Primed for the international focus likely to result from next year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup, Wines of South Africa (WOSA) has revamped its website (www.wosa.co.za) with some of its information now provided in as many as ten languages and at least another ten to follow soon.  The accent will be on languages spoken by many of the world’s major football enthusiasts.
Streamlined for easier use and simpler navigation, the new-look website offers a selection of world-class, high-resolution, copyright-free photographs of the Winelands, wineries, wines, top tourist spots and people.  It features a regular blog and carries video clips, a range of articles and industry statistics, as well as ratings and reviews from internationally respected wine critics from around the world.
“While the website is intended as a resource for local and international members of the wine fraternity, we are doing everything possible to provide a quick-stop wine and wine tourism information destination for foreign journalists preparing to cover the World Cup,” said WOSA CEO Su Birch.  “The selection of images, data and general information that even includes Cape cuisine recipes and food pairings, has been based on the range and nature of queries we have been receiving from visitors to the website and will be regularly updated to give an easily accessible overview of South Africa as an exciting, diverse and quality producer.�
ΓÇ£From transformation in the industry to terroir, ethical trading to eco-sustainable production, history to future plans, the site gives a very comprehensive snapshot of wine in South Africa.
  “Currently we are offering some information in the major European languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese and French that are also spoken in Africa and Latin America, as well as German and Italian but we are also focusing on Filipino, Korean, Russian, Mandarin and Japanese to reach a broad spectrum of international football lovers.  Swedish, other Scandinavian languages and additional Asian languages will be included in due course.”
Birch added that the Fundi project was one of the most popular features of the site and was attracting significant interest with journalists the world over tracking the progress of the initiative that aims to train 2 010 wine waiters in time for the influx of visitors for next yearΓÇÖs World Cup. Training is being funded through the sale of Fundi wines.
 “Despite the global credit crunch, we are making good headway with foreign sales.  We are now listed on Virgin Online in the UK and have been shipping wine to Sweden, Finland and Canada.  We are also hoping to secure orders from Asia.  We are heartened by the high level of interest from the media, who are helping to communicate details of the initiative.”
Birch said WOSA was using social networking tools such as Twitter to access an ever-increasing number of visits to the site.  “Twitter gives a taste of the type of information new to the site and encourages viewers to sign up for our newsletters, find out more about industry developments, conservation of indigenous habitat in the Winelands, access international commentary and more.”

The Orange River - great wines

Oranjerivier Wine Cellars Chenin Blanc 2008
The Oranjerivier Wine Cellars, making wine from vineyards cultivated along 300km of the Orange RiverΓÇÖs unique terror in the Upington region, is becoming a serious contender on the South African wine scene. Now employing three viticulturalists who have been briefed to focus on quality instead of the traditional quantity, some sparkling summery wines are being made in the five cellars that constitute Oranjerivier Wine Cellars.
With the Chenin Blanc 2009 surely to be launched soon, I went back to the 2008 and discovered it had worn its year in the bottle with dignified excellence. It has a crunchy apple and lemon grip, with plenty of tropical fruit on the mid-palate. The finish is long and refreshing. Un-wooded, this wine is sans pretentiousness or wannabe-complications. Good Chenin, with a distinctively different taste to that made in the Western Cape. Think fresh, wet and dripping. You can almost hear it splash.

Graham Beck GamekeeperΓÇÖs Reserve Chenin Blanc 2008
Plenty of summer melons and sweet fruit year. In fact, in the upfront-fruit department it beats hell out of the famed FMC, being about a quarter of the price and without the overdone botrytis bit. Possibly the best Chenin I have tasted this year, the wine is un-wooded and made from old bushvines in the Perderberg area.
It has a dollop of South African sunshine, local Chenin at its best and done to perfection. Melon and a hint of honeycomb drift on a ripple of zesty lime, gooseberry and peach. The mix of acidity and succulent fruit is gorgeous.
I would love to see what happens should Pieter Ferreira, Graham BeckΓÇÖs winemaker, experiment by using some of these very same grapes for an MCC fizz.
Shared royalties would be appreciated and welcomed, sir!

