On Tuesday last week I was lucky to be part of a small group of writers invited to attend a special tasting of 21 Ken Forrester Vineyards’ wines, in celebration of their 21st anniversary. The range of wines reflects the multi-faceted personality of owner and winemaker Ken Forrester!

We met at the tasting room, and were welcomed with a glass of Sparklehorse MCC, and oysters and salmon canapés.  It was the most beautiful day, and the tasting took place in Ken’s beautiful Cape Dutch manor house, dated 1694 on the gable, with the first vineyards having been planted in 1692. I loved the light yellow walls with a vine leaf mural all along the top part of the walls, the paintings, the vases with flowers, and the ambiance of and views from the Voorkamer.

Previously in the hospitality industry in Johannesburg, Ken and his wife Teresa moved to Stellenbosch in 1993, having bought the property with a house and a vineyard in a derelict state, Ken shared.  He and Teresa painstakingly renovated the house, to return it to its former glory, and turned the farm around. Despite experiencing highlights as well as low lights on the property (e.g. the toughest ever year was 2002, with downy mildew a number of times), but Ken said that it was all worth while, and that they live in paradise.  They live on a farm but they are almost in town, he added.  In answering a question, Ken said that their new venture had to be in Stellenbosch.  He had previously worked for Southern Sun when Sol Kerzner was in charge, and then moved into the restaurant industry, buying a share in Gatriles in Johannesburg. His restaurant industry background reflects in the joint ownership with his brother Allan of 96 Winery Road down the road from his wine estate, and he brought Gatriles’ famous duck and cherry pie recipe with him to Stellenbosch, where it has become a favourite too.   Their property is 126 ha in size, and he has rented another property of equivalent size, which he and his team manage, to control the quality of his incoming fruit.

The farm’s first vintage was 1994, and they harvested 3 tons of fruit, and produced 200 cases of Sauvignon Blanc in that year.  This year they have processed 1300 tons of grapes, and produced 90000 cases (about 1 million bottles).  Just over half of their production is sold locally, followed by the UK and USA. Ken Forrester Vineyards makes 16 wines in three ranges, each aimed at a different target market and satisfying the requirements of each segment.

1.  Petit range: in this range they make Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Semi Sweet, Rosé, Pinotage, and Cabernet Sauvignon, each of these costing a mere R40.  Ken described the range as an everyday wine, a good house wine, and easy drinking, which should be drunk on purchase.  They have recently cleaned up the labels with a fresher design.   He said the wines have a welcoming start, good mouthfeel, and a good finish.  Due to the good value offered, they sell large quantities of this sub brand, it representing about 60% of their production.  He said it is tougher to make this range than the other two, as he has to curtail costs to meet his price point.   Ken is the Chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association, and he spoke passionately about one of his favourite cultivars, saying that Stellenbosch’s Chenin Blanc is highly concentrated compared to that from other wine regions.  Ken has been an important driver to make Chenin Blanc popular in our country.  He shared that it annoys him to see restaurant winelists dominated by Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, and all other varietals (including Chenin Blanc) lumped together in an ‘Other White Wines’ category.  He also mentioned that he wished that South Africans could be more open to trying other interesting varietals, and not just stick to their favourites.  International visitors are far more open to trying wine suggestions, even if they do not know them.  He did say that the ‘moon is rising for Chenin’, and that it is a good food wine, developing in becoming more multidimensional and blends becoming more aromatic.  His Sauvignon Blanc has moved to tropical notes.  They are one of few wine estates making a semi sweet wine, with 22,5 gram per liter residual sugar.  The Rosé has a beautiful colour, coming from being kept on the skins for one hour.  There is a growing interest in Rosé  locally and internationally, but different markets have different requirements, the German wine drinkers preferring a redder Rosé, while the UK market wants an even paler pink compared to that which Ken makes.  Pinotage makes up only 5% of South Africa’s production, Ken said, and he described his Pinotage as an excellent pizza wine, and it pairs well with any dishes having tomato sauce.   The Merlot in the Cabernet Sauvignon blend softens the wine. Ken shared how difficult it is ‘to get Merlot right’ in Stellenbosch’.  Ken concluded the Petit range tasting by saying that entry level wines bring people to wine.

