Spotting the second Snowy Egret ever to have winged into South Africa was supposed to be the highlight of my day. Thys Louw from Diemersdal Estate changed that. I had a rare bird in the hand, indeed, but it was worth two cases of good wine in the boot. Continue reading
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With nothing eventful in sight for the rest of the year, herewith some of my highlights.
Best Wine
On the local front I am going Grenache, and I am going Neil Ellis 2011. Made from old vines on the Piekenierskoof, this is the kind of wine that will urge an Iranian camel-jockey to start drinking. Garnet in colour, brooding tones of fennel and soil, the wine dances a fruit-laced medley comprising berries, quince and ripe fig. Everything is fresh as a showered pom-pom girl and the palate-weight is graceful, while the wine’s length lasts longer than a Julius Malema court appearance.
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Old vineyards do not guarantee good wine, as I have always suspected despite the generalised assumption that a wrinkly ancient vineyard planted when Jan Smuts was still being breast-fed just has to produce fantastic grapes. At a recent memorable tasting of Grenache wines from a vineyard in the Piekenierskloof outside Citrusdal, Neil Ellis confirmed these suspicions. However, the Master said, when it comes to Grenache, the vineyard only tends to get a sense of direction after hitting 20 years.
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Wine commentary is often ridiculed for the weighted words and terms strewn about like trashed spittoons. Besides the spirited terminology used to describe taste and aroma – think organic coconut hand-crushed by Tahitian virgins, freshly folded Spanish linen duvet cover and manicured seal whisker – there is the lofty lauding. Here, words such as “icon”, “legend”, “works of art” and “genius” are used, more often than not just a bit too randomly.
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