Obikwa Shiraz 2008
The content is almost as despicable as the garish label, which looks like it was designed in a brothel. Described as just the thing for the ΓÇ£adventurous lover of life and wine looking for something differentΓÇ¥, this sickly sweet wine so redolent of cough syrup and wine gums had me gagging by the third glass.
The label says Shiraz, but it could be anything. Just leave the grapes to rot, bung it in a tank and allow enough sugar to remain to attract the younger wine-drinking crowd.

Besides its potential use as a date-rape drug, this stuff does not deserve shelf-space on GodΓÇÖs earth.

Earl Dexter

Eikendal with its prominent vaulted cellar on the foot the Helderberg in the Cape Winelands, has released their first white wine for 2009, the silky, rich Semillon 2008.
“Each year we have a ceremonial blessing where we baptise our first wine for that specific year with a suitable name. Our Semillon 2008 was christened ‘9th House’ by radio personality John Maytham, owing to its ‘out of this world’ elegance and finesse. In Astrology the ninth house is the house that is all about travel, culture and intellectual and spiritual refinement. These features are all present in this ‘stellar’ wine,” explains Eikendal cellarmaster Henry Kotzé.
A galaxy of layered fruit aromas and well-balanced acidity was achieved through careful fermentation in small oak barrels, revealing a radiating, classic dry white wine with a luring satin texture sure to spin the senses out of orbit. More graceful than its expressive predecessor, the Eikendal Semillon 2008 has a sunrise golden glow whilst beeswax and notes of grapefruit dominate softer caramel and toffee kisses on the nose.
The wine spent six months on the lees, displaying perfect synergy between tropical freshness and maturation. Earthy minerality is a key taste element of this powerful yet lively structured wine with its lemon-honey viscosity, lashed with creamy richness, imparting an impressive mouth feel that lingers to a clean, peachy finish.
The Eikendal Semillon 2008 should be drunk young to best enjoy its fresh and luscious fruity flavours although this wine has the potential to upstage some heavyweight whites when it comes to longevity. Try this golden delight with aromatic chicken and pork dishes or with your favourite Thai cuisine. The wine also pairs well with salads and seafood and is a divine match with creamy pasta sauces.
Eikendal Semillon 2008 retails from R66 per bottle and is available at leading wine outlets countrywide or directly from the Eikendal cellar, situated on the R44 between Somerset West and Stellenbosch.
For more information or to order your Eikendal Semillon 2008 contact Tel: ╬ô├╢┬╝Γö£├¡(+… or send an email to orders@eikendal.co.za.

