Wednesday, December 21

My intro to South African Wine


My wife and I are both South African, her family still lives there so we try to visit them once a year or whenever time allows. On most trips we spend most of our time in Johannesburg or Plettenberg Bay, visiting family and friends. But this trip we decided to take some time to go visit one of our favourite cities, Cape Town. We spent one night in Cape and then spent one day and night exploring the Western Cape wineland towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, which other than being mouthfuls to pronounce are some of the most magnificent places in the world.


See I wasn't kidding!!!

I had some preconceived notions about South African wines, especially the truly South African varietal, Pinotage, that was invented in Stellenbosch by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsault. Most of the major wine press can't stand the stuff, but I truly fell in love with the wines. Only being there for one day we were only able to visit a few producers but the two that we did were fantastic.
The first was Laibach which interestingly enough is on the same estate that was previously owned and managed by my family. My father spent his early childhood on the estate, it was called "Good Success" at the time. It was purchased by a german couple who renamed it Laibach and are producing some delicious wines. My favorite was a white wine called White Lady Bird, its an interesting blend of most Chardonnay with some Viognier and Chenin Blanc. However, I really loved their Pinotage's as well. Unfortunately their wines are not exported to the states.
The next place we visited is probably the most premium South African Pinotage that is available in the US, Kanonkop. They exclusively produce Pinotage from a low end $12/btl called Kadette to a super-premium Cabernet/Pinotage blend called Paul Sauer. I brought a couple bottles back home with us and I look very forward to a special occasion to open them up.
I loved the experience and this April a good friend of mine is getting married in SA. I look forward to exploring the SA wine country more extensively on that visit.
I highly recommend trying out some South African wines. Look for a Pinotage or maybe a Steen (what they call Chenin Blanc in SA) that is what the country is best know for but they also produce some fantastic Cabernets and Merlots.
Cheers!

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