The organisers went nuts!

I’ve nosed the Springfield Wild Yeast Chardonnay before, but I’ve never picked up the scent of nuts.  We wine geeks nose wines, we don’t smell them.  But even if you smelled the wine on that Saturday, you would have been surprised by the nuttiness.  The Chardonnay, the Chenin even the Cabernet had a bouquet of caramelised cashews.   Terroir can influence the aroma and in this case the Robertson terroir certainly was responsible for the nuttiness.   Mostly the terroir was influenced by the nut roasting stall in the middle of the wine tent.   This act of nuttiness describes more than anything else the organisers’ focus.  And exploring the wines of region was not the predominant focus.  Getting tourists to spend money in the region of the wine show, now that was their focus.  My focus was stocking up.

I waded amongst the usual suspects and some unknowns in search of something new for the stock room.    The usual suspects, in alphabetical order, are Arendsig, Ashton, Graham Beck, Kingsriver, Springfield, Windfall.  Missing for some reason were big hitter De Wetshof and underappreciated Major’s Hill.   The Arendsig Sauvignon Blanc did not have the guava from fermentation as the 2010, so no purchase.  Most Sauvignon Blancs were disappointing, but did eventually buy Graham Beck’s Pheasant Run, which went on to win numerous awards.

All of Springfield’s were as lovely as usual.  Just about the whole range is now living in the stockroom.  Something about the Sauvignon Blancs are just a bit different this year.  I do prefer earlier vintages.  I bought some extra Wild yeast Chardonnay on instructions of the Grey Gander.  I hoped he would forget about these, but reluctantly I’ve parted with some of those beauties.  Windfall’s Shiraz joined their older siblings.  They will sit there on the rack and look at the contents of my garage for the next couple of years.

 The local hospice sold cold drinks and ice cubes.   I thought it quite appropriate for the hospice to sell ice in the heat.   I missed the biterballen ⁽¹⁾  from Kingsriver that they made last year.   But I did get to taste and buy their apricot wine.  A different experience from grape wine, but still drinkable.   Apricots are slightly sour, so not surprisingly there is some acidity to the wine.  It will remain a novelty and not a everyday wine. 

After a while the crush of people enjoying themselves along the riverbank tripped over my people-o-phobia wire.  I had to go.  The actual buying bit took a bit longer than expected.  As bonus for the 4 times the credit card machine had to be primed I received two large carrier bags as special compensation.   Half an hour later my wine and I caught a lift with a shuttle.  A couple inside approved of my choice of vinous pleasure.   They were at a food and wine pairing event with Arendsig wines earlier in the year.  Enjoyed it very much, they said. 

With the Honda eventually located in the car park I filled the boot and set off.  The destination after this was “the wine shop on Robertson main road”.  Picked up a few missing pieces and headed for the only logical place to go after a wine festival.  A brewery. 

Saggy Stone brewery is a bit off the beaten track.  Coming from Robertson I took the road Robert Frost described.  Flood repairs were going on the dirt road.  No actual work was performed on a Saturday afternoon, but the stop and go sites were still up.  It wasn’t manned and didn’t need to be.  No other traffic impeded my progress.    It’s a good thing the website has good directions on it, because you are not going to stumble over Saggy Stone.  But it is well worth the trip.  They make a steam beer and an ale as well as seasonals (experiments).  I preferred the ale.  I had chicken quesadillas that were truly brilliant.  If you are in that part of the world, make a plan to go.  The setting is brilliant, the food good and the beer nice.  What else do you need to be happy?

(1)    Go read my bit about bitterballen in Franschoek.