Portuguese Taverna, Section Street, Paarden Island. Tel: ╬ô├╢┬╝Γö£├¡(021…
It was the French that had me discover this joint. Seeing that my French-made Citroën C4 spends more time in the service centre than on the road, I have been spending a lot of listless hours in Paarden Island, the industrial centre outside Cape Town that must be the ugliest coastal real estate in the world.
Since discovering the Portuguese Taverna, however, my hours in Paarden Island have not been so listless. Although it is rather difficult to find a lunch partner willing to meet you in an area where whoring, drug-dealing and armed robbery count among the nicer recreational activities.
The place is set on the first floor of an ugly building, just above a Portuguese café, and is about the size of a modest suburban lounge. I reckon that, at a push, you can squeeze about 35 people into the room – forty if you don’t mind a retrenched Portuguese bacalhau saleswoman sitting on your lap.
What is reassuring about this place is that nothing is hidden from the diner. The lack of nooks and crannies allow you to see who is sharing your dining space. You can have a full squizz of the bar to ensure your circular bottle of Portuguese vinho verde is not fraudulently filled with Graca. Just past the bar, one has great view of the kitchen and can check out the goings on with admiration. I saw a pot big enough to christen a teenager in, and a lot of garlic cloves.
The fare is hearty and typical: calamari tentacles, sardines, chicken gizzards and salads for starters. Prawns, linefish, prego rolls, Portuguese steak, trinchado, espetada and chicken peri-peri for mains. Oh yes, and bacalhau, the traditional Portuguese salt cod.
I had a meal there last week which kind of typified the experience.
Joaquim Sa, local MD of Amorim Cork, had just that very morning returned from London ΓÇ£the worst place to eat in the worldΓÇ¥, according to him. He needed to be fed, decently. We teamed up with the Motorcycle Kid, the kind of dining partner you need in a place like the Portuguese Taverna: heΓÇÖll eat anything, and if the rough stuff starts out in Paarden Island, the KidΓÇÖs the kind of street-fighter you want on your side.
We started out with Castles from the bottle ΓÇô no keg containing draft beer has hit this place yet, and would some kind SAB chap stop watching cricket and do something about it? A Portuguese eatery without draft beer is like a sushi bar with a one-armed sushi chef.
For starters we spread the table with chicken gizzards, two fat, red chourico and some squid tentacles. The gizzards tasted as if they had been frozen since the last time Portugal had won a major soccer tournament. But the rest of the spread was fantastic. The chourico were scored whole instead of being sliced as seems to be the usual practice. It was full of fatty pork and aromatic paprika, with a zip of chilli. Home-baked, airy Portuguese rolls to mop up the sauces.
The tentacles were crisply battered and succulent, without the usual oily residue similar interpretations of this dish have a fondness of showing.
By this time we had ordered a bottle of Gatao, a run-of-the mill vinho verde. It was cold and green, and raw-tasting. Having travelled from Portugal it had lost its slight fizzy tang, but was extremely agreeable.
The main course we wanted was a special, scrawled on the black-board. Pork and beans as in feijoada, one of the Portuguese staples. When I asked him he was going to order feijoada, Joaquim gave me a look that said: ΓÇ£Is the Pope Catholic?ΓÇ¥. ΓÇ£Are the KennedyΓÇÖs gun-shy?ΓÇ¥ Are you crazy? Of course!
Problem was, the Motorcycle Kid and I also wanted to try the same thing. So we settled for: A bowl of feijoada the size of a rugby players head and one chicken peri-peri.
The pork and bean stew was fantastic: odd cuts of fatty pork and a good dollop of beans in a thick, murky sauce tasting of garlic, bay-leaf and the Christiaan Barnard Memorial Heart Surgery Ward. The chicken was cut into six pieces and was freshly cooked and moist, with the slightest tingle of peri-peri. More of this could be had from a huge bottle of red peri-peri sauce being passed around the place.
I just had to order a plate of chips and French fries. Any restaurant not making its chips on its own premises should lose its trading licence. Those generic pre-cooked pieces of tasteless stodge used by far too many restaurants and sold as ΓÇ£chipsΓÇ¥ must be banned. If the Portuguese Taverna uses these things, a promising experience would have been wasted.
The concern was premature. A plate of golden chips – home-made, cut and fried in used oil was presented.
We were home.
The meal was robust, and the ambience even more so. Some Portuguese aunt sitting at one of the tables started crapping on two of the other diners, and a vicious argument ensued. Unfortunately for the Motorcycle Kid, who was unbuttoning his leather jacket, no blood was to be shed.
This being the Portuguese Taverna, oil, wine and peri-peri was the only liquid that is every going to flow.
Miss this place at your peril.

