{"id":41133,"date":"2013-03-12T07:52:44","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T05:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=41133"},"modified":"2013-03-12T10:28:57","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T08:28:57","slug":"blaauwklippen-zinfandel-reserve-preferred-to-top-australian-zinfandels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/blaauwklippen-zinfandel-reserve-preferred-to-top-australian-zinfandels\/","title":{"rendered":"Blaauwklippen Zinfandel Reserve preferred to top Australian Zinfandels!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last week Blaauwklippen hosted its sixth International Zinfandel Tasting, this year choosing to compare its Zinfandel wines against four from Australia. \u00a0The thirty or so wine writers attending judged the Blaauwklippen Zinfandel Reserve to be better than the Australian counterparts.<\/p>\n

The tasting was led by Rolf Zeitvogel, Cellarmaster and CEO of Blaauwklippen, and passionate about Zinfandel. He said of the wine variety: “Zinfandel is a particularly demanding variety to manage both in the vineyard and the winery. The resulting unique and hedonistically rich wine makes all the hard work worthwhile”. <\/em><\/p>\n

The four Australian Zinfandel wines we tasted, with interesting labels and some with high alcohol content, were the following:<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Cape Mentelle 2010<\/strong> – of this wine from the west coast Margaret River wine region Rolf said that it has developed a ‘cult following’<\/em> amongst Zinfandel lovers. \u00a0Their first Zinfandel was planted in 1974, to low density bush vines, and there is ‘fastidious attention to detail to ensure that only the best quality fruit is produced’,<\/em> Rolf said. \u00a0The grapes are hand picked, de-stemmed, and berries sorted individually. \u00a0The must is soaked at cool temperatures prior to fermentation. Fermentation and maturation took place in oak vats, 25 % going into new French oak barrels. \u00a0 Zinfandel was first planted in 1974. \u00a0Some say that this is the best Zinfandel producer in Australia.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Cargo Road 2010<\/strong> – this is one of the older Australian Zinfandel blocks, based in Mount Canobolas, planted in 1983. It is planted northfacing at 860 m above sea level, allowing it to be un-irrigated, developing a good dark colour, and maintaining good acidity. \u00a0Its total planting of 4 ha is one of the largest in New South Wales. The crop is thinned dramatically, from a potential crop of 20 ton to 9 ton, to assure quality grapes. \u00a0This Zinfandel was not well received by the tasting panel.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Smallwater Estate 2009 <\/strong>– located in the south west, this region is proving itself as one of Australia’s most reliable wine growing areas, and the wine estate saw the opportunity to plant the Zinfandel grape in 1993 for the first time, and make a premium flagship Zinfandel. \u00a0Initially the wine estate contract-produced grapes for Cape Mentelle, but started making its own wine from 2006 onwards. The crop is thinned out in four stages, taking out bunch wings and shoots first, reducing the \"\"<\/a>crop to 5 tonne per ha. \u00a0A Ros\u00e9 is also made from the Zinfandel. Of the four Australian wines, this Zinfandel was liked most by the wine writers.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Peel Estate 2007 <\/strong>– produced in Karnup, 70 km south of Perth, the Zinfandel was first planted in 1974, and the first wines were made in 1980. \u00a0Being 3 km from the ocean, the grapes benefit from a Mediterranean microclimate, with mild winters and cool coastal breezes in summer. \u00a0 \u00a0The dry summers suit Zinfandel well. \u00a0The grapes are crushed and fermented on their skins for a week before being pressed and are then transferred to a stainless steel tank for the primary and secondary fermentation processes. Thereafter it is matured in oak for two years. \u00a0The wine writers likened this Zinfandel to a port.<\/p>\n

The Blaauwklippen Zinfandel Reserve 2011<\/strong> is made from Block Padstall1 grapes first grown in 1982, at 146 m above sea level. \u00a0They are planted on southfacing slopes in sandy duplex soil. They use a six wire trellising system, the bunches are halved, and intense canopy management is practised, to make a single vineyard wine. They get a crop of 4,5 – 5 tonnes per ha. \u00a0There is no irrigation. \u00a0Fermentation is in French Oak, for at least 18 months. Its character is described as spicy plums, raisins, rum chocolate and vanilla spice flavours with ‘whiffs of cigarbox, bitter chocolate, and English tea’. <\/em>It is ideal to drink with spicy dishes, game, potjiekos, and matured cheeses. \u00a0It was best liked of all the five wines tasted, tasting like a wine, it was said, and not like a port. We tasted a tank sample, and Rolf said that the wine would be at its best in three to four years. \u00a0It costs R310 at the cellar door.<\/p>\n

