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Cape of Good Wine

cape of good wine | Sipping my way through the Cape Winelands | A South African Wine Blog

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- Constantia Wine Route

Cape of Good Wine

cape of good wine | Sipping my way through the Cape Winelands | A South African Wine Blog

About
- Contact Me
- Sample Policy
Musings & Ramblings
Learn with me
Interviews
Musings & Ramblings
Wine Reviews
Wine Regions
- Constantia Wine Route

pinot gris

Il Geco Pinot Gris 2022

Il Geco Pinot Gris 2022

Laborie Taillefert White 1988

Usana Luck of the Gambler 2018

Craven Pinot Gris 2019

Migliarina Grey Matters Pinot Gris 2017

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More gifts 🤪. That’s a Constantia SB in the w

More gifts 🤪. That’s a Constantia SB in the water glass...alongside more Hunter Valley Sems...and Emma’s incredible book on The Canberra District Wine Region. No tasting notes (I promise I’ve just hidden these from myself)... because this post is about a friend...the best gift.

I’ve followed this darling for so so long. I’ve watched her start @pique.nique.wine in 2019 - a company that shares her love and knowledge of Canberra wines with the world. I’ve watched her release a beautiful documentary on Canberra wines in 2021 (link in stories). And I’ve watched her write this book...an ode to Canberra.

I always knew Emma was a talented, knowledgeable, kind, intelligent sweetheart. What I didn’t know was that I’d find myself confessing my deepest wine goals and dreams to her...sharing my wine frustrations...and having her counsel me through some...uhm, shall we say, moments. She’s also proved that ‘wine and design’ makes me very happy.

Seany, Mary, Vanessa, Tim, Louise, Mark and Marc...and Lorna...oh Lorna!!! I adore so many of you from that floating continent with THE best animals. Spending time with Emma felt like a peek into spending time with all of you. You’ve all made this Aussie section of my wine shelf just a little bit more special...more meaningful. And yes, the eucalyptus in the pics is intentional.

Not Aussie? Then you should totally follow Emma @pique.nique.wine . You should absolutely delight in her documentary. And if you’re in Aus, look out for this book (Em: your designer says release a digital copy for the world...new ISBN 😂).

Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon 2015 Aka further proof

Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon 2015

Aka further proof of how spoilt I am. This wine needs no introduction so, instead, let me first rave about the incredible generosity of @burgundynick and the the beauty of this Insta wine community. I suspect we hatched a plan to exchange wine after my usual lament that SA doesn’t import any HV Sem. Nick instantly DM’ed me with a plan to get some to me. And he followed through!

He’s a bloody superstar...great palate that explores all regions and quality levels, concise notes 🙄 but THE biggest heart ❤️! HV Sem is like gold dust in SA (terrible idiom in SA, I know)...and Nick found a way to share this gold with me. If you don’t already follow him, he’s an OG Insta friend who is worth following!

The wine? Trembling hands cracked the screwcap...a first pour of pale lemony rarity. Pronounced aromas of citrus glugged out along with the juice. A tentative first sip of electric lemons and Granny Smith apples. A shake of the head: is this all there is? And then, as I leaned into the familiar Sem lemon peel texture and tight structure, it happened: nuanced clean lime, lemon wax, green apples, pear, grassy fresh hay that opened up a spectrum of fresh honey & a whiff of beeswax, and toast made over a smoky open fire.

A searing and an almost unfriendly leanness - like that acerbic friend that you adore, with acidity that’s higher but not worth bracing for...so I unfurled my toes and noticed the salinity and metallic minerality. How do I know I opened this too early? Because the finish (just short of long) was all primary...I think that, with time, it could exhibit the lemon oil, hay and honey that the mid palate promises.

It’s weirdly simple yet complex?!?