E Louw Joubert

I drove over the mountain looking for something easy. Okay, all these sexual innuendos concerning Pinot Noir must be getting a bit boring. But what to do when most Pinot producers themselves deploy a healthy amount of horny-sounding analogies when their beloved Burgundian grape is mentioned? Seeing as this is a family site, I wonΓÇÖt go into too much detail and all culprits shall remain nameless.
It can get ugly.
Anyway, I drove over the mountain to Elgin to meet this dishy item. Easy. Accessible. Fleshy. Aromatic. This would be the Paul Cluver Seven Flags Pinot Noir. The new one that is. Last year the 2006 vintage was launched. Now we were going to jump between the thighs of (shit, sorry) of the 2007.
Now what, may followers of Paul Cluver ask, is the Seven Flags? Hasn’t the Estate been making some tit (whoops..) Pinots for some time?
Sure. But this time around we are talking serious Pinot Noir. The cream da la cream.
Last year I bought a case of the 2006, which is so awesome I did not drink all of it within the first month, stashing two bottles away for further maturation. So I was dying to see what the 2007 was going to do for me.
So we arrived on the farm. Neil Pendock ΓÇô my designated navigator ΓÇô and I were a bit early for the function. This gave us some time to get into some juicy industry talk with Paul Cluver Snr, who recently handed over the baton as chairperson of Wines of South Africa to Johann Krige. We also sipped some new brandy that is popping out of the copper still and spoke about the weather.
The guests started arriving, and things were swanky. A white Bedouin tent covered tables adorned with smart linen. There was some music and we sipped Chardonnay and mulled about, although there was not much action on the babe front for launching a sexy wine like this. Fortunately, as things tend to do at these occasions, one of the few honeys who made the trek out to Elgin sat at my table. Allan Mullins, who was next to me, was also chuffed, I tell you.
In any event, the wine followed the starters, so this gives me the opportunity to slip into (o hell, censors where are you!) PR mode and tell you what the wine is about.
Pause, thus for PR blurb:
This wine is the ultimate expression of the estateΓÇÖs terrior and the culmination of dedication to the practice of viticulture and wine making.A specific section in our oldest Pinot Noir vineyard, planted to the Burgundian 113 clone in 1991, consistently delivers superlative Pinot Noir. This is ascribed to the balanced growth, the crop-to-leaf-surface area and also the smaller-than-average berry size. This vineyard section was identified for the production of the Seven Flags Pinot Noir in 2006 and in 2007.
In the cellar, the aim is to achieve the best possible balance; between fruit, acidity, structure and texture.
After extended cold maceration, fermentation starts naturally. The wine is then inoculated with a Burgundian isolated yeast which is known for its ability to produce the typical Pinot Noir aroma, while retaining the delicate colour of Pinot Noir. A combination of punch-down and pump-over, 3 times a day, is done to ensure optimal colour extraction.  All the while, the wine and must is assessed to ensure that the grapes are not over-worked. After fermentation, the wine is racked to barrel for malolactic fermentation and remains on the lees for 11 months.  To confirm the superiority of the vineyard site, the ear-marked Seven Flags Pinot noir barrels are tasted blind in conjunction with all the other Paul Cluver Pinot Noir barrels in the cellar. The best barrels of the site are then selected and blended to form the Seven Flags Pinot Noir. The 2007 vintage comprises 38% new wood and 62% third-fill barrels – from two Burgundian coopers.
(end PR blurb)
Now you know. So what does it taste like? (The press release mentioned “tightness” and “appealing”, which is just a bit risqué.)
Because less new wood was used than the previous 7 Flags, the wine is silky and devoid of any muscularity in the backbone. It is pure Volnay in the supple fleshiness, the kind of supple fleshiness that would make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window. However, there is an early leanness in the wine, an almost virginal (I give up) purity that reminds me of the wines from the Echevronne region in the High Burgundy. If Andries Burger, the wine maker, has done things correctly, this leanness between fore- and rear-palate is going to flesh out over the next few years. A sweet-savouriness will appear, edging the wine more into the powerful realm expressed by the Vosne-Romanée region, which is going to be terribly exciting. Seeing this happen will be a first for a South African Pinot Noir.
Easy as it was in the first few sips, the wine gains body the more you drink of it. (And seeing there were no freebies to take home, we really let rip!) By the seventh glass it really was stronger, more resilient than those first few sensual sips. Pendock was also going great guns with this wine, and I just hoped that he was going to be sober enough to navigate us back to Cape Town.
A beaut of wine, and a real lush. I looked at the bottle and almost asked it if it took American Express and permitted kissing. But I just bought a case, instead.
Emile Joubert

