Stellenbauchery

De Toren: My First Day on the Job

Monday, my first day at De Toren, was fantastic with a good introduction to the estate before harvest began. First Albie showed me around the tiny but beautiful tasting room, cellar and barrel room, then assistant winemaker Charles had me help him and his staff take some vineyard samples. They are doing a project with a local college where they have certain blocks regularly irrigated (the rest of the vineyard is irrigated minimally according to an advanced system -- more on that in a bit) and blocks with lateral shoots removed as an experiment.

 

 The rest of the day was spent cleaning the sorting conveyor and crusher/destemmer (there’s nothing better than power washing on a hot South Africa day). It's already obvious that the sorting process here is much, much more elaborate than anything I've seen, with three conveyors and two vibrating sorting tables for up to twenty people to sit and sort.

 

In the afternoon, Ernest Manuel, the viticulturist and one of my new favorite people, pulled up in his bakkie and invited me to hop in and “see what it’s all about.” Between him, Charles, Albie, and Emil (the very hands-on owner), the passion and attention to detail at De Toren is obviously a cut above anything I've ever seen. Ernest explained that he is inoculating the soil (De Toren’s vineyards are notable for a great diversity of soil types, even within the same block, which Ernst describes as “bloody difficult” but ultimately “all about using the right clones.”) with 2% organic compost which they get from grape skins and plant rests to help them return microorganisms to the soil that were eradicated during the war era. Bomb building caused the soil to become heavy with nitrates and Ernest wants to return it back to a sustainable state on its own, and he finds that the compost is helping.

 

Ernest showed me amazing infrared images of the vineyard blocks which indicate vigor and to a lesser extent soil types and clones in each block; diversity is obvious which makes more work but also indicates more attention. He also uses a pressure bomb, which I'll explain in the next post, to monitor how hard the plants are struggling and make sure he irrigates as minimally as possible. He's absolutely meticulous in his treatment of the different blocks, rows and clones.

 

His canopy isn’t heavy even on the hottest, highest blocks. “I find that if you expose the grapes to sun early in the season they get used to it,” he says, and the foliage and fruit look simply gorgeous at this stage. I was particularly impressed by the evenness of the ripening –- all clusters looked incredibly even with few green or raisined spots. Still, this afternoon workers were thinning out “not nice” clusters in preparation for picking tomorrow. We will pick two blocks of merlot tomorrow. 

 

Starting off with a bang: Franschhoek and Muratie

Only two days in SA and I've already had an amazing wine weekend! I'm staying with a lovely couple who work at De Toren and Zorgvliet and they've been most hospitable.  Yesterday they took me to brunch with their family at Le Pommier, which was once part of the Zorgvliet brand. After a nice Banhoek breakfast I tasted through the lineup and was particularly impressed by the 2007 reserve cab at $10 a bottle.

 

After brunch we took a drive to Franschhoek, which is incredibly beautiful even for the western Cape. It’s rather touristy but I didn’t even care because it’s also stupidly beautiful and mountainous. We tasted at Haute Cabriere, which is built into the mountain and specializes in “Burgundy-style” chardonnay and pinot noir, particularly in the Methode Cap Classique style with their Pierre Jourdan line.

 

The blanc de blanc was especially nice; the chardonnay characteristics really came through with tropical fruit and caramel and butterscotch on the palate and a long, rich finish thanks to light wooding. It was interesting to try their 2007 pinot noir as well. It had a very bright fruit/candy nose, good acid, and silky tannins; very pinot-esque in mouthfeel but I'm still waiting for that great Burgundian pinot nose in SA.

 

We drove up the mountain after that, stopping to watch a charming gang of baboons play by the side of the road and leaving when their alpha male approached the car looking very interested in jumping on it.

 

Then they dropped me off at Muratie, where winemaker Francois Conradie met me and gave me the star treatment.

 

We looked at Muratie’s small production facility, where 300 tons are crushed using only a few tanks – to make use of the tiny space, Muratie has to press juice quickly and therefore there’s less skin contact – but Francois is just fine with that. “Too much oak and too much extraction is not my style,” he said. “If you follow whatever trend is happening that year there’s no consistency to your wine.” Muratie’s elegant, understated style is a testament to that philosophy.

 

Francois drove me up the mountainside to see their highest vineyards; pinot noir is planted high up but it will be moved next year to a cooler, lower site. “We get a lot of heat up here,” Francois said as we stood at the top of the vineyard. "It's not good for pinot." The soil, which stains my hands a beautiful reddish-brown, is a mixture of decomposed granite and sandstone – quite nutritious. The fruit set generally looked stunning as we drove down through the vineyard. 20 clusters per bunch is the norm, all hand harvested and sorted carefully in the cellar. 