2.   Ken Forrester range:  For this range Ken uses Stellenbosch grapes for his Sauvignon Blanc, but also buys in from Elgin and Darling.  At R65 a bottle, it offers good value.  The 40 year old vineyard for his Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc (R75) is in front of the cellar, and all of it is hand harvested.  Ken highlighted that it is every winemaker’s social responsibility to harvest grapes by hand, to offer employment.  Ken once again highlighted the difficulty of making Merlot (Reserve), but says that his is in balance now, being fruity and soft, containing 9% Cabernet Franc.  The public loves Merlot, he said, it being one of the Big 5 wines, and is associated with being a soft red wine.  Surprising is that Shiraz seems to be on a decline, Ken saying that ‘there is no market for Shiraz, it is totally oversold‘, and that he receives offers for Shiraz grapes continually.   Renegade is a Grenache Syrah blend, close to 50%/50% with a ‘dash of Mourvèdre’, and we were told why this wine received the name, in describing how labelling bureaucracy was overcome with some creativity!

3.  Icon range:  These are the top of the range wines on the estate.  We laughed at the Three Halves name, Ken sharing how they called it that as it is made of 50% Mourvèdre, and the other half is split into two further halves of Grenache and Syrah.  While we were tasting, the discussion arose around the need for a body to market wines locally, as Wines of South Africa (WOSA) does internationally.   The industry bodies are tasked with promoting their cultivars generically locally, as do individual producers.  In an experiment, we tasted three wines blind, and two of them were a pair Ken informed, and one stood on its own.  None of us could guess his riddle.  The pair turned out to be two identically made 2006 FMC wines (Chenin Blanc), bottled on the same day, one with a screw cap and the other with cork.  The screw cap was by far the superior wine, preserving the quality of the wine better.  The third wine was a 13 year old FMC with a cork closure, still very drinkable.   We tasted the latest 2012 FMC, having its lowest alcohol level ever, at 13,5%.  We also tasted The Gypsy 2010 Grenache dominant Syrah blend, its latest release, and their 2010 T Noble Late Harvest.

Roussanne is a lesser known varietal, made by very few wine estates, and is 100% barrel fermented in 400 liter barrels.  It sits outside of the three ranges, and is only sold from the Ken Forrester Vineyards tasting room.

After the long tasting we drove to 96 Winery Road, where a table had been set aside for us.  Our starter was a refreshing beetroot and pinenut salad, with spinach, avocado, green beans, shaved asparagus, chilli, coriander, and mint, paired with the Ken Forrester Sauvignon Blanc 2013. The Old Vine Chenin Blanc Reserve 2013 was paired with pan-fried tiger prawns, accompanied by the most delicious and indulgent apple wood bacon, pea purée, shimeji mushrooms, and cider glaze.

The main course was a choice between an oven-roasted kingklip, served with roasted fennel and garlic risotto, and glazed baby leeks, being the choice of all but one guest at the table;  and beef short rib, served with a beer and hoisin sauce, Chinese noodles, and a mange tout salad.  This course was paired with a choice of The FMC 2012 and The Gypsy 2010.

The Winery Road Mess was a colourful dessert, with chantilly jelly, fresh mango, mango coulis, and mini meringues.  This was naturally served with the T Noble Late Harvest 2010.

Ken Forrester has become an wine industry stalwart, not only for chairing the Chenin Blanc Association, but also the Stellenbosch Wine Route.  He is never afraid to speak his mind, and is a person who gets things done.  It’s no surprise that he and his Ken Forrester Vineyards have achieved such success in the past 21 years.

Disclosure: We received a bottle each of Ken Forrester Three Halves 2009 and Renegade 2010 in our media pack.

Ken Forrester Vineyards, Winery Road, Stellenbosch.  Tel (021) 855-2374.  www.kenforresterwines.com  Twitter: @KFWines

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