We ate well. This was supposed to be a restaurant review. But we drank better and more than we ate, so I canΓÇÖt remember what the food was like, so this will not be a review of food but a discussion on Bordeaux.
For it was Bordeaux that brought us together, in Constantia, at the Jonkershuis Restaurant which is on the Groot Constantia Estate. And we were there, Boela Gerber the resident winemaker, and myself, because I had procured some Bordeaux from Roland Peens at the Wine Cellar. And I thought it was good.
It was Château Yon-Figeac 2000, a fine St. Emilion meaning Merlot, mostly. Boela arrived with a flint bottle of gold. It was Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2004. I was happy, as I do not know white Bordeaux that well, like most plebs considering the region to specialize in reds.
The Lafitte Blanc was cold, but we iced it anyway. We sipped on some Groot Constantia Sauvignon Blanc 2008, which is a fine white wine. It is fresh and lively, and nice to drink.
Boela pulled the cork on the Lafitte. I smelt the wine, and it was an aroma unlike any white wine I had had the pleasure of meeting before. It had a nutty, orange peel aroma and I could smell it was dry, very dry. There was an oxidized character to it, but an agreeable one as this is the way these white wines are made.
It was bone-dry to the taste. So dry it actually shocked by mouth a bit. I turned back to the Groot Constantia Sauvignon Blanc, which now seemed trembling with tropical fruit compared to the dry French wine.
The Lafitte was awfully good to drink. It had a lot of grip on the mouth. The nutty sharpness that I got on the nose carried through to the mouth. It was herby, also, like dried herbs. With a light mouth-feel, that made you want to drink more, which is what we did.
The Yon-Figeac followed, and at this time we were eating, I remember, meat. The wine smelt of fresh blood and wild flowers. It was very good when I had finished working the aroma and allowed it to pass by my lips. It was not tight, this wine. Not tight at all. At nine years, it was of a good age.
There was fruit, black fruit, but it was still restrained. Not tight at all, just restrained, meaning the wine could last another ten years in the bottle.
There was no sharpness of tannins, just an operatic lightness of harmonious red wine flavours. With a hint of leather. It was deliciously easy to drink, this wine.
We finished the bottle easily, talking of wine and France and that pretty river that runs to the west of Toulouse. The one with the heavy trout and the deep ripples.
However, we still needed more wine. So I suggested we drink a wine from Groot Constantia, which was the right thing, the best thing, to do as we were on Groot Constantia. Boela suggested the Gouverneurs Reserve, which he made, and we ordered the 2004. A good year.
The wine is Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, mainly. With Cabernet Franc, and Malbec. And it was fascinating drinking this wine after the Yon-Figeac. The power was enticing and it was haunting. The power of the wine stayed, long after the mulberry and fynbos notes had departed. It was bigger than the Bordeaux, bigger and more robust. There was a gracious elegance we liked so much, we had another bottle to cleanse the palate and really giver the livers a well-deserved bit of working out.
Two good Bordeaux and one fine South African. Throw in a bit of fine conversation between two real men, and this is what wine is all about.
Earl Dexter

Letter to Emile Joubert
From Christopher Hope, director of the Franschhoek Literary Festival

Dear Emile

FRANSCHHOEK LITERARY FESTIVAL SA WINE WRITERS AWARD, 2009

We are writing to invite you to submit the best piece of writing you published in 2008 on any wine-related topic, for the Franschhoek Literary Festival’s SA Wine Writers Award. (this does not have to be a technical piece)
Your writing will be judged on its literary merits, so please indicate the publication format. (Just a sentence will do; for example, “this was a feature article in WINE magazine” or “this column was written for my regular food and wine blog”.)
Our judges are Jancis Robinson MW (Financial Times wine writer, Oxford Companion To Wine Editor), Stephen Tanzer (International Wine Cellar editor, Food & Wine Magazine senior editor) and Duncan Minshull (BBC commissioning editor) are widely dispersed, so please submit your work to gilly@thefamousidea.co.za  in an electronic format. The closing date for submissions is 10th April.
The award consists of a cash prize of R25 000 and you will also receive a certificate/artwork produced especially for this purpose by famous Pippa Skotnes. The presentation will be made at the Franschhoek Literary Festival on 16th May, at a reception hosted by one of the local wine estates. The travel and accommodation costs of the recipient will be met by the organisers.
Although any wine writer based in SA may submit his/her work, we are particularly hopeful that you will accept this personal invitation to be recognised as SA’s pre-eminent wine writer.
This new prize will be awarded annually from 2009 onward at the Festival.
Thanks and good luck!

Reply from Emile Joubert

Dear Mr Hope
Thank you very much for the invitation to participate in the SA Wine Writers Award. It is a most worthy initiative ΓÇô like all scribes, wine journalists and commentators warrant some sort of recognition. As you know better than any wine writer, slaving away in a lonely space with only the computer screen as company can sometimes be seen as an ungrateful occupation.
Unfortunately I will not be entering this competition out of principal.
Firstly, a competition of this nature without a South African judge lacks credibility. As learned as these three persons are, not one can fully understand the nuances hidden in South African wine writing. It is as ridiculous as getting a panel of British judges to give an award to the best South African Pinotage.
Secondly, a lot of South African wine writing is done in Afrikaans, the language used by over 80% of the industry. By not offering Afrikaans media an opportunity to enter, the competition cannot be regarded as representative or complete. Take, for example, a writer such as Christine Rudman, a Cape Wine Writer whose columns exclusively appear in Afrikaans. There are many others.
I commend you on a worthy initiative. It is, however, unfortunate that the result will not deliver SAΓÇÖs best wine writer due to it excluding a large percentage of writers and their audience.