 

Muratie’s varietals are spread out enough that there isn’t too much bottleneck: chardonnay, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc are January and February ripeners, merlot and shiraz come later, and then the cabernets are last. But this year’s late summer heat wave pushed harvest early and challenged every winemaker. “It’s the most difficult harvest I’ve seen,” said Morne Vrey, winemaker at Delaire, who was sitting at my table at the blues concert later that evening. Delaire’s claim to fame is sauvignon blanc so they found this harvest heat particularly difficult.

 

With Francois and tasting room server extraordinaire David, I tasted through the wines including the amazing 2010 wild ferment chardonnay, which is soulful and rich but restrained in oak and malolactic characteristics, and the stunning 2007 merlot which tastes like good Niagara cab franc in its peppery, supple earthiness. I also was stunned by the 2007 shiraz and Ronnie Melck 2007 shiraz, which I tasted side by side. The RM showed a very northern Rhone styled meaty, garrigue flavor and was enormous on the palate, while the regular shiraz was more floral and minerally but also delicious. All the wines are clearly earth and fruit driven, with no overoaking or over-extraction. The 2009 pinot noir, a vintage I haven't yet tasted, showed a hint of that autumn-leaf Burgundy thing I've been looking for as well!

 

After tasting I got to hang out with Francois’s wife and friends as well as owner Rijk Melck and his wife for a performance by world-famous blues guitarist Dan Patlansky. Between great wine, wonderful new friends, fantastic blues music, and a gorgeous Simonsberg sunset, it was an amazing night. There’s no question Muratie is producing some of the best wine in South Africa, to say nothing about Simonsberg as a district. David pointed pointed out Wine Enthusiast's and other publications' consistent recognition for the area, specifially "Muratie, Kanonkop, and Warwick: there’s no question that there’s something special about this area.” Add Rustenberg, Tokara, and many other great farms to that list, and I'm inclined to agree.

 

Stay tuned for photos as soon as I can upload them! 

 

It's Good to be Back

Well, as you know if you've ever travelled in the Marmite nations, the accompanying photo can only mean one thing: I am back in South Africa. After 20 hours in the air (at the end of the last leg, a 12 hour flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town, the entire plane broke out into rowdy applause, cracking up our flight attendant to the point where she could barely finish her announcements) four in-flight movies (Eat Pray Love sucked) and countless digs on the Swiss at the expense of the good-natured Swiss cutie sitting next to me, I made it to South Africa exhausted but happy.

 

The tropical-beach scent of the air as I waited in the customs line and the friendly "Totsiens!" from the airline staff were music to my senses, and I learned that I have retained just enough Afrikaans get people to start firing off long, complicated sentences at which point I apologize and switch to English. I'm working on it.

 

Not related to wine or South Africa, but interesting to me, was the cool library at Amsterdam's awesome Schipol airport. Full of funky chairs, interactive iPad games for youngsters, and awesome books, it was a super relaxing and fun way to pass the time. I even met an American who was traveling to Nigeria for a wedding.

 

I found some great layover reading: this amazing collection of letters from a fifteen-year friendship between Isabelle de Charriere, one of 18th century France's most celebrated literary minds, and Constant D'Hermenches, a decorated Swiss officer to  whom she began writing after they met at a party. They're love letters, though not in the traditional sense -- d'Hermenches was married and Isabelle had several relationships during the correspondence -- but they convey an incredible connection between two people who met only a handful

of times in person over the course of their lives. Check this book out. I'm a sucker for such a Jane Austen-esque story, and I couldn't put it down and almost missed my boarding call.

And now back to our regular programming.

Countdown to South Africa: Two Very Special Bottles

With my trip to Stellenbosch only weeks away and my list of wines to try and bring home growing by the day, I've been craving South African juice lately in a big way. I enjoyed two awesome reds this weekend that only fueled my excitement. Only 17 days till I'll be soaking up vineyard magic at De Toren!

 

The first was a bottle I've been saving over a year, since I visited Haskell/Dombeya and had the pleasure of spending time with celebrated winemaker Rianie Strydom and her celebrated winemaker husband Louis Strydom. The sample bottle of 2008 Haskell Pillars Syrah, at the time not yet released, that she gave me has been waiting for the right moment ever since that day, and opening it was truly a special occasion all in itself.

