This time of the year is always one of discovery for me. I discover on which of the long weekends I will catch a cold. And which of them will have horrible weather. Clearly these two will never coincide. With all the public holidays, another discovery is on which day the municipality will collect the garbage. Sorry, household garbage. The municipal waste will continue to attend council meetings. In 2011 the master stroke of the bin men was to actually collect on the designated day. Never saw it coming. Now I have two week’s worth in the overflowing bin.
Exciting as these discoveries are, the ones that I look forward to most are the releases of the new vintage. From early in April I scour the wine sections of the supermarkets for the first bottling of autumn. Which area will produce the first one? What estate will serve as harbinger of the entire vintage? First question less of a mystery than the second one. The “cool” climates like Elim, Elgin and Durbanville won’t be first. Usually it will be from the warmer parts of the Breedekloof or up the West Coast.
It also have to be a fairly large operation, simply to get the logistics right to supply a supermarket in a holiday village. Past winners include Van Loveren and Riebeek Cellars. This year, the very yellow label of Arrabella’s Sauvignon Blanc beat Riebeek’s Chenin by 10 days. Normally I am a big fan of young Sauvignons, but this one hardly left an impression on the palate on it’s way to my liver. Not much on the nose either.
The offering from “Shiraz country” (1) smelled quite nice. Promises of fruits, maybe green tropical fruits. What a disappointment on the tongue! A bit of acid up front and then....then...Exactly! Nothing. Yes, a tingle of alcohol, but no depth. No after taste. Yes, it was rushed to market. Yes, the nearly colourless liquid should have tempered expectations, but still, the bouquet promised so much more than what the taste could deliver. I normally like the vinous offerings from Riebeek Cellars. They produce a wide range of wines, with their port (2) and A Few Good Men range exceptional value. A visit to their cellar is always a good experience.
Last year The Neighbour and I went to a food and wine pairing dinner at The Farmhouse. The playgroup used to be regulars at these, but missed the last few years. It was a five course meal, each course paired with a wine from Riebeek Cellars. The food was good as usual and I won a bottle of port, so my latent thoughts of the cellar are good. All this and the sub R30 price meant I really wanted to like this Chenin. I can only hope that the disappointment created in the 60mm between snozzle and clapper is due to bottle shock. So I will return to this one in a month or so. Until then, like an Arthurian Knight (3), I will persevere in the search for the grail of 2011.
(1) So says the sign when entering the Riebeek valley.
(2) Yes I still call it that.
(3) More about the myths of one of my literary heroes(4) later.
(4) Some of the others include Robin Hood, The Saint, Spenser and Obelix.
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