Forget about phylloxera, leaf-roll or empowerment-hungry land-grabbers. The visitor currently most feared by wine farmers is a pretty blond from Pinelands. ThatΓÇÖs right. Jeanri-Tine van Zyl, youthful staffer at Wine Magazine, is sending tremors down various backs at the mere thought of her visiting your winery for one of the magazineΓÇÖs Cellar Door Shoot-out articles.
Jeanri, like me from Afrikaner stock, never fails to call a spade a shovel, the kind of honesty Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£Γöñ with a slight hint of facetiousness Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£Γöñ that has caused generations of Anglo Saxon males to reach for their ball protectors. Aesthetically unpleasing tasting venues, surly or patronising cellar staff, kitsch art….all are delicately ripped apart by JeanriΓò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£├╗s spicy prose.
In any event, I thought of Jeanri on Monday when I visited a fantastic winery in the Hemel-en-Aarde. Seeing it was Monday, and I had my cynical cap on. I was pissed at the stretch of bumpy dirt road leading towards Caledon. My two travelling companions, the Dachshunds Maximillian and Friedl, were edgy and their paws were irritating me as they jumped on my navel at the excitement of the journey. Max wet my T-shirt with excitement upon spotting a badger crossing the road.
Irritability vanished, however, as I drove into the gates of Creation Wines and cast an eagle eye over the rolling vineyards. A dam, stocked with trout, sits below the winery which is below the tasting reception.
Reception is open, light and airy. 260 degree views allow you to take in the vines, and the fynbos ridges beyond. A couple of arty objects are mounted, some for sale, as you head to the tasting counter.
Okay. By now Jeanri may have approved. But the prospect of conversing with a human being would have her sharpening her pencil.
If Carolyn Martin, one of the owners, is there, however, all prospects of knocking this Creation joint fly out of the window. Carolyn is life. Carolyn is energy. She maintains that perfect balance between marketing pushiness and convincing passion.
And she could sell hard liquor to a mosque in Quatar. And, be warned, if she had any Carolyn will have JeanriΓÇÖs balls for breakfast.
But it boils down to the ΓÇ£pΓÇ¥ word. And this passion, well thereΓÇÖs a lot of passion in this creation. And much for Carolyn to tell. The ungrafted, virus free vineyards. The coolness blowing in from the Kleinrivier Lagoon each evening. The new Pinot Noir, 2008, that is clean and fruity and very European. ΓÇ£We donΓÇÖt do farmyard.ΓÇ¥ Chardonnay from Creation is wooded, but only 30% new. French. Steely and minerally but with a touch of creaminess to lengthen the experience of the fruit.
Syrah-Grenache. Not overcooked or jammy. But restrained. Plummy. Touch of fynbos. And was that a cherry?
Carolyn takes me down to the cellar, where Christoph Kaser Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£Γöñ one of the owners who is also a winemaker in Switzerland Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£Γöñ is busy handling some free-run Merlot, CreationΓò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£├╗s first. CarolynΓò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£├╗s husband, JC╬ô├╢┬╝Γö£├¡ – also from the land of Heidi and clocks Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£Γöñ is off duty today.
The winery is picture perfect: open wooden fermenters, gleaming rows of stainless steel. Even the pressed husks look good enough to put on a post-card.
We taste from the tanks. Bracing Sauvignon Blanc. Some Syrah-Grenache from the barrels.
Only three years down the line, CreationΓÇÖs wines are being listed in top restaurants and outlets ΓÇô here and overseas. Quality of experience is evident from farm to bottle, to cork and into the glass.
The enthusiasm from Carolyn and ChristophΓÇÖs side is very infectious and very un-Swiss. This is a beautiful place, and the enthusiasm is the kind shown by the fortunate people whose dreams have come true.
And at Creation, they have.
This is the place whereby all other wineries should be judged.

E. Louw Joubert

Eikendal, situated on the slopes of the Helderberg in an area renowned for its acclaimed red wines, excelled at the Berlin Wine Trophy 2009 with its Bordeaux-style blend, Classique, taking the highest honours at this closely contested international challenge.

