Stellenbosch
Another day of wine tasting. This time the goal was to go to four wineries, but we only made it to two. Spier, which had a beautiful property. We tasted six wines here. The first was a Sauvignon Blanc blended with Chenin Blanc. I thought it was pretty good, but others didn’t as it wasn’t as acidic as most Sauvignon Blanc’s. The second was called Block 3 and was a Shiraz blend. Everyone enjoyed this wine and we bought a bottle. Third was Block 5. This was a little more tannic and needed more time to age. Our next two wines were a 100% Chenin Blanc and a 100% Pinotage. The Chenin was a little sweet and we were certain of risidual sugar but our hostess was not sure what we were trying to say. Also, we still haven’t been able to find a Pinotage we enjoy, although this was probably the best so far. Finally we tried their signature wine named after their wine producer, Fran’s K Smit, which had a nice balance of tannins to fruit. Spier happens to be one of the oldest sites of vineyard plantings in South Africa dating back to 1692.
Next we were off to Jordan. Our thought was to go here to taste and then to Delaire for lunch, however, Delaire was booked solid for lunch and we learned that Jordan also had a lunch venue so we stayed at Jordan. We did a quick tasting. Our favorite was the Shiraz called “The Prospector”. Charlotte declared it her favorite of the day. They also had a Riesling which was very flowery and reminded me of rose petals, very reminiscent of the Finger Lakes wine region in New York. Randy really enjoyed their Chenin Blanc. Lunch was fantastic! Everything was so flavorful. The pasta was homemade. I had some of the best mussels. Coconut milk, garlic and ginger cooked in parchment paper. Brilliant! We also enjoyed an amazing cauliflower soup, lamb bits (stomach, liver and kidney), duck, pork and young sirloin. For dessert we shared a vanilla poppy seed soufflé and something they called French toast. To all of us the food in South Africa is surprisingly amazing.
After lunch the plan was to go to Rupert and Rothchild, but somehow we missed the turn. So we headed home to watch the big rugby match between S. Africa and Australia. S. Africa won the match quite easily keeping their championship hopes alive. Next up is a match with the All Blacks of New Zealand.
After the rugby match Troy had a blind tasting of his declared wine favorite from the prior days tasting along side Charlotte’s declared favorite from today. Charlotte chose Troy’s favorite over her own. There of course was no gloating over this 🙂
We ended the evening with lamb chops and asparagus. Troy did a two step marinade, one day in red wine, salt and pepper and one day dry rub with rosemary, mint and garlic. We grilled the lamb and asparagus, finishing off the asparagus in a pan sauce of garlic and bacon topped with mint and a bit of beemster cheese. We enjoyed dinner with some of our wine tasting bounty from Rust en Vrede and La Motte.