 

Over an hour's decanting helped this young and powerful wine open up to its full glory. With incredibly ripe fruit yet no trace of overripeness or stewy notes, a delicate mineral quality, and lush tannins, it's a simply beautifully made wine. Notes of peppery spices and red-clay earth on the nose took me back to South Africa in an instant, and the perfectly balanced full-but-restrained midpalate was clear evidence of Rianie's trademark elegant winemaking style. If I could sum up that style I might have an easier time describing what it's not: showy, overextracted, overripe. The wines have incredible flavor profile and seamless structure, but it's all whispered rather than shouted, and for that reason they fit perfectly into any environment. This 2008 Pillars is certainly a killer syrah and as good an argument as any for Syrah as a flagship of the South African wine industry.

 

Another treat was De Trafford's 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. We're now sold out of it at the store but I was thrilled to open a bottle and experience the first wine I've had from this dynamite estate in almost a year. 

 

Straight Cabernet Sauvignon generally bores me to death but South African cabs are an exception - and this wine is anything but ordinary. A sexy dusty, chalky quality to the nose carries through to lusty tannins and a long finish. This is a powerhouse of brambly, smoky black fruit, chalky earth, tar, muscular structure, and a lift of menthol which adds a fascinating refreshing quality to what's otherwise a seriously intense wine. This is as good as it gets, South African red-wise, and I'll be looking for it at the winery when I'm in Stellenbosch in a couple of weeks. I'm finishing the last few sips now and savoring every nuance. If you see this at your local wine shop, grab it - we were selling it for $25 on sale.

A Pinotage Rocks WS Top 100 - There Goes the Neighborhood!

I'm proud to say I scored this wine long before Wine Spectator named it #100 in its 2010 Wines of the Year and featured a great picture of punchdowns at Kanonkop in its December issue. I scored it before the retailer where I work sampled it but did not pick it up, on the grounds that $30 was too much to ask for a pinotage. Well, maybe that's true, but I know good pinotage when I taste it (speaking of which, LCBO gods, thanks for throwing a pinotage into the Wine Tasting Challenge in Toronto this week - it accounted for a quarter of my right answers in the first round!). Anyway, yeah. This is good pinotage.

The back label indicates that punchdowns were performed every two hours during fermentation, which explains the vigorous tannins and gorgeous blackberry color. Harvested from bush vines up to 56 years old with no irrigation (very cool, in hot-hot Stellenbosch), this wine shows serious concentration and unmistakeable sense of place. The nose is so familiar - I could hand a dear friend a glass of this and say "this is Stellenbosch. This is where I lived."

 

I served it slightly chilled for a change with pleasant results, and paired it with spicy steak fajitas. The flavor profile is textbook: chocolate, game, gorgeous whole clove and elderberry, with a menthol twang playing against a thick, rich vein of toffee. A sip yields firm tannins, great acidity and a brambly, bloody finish that smooths out into dark chocolate. A fierce wine, ideal for flank steak asadas with mole sauce (or braai of course!). Great stuff - varietally correct, unapologetic, and elegant in its primeval loveliness. My kind of wine, no question. Nice job, Kanonkop!

 

Kanonkop Estate 2008 Pinotage

Wine of Origin: Simonsberg-Stellenbosch

Price: $30*

 

 

 

Rustenberg Chardonnay...and Big News!

Exactly six months ago today I was finding my seat on the KLM flight from Cape Town to Amsterdam, on my way home from the greatest adventure of my life. I settled in, put on my headphones, and decided to take my mind off my sadness by putting on an in-flight movie. 

 

"Invictus! I still haven't seen it! Perfect!" I thought. Yup, I chose an uplifting drama about South African politics starring Morgan Freeman. Brilliant, Jules. Before the opening credits were finished I was crying my eyes out. A sweet South African lady sitting next to me gave a sympathetic glance. "Did you fall in love in South Africa, dear?" 

 

I sniffed. "No - I fell in love with South Africa." She tsked compassionately. "Don't worry. You'll be back."

And she was right. I'm absolutely thrilled to have been invited to spend two weeks in Stellenbosch in March working the 2011 harvest at De Toren! One of the most renowned and cutting-edge farms in South Africa, De Toren produces the acclaimed Fusion V and Fusion Z Bordeaux blends. Working with winemaker Albie Koch is literally a dream come true for me. Check out the winery here.