The latest 2005 vintage of this elegant blend which proudly wears the crown as the estateΓÇÖs flagship red wine, clinched a prestigious Premium Berlin Gold medal at this yearΓÇÖs judging. The Cabernet driven Classique is one of only five South African wines to be awarded this sought after, Premium Gold medal this year.

In addition, Eikendal also scooped a silver medal for its Sauvignon Blanc 2008 at this annual contest ΓÇô one of the largest international competitions under the patronage of International Organisation of Vine and Wine (IOV) ΓÇô held in the capital city of Berlin.

“I’m so delighted to see that our flagship is making waves beyond our borders. The results also show that we as a country unashamedly can compete against the best international standards,” says Eikendal Cellarmaster Henry Kotzé.

Described by the winemaker as a ΓÇÿwine that personifies what Eikendal is all aboutΓÇÖ the Classique 2005 is a sensual yet substantial wine that unfolds a layered berry bouquet harmoniously backed by an integrated oak character. Juicy ripe black fruit, infused with spicy, peppery flavours coat the palate with hints of truffle and earthy herbaceous influences pointing to a strong Cabernet Sauvignon presence.

With Cabernet Sauvignon stealing the spotlight (73%), the wine also introduces the classical touch of Cabernet franc (27%) which adds gentle fruit layers and finesse to this oak-matured cellar masterpiece.

ΓÇ£Owing to our favourable terroir, fanned by cooling maritime breezes and ideal soil compositions, both red varieties deliver a strong sense of varietal integrity and quality, expressed wonderfully in this full-flavoured wine,ΓÇ¥ adds Henry.

Both wines spent 18 months in new French oak barrels before they were blended together, after which further maturation continued in older barrels over a six month period. The wine was bottle aged for a year prior to its release.

Alluring with a dark brick red hue, it is a full-bodied, well-structured wine with a long elegant finish lingering on the aftertaste. Fine, silky tannins grip the pallet and provide great potential for further ageing.

Eikendal Classique 2005 is an excellent choice with robust beef, venison and ostrich carpaccio, whilst vegetarians can enjoy this red wine with roasted or grilled vegetables infused with olive oil, garlic and herbs or with a gourmet cheese platter.

The wine is available from R120 per bottle, directly from the cellar or at selected fine wine outlets and restaurants countrywide.

Noting the Editor’s latest interest in Merlot, I hauled out a bottle of Château Pétrus 1992 during his recent visit. Pétrus is a nice example of Merlot, although the odd percentage of Cabernet Franc added in some ripe years can have a lucid influence on the Merlot expression.
1992 was not such a year. In fact, during the damp vintage the vineyards were covered with black plastic, allowing the moisture to evaporate against the plastic lining instead of seeping into the soil and diluting the vines.
I knew the Editor looks at the Pétrus with nostalgia. For it was this wine that, when presented to that vain little Matt Skinner sommelier who works for the irritable Jamie Oliver, was described as “ordinary. I’ll pay 30 quid for it, 40 max”. And this on national television!
It was presented blind to Skinner, and one only has to wonder what his opinion would have been once he spotted the majestic red label.
I decanted the wine and left it in a cool spot in my study for two hours. When I entered the room, with the Editor in tow, the smell of books and old pipe tobacco had been replaced by the haunting perfume of dried flowers, iodine and honey.
We poured the wine into Burgundy glasses, and both agreed that the wine was immensely powerful, a characteristic overlooked by New World Merlot producers who like to market their juice as sensual, soft and velvety.
The power on the nose was, in fact a bit too much and I had to open a window to clear the air a bit otherwise our palates would shut down.
I know this wine needs another 10 years – the Pétrus 1982 is drinking quite beautifully – but there is much to be said about the vigour of this great Pomerol still in its teens. There is an iron, steely flavour that runs from the tip of the tongue to the mid-throat – it is almost like the delicate pleasure-pain sensation one would experience swallowing a 1000 year-old Samurai sword. But the core of the strength is wrapped in unctuous flavours of wild strawberries, white truffles and – to keep the Japanese theme going – Kobe beef tartare.
As usual, there is nothing subtle about the palate weight. And this is what makes Pétrus so unique: even those cursed with the most wooden of palates would agree that something magical is going on here.
Adrian Morgan