Before you unleash your ageing lectures on me...this lucky brat happened to be gifted another 2015...I dunno, you Insta people are ridiculously generous (stay tuned for next week coz there’s one more stop before we disembark this Sem train). However, this first time Tyrrell’s experience, the thoughtfulness, the kindness, the bloody superstar-ness of Nick will never be forgotten. 🙏🏾❤️

Boekenhoutskloof Semillon 2021 Herewith proof tha

Boekenhoutskloof Semillon 2021

Herewith proof that I’m just a spoilt little brat:

A beautiful nose of dark toast (on the verge of burning), lemons, sea salt salinity, dark toffee (burnt sugar), herbal chamomile tea, nettle tea...but with the danger of handling fresh stinging nettles with bare hands, and distant peaches.

A lean medium-ish bodied wine with texturised grapefruit pith & drying fresh quince texture, medium (+) acidity, and a long finish. Lemons, peaches, smoke, radicchio/grapefruit/quinine bitterness, marmalade rinds, a breath of gingery melon (craving watermelon konfyt [preserve]) & watered down brandy fumes, the burn of kumquat, cold slate & metallic minerality gathers under your gums on the finish...and weirdly also granadilla.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Add in the impeccable reputation of this Sem (99 points for the previous vintage), Certified Heritage Vineyards planted in 1902, 1936 & 1942 (and a smidge of Muscat d’Alexandrie), no expenses spared winemaking (70% in new French oak, 30% in concrete eggs for the Sem, Muscat fermented in skins and matured in clay amphora), one of SA’s documented heritage grapes... and today happens to be Heritage Day in SA (didn’t plan it...serendipitous grape choice). It is a very good wine...

...but here’s the spoilt bratty thing: it’s not for me. Maybe because of the watery mouthfeel that paled when flanked by other Sem bangers. Maybe coz it deserves the kind of bottle ageing patience that escapes me. Definitely because it felt cold...so cold (especially compared to its Sem friends). I suspect this wine crosses the line where wine studies start to impede wine appreciation? Knowing a little too much but nowhere near enough makes me sceptical. It’d be easier to join the ranks of many critics with refined far greater experience...but my heart says that this is missing something... African warmth and hospitality. Or maybe I’m just an impatient brat with no taste 😂.

Happy Heritage Day, SA Comrades!

The Vineyard Party I’m your Huckleberry 2022 Co

The Vineyard Party I’m your Huckleberry 2022

Coz once you start Semilloning, you can’t stop? A while ago I introduced Jolette Steyn’s wines with her ‘Here be Dragons’ Sem, so we’ll skip the adoration (let’s just say that Jolette gets hugs not high fives 😂).

This is one of 3 Sems that have received different treatments. It was fun keeping step with the changing rhythms (evolution) of this skin contact Semillon:

At first, a lively pantsula of honeysuckle, naartjie (tangerine), cardamom, smoke and toffee.

Dry with a round, weightier body that masks the higher acidity and that, with the slightly pithy texture, feels like leaning into your dance partner’s supportive hand on your back. The song is the perfect length with its lingering finish...long enough to set your heart racing and leave you a little out of breath, but also happy to stay on the dance floor for one more turn.

After a few hours the wine had pirouted into a sexier amapiano grooving steady, rounded beats of dry hay, honey, sweet lemons, dried pineapples, dried apricots, musky apricots stones, naartjies and spicy persimmon...and then herbal chamomile, diluted toffee, and that last little sip of melted ice that once chilled your smoky whisky are dominant on the finish.

It’s super sippable despite its constant evolution: like a smoked Old Fashioned made with a honeyed bourbon and all the fresh citrus peel garnishing...sipped slowly while the ice block melts to find its equilibrium with the alcohol.

I’m a tipsy or bored dancer...but Pata Pata (a Miriam Makeba classic that translates to ‘touch touch’) is a sure-fire way to get me on the dance floor. In this case, together with Stomata Stomata, it references the hands-on approach of the winemaker during a difficult harvest that saw the vines shutting down over multiple heatwaves, as well as disease threat due to rains near harvest. A testament to Jolette’s skills...and I’d happily drag her onto the dance floor any day!