 

I plan to learn as much as I can, drink as much as I can, and get my ass kicked as much as I can just like
last year - except I'm cramming it all into two weeks. In the meantime, the already-great South African wine selection at my workplace is getting better all the time. We just picked up this beauty: Rustenberg 2009 Stellenbosch Chardonnay, one of the best SA whites available in the U.S.

 

Having tried the 2008 in Stellenbosch, I brought home a bottle of this as soon as Linda, a Lauber saleswoman and my SA wine BFF at work, tasted us on it. The fruit on the nose is absolutely gorgeous, with peach and white plum leading the way and a rich buttery chord but not a lot of oak. Voluptuous and alive on the palate, wave after wave of chin-drenching fruit, hazelnut and creaminess make for a simply delicious finish. Somehow this wine is both incredibly rich and weightless, a great balancing act that left me wanting more with every sip. With butternut squash ravioli topped with toasted sage and hazelnuts, this made for a memorable wine night and a great celebration of my good news.

Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2009

Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch

Importer: Cape Classics

Price: $17

 

Economic Empowerment Tastes Pretty Darn Good

A few days ago my one of coworkers called me over to the wine desk to announce, "We've got some 'Julia wines' here!" Indeed, there were five new South Africans wines at the desk, none of which I had had before. Three were particularly interesting: Bosman Family Vineyards Adama 2008, and two 2009 wines produced by Bosman but under the Appollis label: a red blend based on cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and a chardonnay-based white blend. All three are Wine of Origin Wellington (a warmer region north of Stellenbosch) and unfamiliar to me, but what really caught my eye was the "Fair Trade Certified" logo. I took them home for a test drive. 

 

Why two brands? Bosman Family Vineyards became FairTrade certified in 2009. Bosman formed a joint venture with Adama Workers Trust, so farm workers own 430 ha of land  

 which produces the Appollis Project line of wines. It's an awesome example of South Africa's economic empowerment projects active and working in the wine industry! For the full story click here. 

 

But how's the wine? The Bosman Adama 2008, a blend of 85% shiraz, 10% mourvedre, 3% primitivo (cool!) and 2% viognier is the more expensive of the two at $19.99 but I actually preferred the $10 Appollis red. Adama wasn't bad but overpoweringly oaky and showing lots of burnt rubber and leather, rather like a shoe store. It had a nice eucalyptus/menthol quality which I dug but wouldn't be my pick to introduce a customer to South African wine. The Appollis, however, is a quite approachable value. It showed bright red currant and cherry flavors, with just a hint of smoke, and was a hit when I poured it for a couple of SA wine newbies. Ditto for the Appollis white. A blend of 60% chardonnay, 30% chenin blanc and 10% viognier, it was creamy and full with nice melon and kiwi tropical action and good acidity. I served it for a girlfriend who likes whites, paired with a dinner of roasted squash stuffed with peppers and onions, and she loved it. With oh-so-cute polka dot labels and friendly prices, these Appollis wines (imported by MJM) are solid SA intro wines. 

 

But after all that warm-climate Wellington wine it was time to treat myself to something I've been wanting to try for awhile: Hamilton-Russell 2007 pinot noir, a Wine Spectator Top  

 100 wine last year. The Wine of Origin is Hemel-en-Aarde Valley (Hermanus area, by the sea), a cooler climate befitting such a delicate grape. It cost $40 and was imported by Vineyard Brands.

A whiff of Hamilton-Russell took me right to the kitchen of a childhood friend's mother, who is of Indian descent and once gave me an Indian cooking lesson. Was it garam masala? Coriander? What was that spice? I figured out that it was cardamom pods, which Indian cooks toast in a skillet to release the flavors. Having never gotten that flavor in wine before I was pretty excited; I'm not sure if it's an oak thing or if other South African pinots show that kind of spice (I've only had a few) but it was extremely cool to get that immediate sense memory. 

Indian food aside this pinot was bursting with florals - a violet and mint bouquet. On the palate, it was silky-smooth as expected, but there was no affectionate "love squeeze" that a good pinot gives you on the midpalate, just to check in. It was a lovely wine, but the best pinots I had in SA are still Oak Valley and Catherine Marshall. Anyone who disagrees or has another favorite is more than welcome to chime in!

 

De Toren Fusion V Gets a Night on the Town

I did not try wines from De Toren while I was in Stellenbosch, but this producer of Bordeaux blends Fusion V and Z, which boast sky-high scores from Platter, Wine Enthusiast, and Decanter, is definitely on my radar now after an impressive showing at Best of the Braai in Toronto: their offerings showed thick, brambly blackberry flavors, dusty cassis and incredible depth. I was thrilled when Cape Classics sent me a bottle of Fusion V 2007 shortly afterward – and I recently found a good chance to open it. 

