Let's Raise A Glass!

Tour Committee member and frequent South Africa visitor Ed Nardell gives some of his recommendations regarding South African wines.  Can't wait to try some of these while we are there!  Enjoy!

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On South African Wines
It must have been 20 years ago when I first experienced fine South African wines at a restaurant called, Cento, not far from the Jo'burg airport. It was owned by a husband and wife team who had farms outside the city and offered varied cuisine, including mud crabs from Zimbabwe, various game meats - antelope such as springbok - and traditional as well as European fare.  As is the custom in many good restaurants, there is no menu.  The executive chef (obviously not tied to the kitchen) comes to the table to recite the menu of the day.  Once that was done, the wife in this case took us down to the basement wine cellar to choose a wine from thousands of bottles cellared there for years.  We chose a cabernet to go with some meat dishes.  At that time the restaurant price for this very high-end bottle was about $25 - it might be double that now - but, this was the most complex and luscious wine I had ever experienced.  For the first time I glimpsed what fine wine could be and why people made such a fuss over it.  Without exaggeration, we drank a wine of $100/bottle quality for 1/4 the prince in a restaurant, and the same bottle would be $10-15 in a local store if you could fine it.  My point is that South African wines are not only spectacular at their best, but an incredible value even today because of the dollar exchange rate with the Rand - about 15R to the US dollar.  It had been as low as 7R to the dollar maybe 10 years ago. 

The climate of Stellenbosch and surrounding areas are ideal for wine growing, and the area is studded with wineries (they call them wine farms) like Napa and Sonoma in California - literally thousands of them.  I particularly enjoy the red wines of South Africa, and bring a lot of that home on my many trips to the country - using a small suitcase designed to carry 8 bottles as checked luggage without risk of breakage. I think the official limit is 6, but I have never been questioned, and if I had to give up 2 or pay duty, it would be worth it. Of the red wines, a red grape original to South Africa is pinotage. Cheap pinotage, and their is lots of it,  is no better than other cheap wine, but good pinotage can be extraordinary - spicy, smoky, strong chocolate flavors.  South Africans do really well with cabernet, shiraz, cab frank, etc, but are at their best with their blends - often in the Bordeaux style.  White wines are great too, especially sav blanc, and chenin blanc varieties.  They also do chardonnay and most other varieties, including sparkling wines and rose' wines.  

Here are some favorites and recent prices from Makro, a big box store all over South Africa - remember these are bottles equivalent in quality and taste to California or European wines at many times the prices:

Meerlust Rubicon (blend) - often the top listing in good restaurants - 329R or $22! - this is lush and complex - as good as a $100 California red

Springfield Work of Time - a wonderfully complex red blend  - payed over $500 R ($42) in a fancy restaurant in Swaziland, but 179R ($12!!!) at Makro - this is amazing wine - bringing it to a dinner tonight.

Chocolate Block - very popular high-end blend - 199 R on special- less than $15

Paul Saur blend by Kanonkop, one of the great wineries of S. Africa known for Pinotage - this is their top blend - 499R or about $42 - equivalent to a $150 bottle of wine here. 

Alto Cabernet - great almost everyday wine by price - but considered very special there - 199R - $15

Alto Rouge (blend) - 69R - only $5!!!!! 

White wines are generally less expensive. 

For planning purposes, if we have time while in Cape Town, I recently had a spectacular meal with great wine at a conference dinner at the DeGrendel Wine Estate just outside of Cape Town (Tygerberg). I brought back only two bottles - an exceptional sav blanc and an their top blend - Rubaiyat.  If you have time while in the Cape Town area, make a reservation and Uber to DeGrendel for a wine tasting or dinner.  If at sunset, this is what you will see.


Ed
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