Rolf shared how difficult it is to manage the Zinfandel grapes, when asked why so few winemakers grow Zinfandel. \u00a0Blaauwklippen had wanted to pick the grapes at the end of February, but the heavy rains in early February forced them to pick overnight just after the rain, otherwise they would have lost their crop. \u00a0The wine variety is also not well known. \u00a0He shared that at a food and wine pairing evening the day before they had paired a Zinfandel 2007 with a steak served with a pepper sauce, the wine standing up well to the strongly spiced sauce.<\/p>\n

Exciting news is that an MCC is to be launched by Blaauwklippen in 2015.<\/p>\n

After\"\"<\/a> the tasting we were spoilt with a Zinfandel-inspired lunch at the water’s edge, prepared by Radisson Blu Hotel Executive Chef Grant Kennedy. PR consultant Nicolette Waterford related how much trouble the chef had taken to prepare a well-matched menu for the function. \u00a0The amuse bouche was a beef and \"\"<\/a>dried peach carpaccio, served with emerald asparagus, pomegranate hollandaise gratin, and sprinkled gems, which was paired with the Blaauwklippen White Zinfandel 2012. \u00a0The peach added a touch of colour to the dish.<\/p>\n

The starter was a pink tuna pav\u00e9, served with gremolata fresh herb crumb, root bulb dauphinoise, a cranberry beurre noisette, and runner bean shoots, which was paired with \"\"<\/a>Blaauwklippen Zinfandel 2010. This was followed by a prickly pear and grappa dash sorbet palate cleanser. \u00a0A number of the guests mistook this for granadilla, but the pips of the prickly pear are much harder and bigger, making them hard to swallow. \u00a0The main course was described as ‘Journey of Duck’<\/em>, and was an excellent pairing with the Blaauwklippen Zinfandel Reserve 2011. \u00a0It was a most generous serving of Leg Confit \"\"<\/a>with gooseberry jelly, a thigh and goats curd samoosa with liver parfait, delicious slow grilled breast with a naartjie la orange jus, quinoa and wild mushrooms, braised baby onions, and glazed vanilla carrots.<\/p>\n

The dessert was also generous, with an interesting collection of raisin tea and rooibos \"\"<\/a>bread and butter souffl\u00e9, an unusual avocado and bitter chocolate tart, and a coconut blackberry semi freddo, which was paired with the Blaauwklippen Zinfandel Noble Late Harvest 2011.<\/p>\n

Sitting close to Woolworths wine buyer Allan Mullins it was interesting to hear that he became one of the first Cape Wine Masters in 1986, and started at\"\"<\/a> Woolworths four years later, having been a maths teacher at SACS in his previous career.<\/p>\n

Disclosure:<\/strong> We received a bottle of Blaauwklippen White Zinfandel 2010, Zinfandel Noble Late Harvest 2011, and Zinfandel 2012 with our media information.<\/p>\n

Blaauwklippen Vineyards.<\/strong> R44, Stellenbosch. Tel (021) 880-0136 \u00a0www.blaauwklippen.com <\/a> Twitter: @Blaauwklippen Wine Tasting 10h00 – 18h30 (summer)\/17h00 (winter)<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: \u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/a> Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week Blaauwklippen hosted its sixth International Zinfandel Tasting, this year choosing to compare its Zinfandel wines against four from Australia. \u00a0The thirty or so wine writers attending judged the Blaauwklippen Zinfandel Reserve to be better than the Australian counterparts. The tasting was led by Rolf Zeitvogel, Cellarmaster and CEO of Blaauwklippen, and passionate about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,20,31,21,19],"tags":[10787,547,9928,18523,18524,18512,18521,18513,18525,18515,32378,18522,11962,18511,18520,18514,7408,18516,18517,10047,18519,11329,16896,16579,18518,32373,171,9909],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t