The occasion was a blind tasting dinner with some of my new coworkers, hosted by a certain local wine VIP. Everyone brings a bagged bottle and they are decanted and then tasted one by one, over much discussion and a tasty assortment of charcuterie. It was suggested that I bring “something that would show well” as well as “something South African” – so I bagged up my Fusion V and took it out for the night.

 

I’m proud to say that it definitely showed well next to the other outstanding bottles, which included a Brunello di Montalcino, a Toro, a Rioja, and a Barolo. Our host, a sommelier, identified it immediately as a “Stellenbosch Bordeaux blend of the John X Merriman-esque* style.” Turns out he actually is a fan of South African wine and has an extensive collection   in his cellar. The tasting notes centered around Bordeaux flavor profiles, lots of tar and minerality, licorice, and a distinct earthiness. I did agree with a coworker that it could have been served a tad cooler (this was before I got my fancy wine fridge, where I now keep all my bottles). Amazingly, Fusion V wasn’t the only South African poured that night – someone else brought a 2004 Vilafonte series m – but it was the favorite of the two and definitely showing well despite its young age.

 It's 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cab Franc, 15% Malbec, 10% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, and it is South Africa's first five-varietal Bordeaux blend. If you can get your hands on it, it's a true showstopper that every doubter of South African excellence should try.

*By the way, if you’re not familiar with John X Merriman, that needs to change. We just got the 2006 in at the store where I work so I’ll have a review up shortly!

De Toren Fusion V 2007

Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch

Importer: Cape Classics

Price: $40*

MAN Vintners 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon

"Eat Critters, Drink MAN" says the label - a clever dig on the "critter" labels that are ubiquitous among inexpensive wines from a certain heavily marketed Southern Hemisphere nation. I didn't get around to trying MAN Vintners wines while in SA because I knew they'd be available in the U.S., but as one of the most widely distributed and fairly priced South African labels imported into this country, it's a brand worth knowing. 

This cabernet shows a robust nose of black cherry, cassis, and a pleasing hint of menthol. Just slightly smoky with balanced alcohol, it's juicy and full - even more so on the palate. The finish shows considerable tannin and just a suggestion of milk chocolate; I'd love to   pair this with flank steak topped with molé. At $8, this cab will definitely become one of my go-to reds for entertaining friends.

MAN Vintners 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine of Origin: Coastal Region

Importer: Vineyard Brands

Price: $7.99

Wines of South Africa 101!

One of the reasons I love my new wine retail gig is our impressive South African wine selection, and since we routinely do free, open-to-the-public wine classes, I decided my first project at the new job would be Wines of South Africa 101.

The first thing I learned was that picking out wines is about a lot more than just "what's good?" Of course, I'd love to have featured De Trafford 2004 Blueprint Shiraz - but at the $40 price point and with less than two cases in stock it wasn't logistically possible. So many factors went into play that had nothing to do with my personal taste for the wines, but it was a great opportunity to learn what goes into planning these events. 

After much deliberation, I ended up with a list I could be proud of, chosen from our inventory as a good first introduction to the wines of SA:

Graham Beck MCC Brut - a lovely example of Methode Cap Classique!

Graham Beck Game Reserve 2009 Chenin Blanc - two Graham Beck wines didn't seem so superfluous in light of his recent demise - Rest in Peace, Mr. Beck! Plus, this was the freshest Chenin Blanc we had.

Painted Wolf 2007 Pinotage - probably necessary to do a pinotage, and this one is among the more restrained and elegant that I've had.

Edgebaston 2008 The Pepper Pot - a tasty Rhone blend with a sexy label and totally South African. 

Warwick 2008 The First Lady - a gorgeous, honest-to-terroir Cabernet Sauvignon from a great producer with a terrific US presence. The stars were aligned on this one. 

 

The wines of the night for my full-to-capacity class (hello, SA wine peeps - there is real interest here in western New York!) were the Game Reserve Chenin Blanc and The First Lady. Lots of takers on the Pepper Pot as well. I was able to teach attendees how to pick out Brett using the Pepper Pot's meaty, iodine-y finish, and one woman couldn't get enough of the flavor and wanted to know which wines were "Brettier." I named some of the more barnyard-tasting Chinon wines I could think of.

I was pleased but not surprised at the success of The First Lady, and delighted a wine with such truly South African character was the belle of the ball, so to speak.