SA Rocks

I have been reading a lot about a resurgence in the quality and popularity of Pinotage.

It seems only fit that while we are all feeling a little patriotic about our Rugby World Cup glory – well we pay a bit back to the wine industry and drink homegrown!!

So with this in mind I urge you to try the following wine and let me know what you think:

Pulpit Rock Brink Family Pinotage 2005

Now I’ll give you a brief background: it’s been awarded 4 Stars by Wine Magazine, is one of the country’s 10 best Pinotage’s and only costs R33.

It’s enough reason for me to grab a bottle on the way home tonight!

Cru Master

Popularity: 1% [?]

I need to send some wine to my old man in Pietermaritzburg and the conundrum got me thinking – who do I trust to get these six gems there safely and at a good price?

Well PostNet were bloody hopeless – probably would have been cheaper to send the wine to the Springboks in Paris.

So I dashed to my local Wine Concepts store and they recommended the following two companies:

The Vineyard Connection

Cape Grape & Wine Company

Not much in the two companies save for one having a far more superior and helpful website.

The price seems standard and I like that it costs just as much to send 12 bottles as it is to send 6 – about R100.

Another great thing about the companies is that they both offer special, padded packaging for the wine and insurance is included in the price.

Both companies seem to do international deliveries which could be handy for those looking to get some of South Africa’s finest back to their distant homelands!

Remember though, most wine farms will deliver wine ordered directly from them, at a fee of course – which may be easier – but shop around, you never know.

I’ll let you know how this particular delivery goes and if I find any other worthy solutions – and if you have any preferred wine freight specialists – I’d love some feedback in the comments section!

Cru Master

Popularity: 1% [?]

In what I believe is an important development in the future of the South African wine industry – Constellation, the biggest wine company in the world, has acquired Flagstone Winery.

Some view the acquistion as a sad sell out – while others believe that it may see a powerful and meaningful South African wine brand emerge and gain our industry the global recognition it deserves.

Read the full story here to formulate your own opinion and let me know what you think of it all.

I think it is an exciting move and wish Bruce Jack all the best in his new endevour.

Cru Master

Popularity: 2% [?]

Some good friends of mine love Woolworths’ Zezty White and Juicy Red so much – that they have named their ski boat “Zesty”.

That and they know that the only gift they will ever receive from me will undoubtedly be a box of Zesty!

As the names suggest, the two ‘house’ wines from Woollies are just that – Zesty and Juicy. They come at a great price and are great buy’s if you looking for a midweek quaffer or affordable wine to share with friends over a braai/at the beach.

The ‘box wine’ versions of these two winners are brilliant – they come in sleek and stlyish 3L boxes that will fit nicely into the coolbox or into the extra small space in the boot.

Give them a go and let me know what you think – and look out for Woollies’ Italian wine range too, some good stuff in there for good prices.

Cru Master

Popularity: 8% [?]

Whether wine comes in a papsak, a bottle with a fancy label, with award stickers, a cardboard box or a jug – well it doesn’t matter!

The real allure of wine, contrary to the Cremora Ad, is more about what’s inside than anything else.

It’s like the search for that perfect wave: obvious to find at J Bay but who knows you may just experience a killer set at Camps Bay (unlikely I know but you get my drift)!

So I urge you to forget about the fancy labels, award stickers and household names and seek out new and less obvious wines – it makes the journey so much more interesting!

Here’s a different approach to wine that I recommend you try: BlankBottle

I bet you’ll find some real gems – and you may even find owner Pieter Walser’s approach refreshing!

Let me know about a great wine you’ve had recently – the more South African wine we drink and profile the better!

Cru Master

Popularity: 10% [?]

Interested in great wine that’s much cheaper than normal – and naked?

Get Wine

That’s all I really have to say – check it out.

Cru Master

Popularity: 8% [?]

Diemersdal Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2006

I am not a huge Sauvignon Blanc fan – but this wine really won me over:

It really was mouth watering. Fresh and herby with some ripe sweetness and touch of tartness that was just right and not to overt. I guess you could say this wine is beautifully balanced.

The nose was wonderful and one thing I loved about it is that what you smelled you actually tasted in the wine too. Too often I find, and particularly in Sauvignon Blanc, that on the nose the wine is insatiably intriguing – but then when you take a sip it’s acidifyingly awful and all the flavours are masked beyond comprehension.

Haha, there you have my qualms about Sav Blanc – but the Diemersdal SV Sav Blanc 2006 is sublime – I wholeheartedly recommend it.

(Oh and when it was paired with a pesto pasta – phenomenally good.)

Cru Master

Popularity: 8% [?]

Bliksems – this wine is seriously good and one of the best value for money out there.

Camberley Philosophers’ Stone

This wine delivers on so many fronts that I’d be happy to pay R100 a bottle.

Fortunately it goes for only R50 – and that my friends is one of Bonnie’s Best Buys by a county mile. Not even Harry Potter himself could make a wine this good.

So give the farm a ring (021 8851176) and get your hands on a case of 6 or 12 – cause this is a wine you can whip out for a fancy dinner, take to restaurant, crack open at a braai, have a glass of after work and have as your companion while you while away an African sunset – it’s magic and fits in everywhere.

Enjoy and if you can keep this little gem a SA Rocks secret!

Cru Master

Popularity: 8% [?]

Right nothing elaborate today – just a simple suggestion:

Go and buy some Raka wines.

Their entire range is seriously good and consistently so – one of my favourite wineries!

Look out for the following trio: Raka Biography Shiraz, Raka Figurehead, Raka Quinary

Cru Master

Popularity: 12% [?]

No more than fifteen minutes from Cape Town sits a wine farm with one of the world’s greatest views: De Grendel

I think I should repeat that: it’s only fifteen minutes away (head out on the N1 – take a left at Plattekloof and then a right into De Grendel Estate – it’s that easy).

Not only is De Grendel conveniently close to Cape Town for all us wine enthusiasts – but it boasts some seriously amazing facilities and even more impressive wine – as I learnt an evening or two ago!

The lovely folks at De Grendel are hosting awesome, intimate, wine experience evenings at their estate whenever you or I feel compelled to get a group of friends together and pay them a visit.

Last week about ten of us were treated to a fantastic wine experience evening:

First we were given a little history lesson about the farm, it’s origins and it’s recent progression into wine making with Charles Hopkins at the helm.

We were then taken through the uber, uber impressive cellar and given a run down of the wine making facilities.

Then once we were all sufficiently drooling at the mouth – we tasted our way through the entire range of De Grendel wines and enjoyed a delicious dinner.

For an estate that has only been producing wine for seven years – the wines are brilliant and it’s definitely a label to watch as it forges on into the years ahead!

What was really appealing about this experience is that we all sat around a table and discussed the wines: their tastes, their smells, the right occasion for them, their feel, how they were made – and all this with an entire cellar to ourselves and two warm an welcoming members of the De Grendel ‘family’! Brilliant!

Thats not all – we were treated to some soup, breads and coffee and some of us were even awarded bottles of wine as prizes for our contribution to the session!

It’s this type of interactive experience that wins you loyal followers and encourages conversation about your wine and estate – so well done to De Grendel – I’m looking forward to another evening there soon!!

If you and your friends are interested in one of these great evenings – drop Alan Sherratt a line: alan@trafficonline.co.za

Enjoy and let me know how your evening there goes!

Popularity: 8% [?]