Sketch Cru Semillon 2022 (The Second that was Firs

Sketch Cru Semillon 2022 (The Second that was First)

I un-ironically high fived this winemaker in a way that still makes me cringe...because I didn’t know how else to tell a stranger how much I loved his wine! 🤦🏾‍♀️ (You know when you slap a friend’s arm coz they’re speaking bibles of truth...but you can’t slap a humble, friendly stranger 😂).

The entire room was perfumed by French toast grilled over an open fire and drizzled in honey and lemon: honeysuckle & orange blossoms, beeswax & thick honey, lemon curd, vanilla, nutmeg, toasted brioche and campfire smoke...juicy ripe sweet lemons, super ripe nectarines, meebos (salted dried apricots), and behind it all...lingering with the smoke, there’s fresh hay, chamomile and daisies.

The palate lives up to all of this hype: brandy fumes, grapefruit pith phenolics, herbal buchu, burnt sugar, sweet peaches, homemade lemonade made by your high school bestie from lemons that drop from her neighbour’s tree, sticky honey still attached to its comb and laced with traces of beeswax. Redundant, I know...but proof that the nose IS the palate and vice versa. Dry-ish, high acid, weightier bodied, high alcohol, and you bet your ass this finish is f’ing long...though, it’s herbal and bitter before it turns sweeter.

Let’s put it this way: half a glass lasted an hour...followed by thinking about the wine for another hour...ending in anxiety that I’d only purchased one bottle.

Sketch Cru is a collab between two friends: Christo Kotze (the winemaker) and Malvin Wright (the artist...the soft fluffiness of those feathers contrasted with the way you can feel the sharpness of the beak...the man can draw! Also ... embossing heaven!). I half panicked when I saw the ochre yellow thumbprint on the label (thinking it was my turmeric stained fingers). Turns out the thumbprint is Christo’s signature, with Malvin’s artist signature on the left.

This was a recommendation from Wouter @carolinesfinewinestokai , who can now pick my wines any day coz this is in the running for best SA wine of the year! Embarrassing high 5 aside, I was stoked to finally meet Christo 2 weeks after tasting his wine...next time I’ll just slap his arm.

Joostenberg is another repeat offender in my recyc

Joostenberg is another repeat offender in my recycling crate. There are few certified organic producers in the Cape, and Joostenberg are one of them. So I was stoked when they offered to send along two of their wines. Funnily enough, a week later I bumped into Tyrrel Myburgh, the owner and winemaker, at a tasting. So I’ve had a double dose of the deeeelicious Bakermat!

Joostenberg Cinsault 2023: So fresh and perfectly bright...like adult cooldrink that I want to drink all summer long! Initially serious herbaceous garrigue...which opens up into blueberries, raspberries, gentle baking spices and vanilla.

It reminded me of a lightweight Primitivo. Good acid and soft stemmy tannins lend structure. I found the vanilla a bit overpowering after a while...popping it into the fridge solved that almost immediately. It’s a mixed berry bowl served with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream - hella perfect for summer!

Joostenberg Bakermat 2020: urgh...I’ve loved this wine since first tasting it. It drinks so seamlessly...it’s sorta hard to pick out individual elements. The dense dark colour ties into wafts of sun-warmed black Damson plums plucked straight from the tree, as well as blackberry compote; lifted by raspberries & red plum coulee; warmed by gentle star anise, cloves, mace, and cherry cola; and anchored by cedar, and herbal rosemary & thyme stalks. There’s also a suggestion of dark soy and miso paste drifting over the top each time I swirl.

Dry, fuller bodied but the density is cut by perky acidity so it’s never heavy, noticeable heat, composed velvety medium tannins, and a decent length to the finish. And a wonderful ripe dark spiced plum empty glass sniff!

Many thanks to @joostenberg_wines for these delicious gifts (and that naughty voucher)! I genuinely drink these wines all the time because it’s a great range of varieties and styles...and it’s been a brilliant reminder to showcase what I often drink.

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