that 50 weddings have been booked for the season ahead already, held in their new Grand Hall, which was launched in March and can seat 300 guests.  The new Brut Rosé will largely be used for wedding events, and will only be sold on the estate, at R89,50.

Winemaker Van Zyl Du Toit introduced his new Chenin Blanc 2010, made from Walker Bay and Franschhoek grapes, which was also served to the guests, costing R39.  It is so new that it still has to be labelled.   A Rosé 2010 was also served with the lunch, with a distinctive deep pink colour, and a dry taste.  It costs R32. 

A new chef Glen Ferris has been appointed for the Bistro, and he is currently doing an exchange at Schwarzer Adler, a Michelin two-star restaurant in the Black Forest in Germany.

Allée Bleue is a wine estate to watch, as it is constantly moving ahead with new developments, within a culture of German excellence.  The owners of the wine estate are the Dauphin family from Germany.

Allée Bleue, R45, Franschhoek. Tel (021) 874-1021 www.alleebleue.com Twitter: @AlleeBleue

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.comTwitter: @WhaleCottage