…to good wine that is, especially when I’m forking out my hard earned dosh in a restaurant. The other day I met my husband at Atholl Square in Johannesburg. Now for those “out of towners” this is a small centre in an affluent suburb of Johannesburg. All I actually wanted was a good glass of wine. It became a bit of a hunt but I was finally rewarded with a yummy selection at the Grill House.

A week later at one of my favourite lunch meal spots in Parktown North, Moemas – in a similarly affluent area, I ordered Salmon fishcakes and wanted a good glass of white wine to go with it. Frustrated on scanning the “by the glass” list – or lack thereof, I walked two shops down, bought a bottle of delectable Ataraxia Sauvignon Blanc and paid the very oddly priced R23 corkage – not expensive, just odd?

I don’t get it! You’re selling good food at premium prices and your wine by the glass is Chateau le plonk! It’s like serving a great plate of food and when it arrives at the table, you have to eat it with plastic cutlery. We’re in a country where great affordable wines are produced. How damn hard can this be!

Nomvula says our hospitals are just fine

I wonder if she toured after a litre of wine?

Fikile Mbalula’s says the greed just won’t do!

Didn’t he share Kebble’s Johnny Walker Blue?

The government digs in heels on the e-toll highway

But Cosatu and its might may have the last say

Velvet Sky is a name with an odd sound

Thinking about it, it should be Velvet Ground

So much more about which to get vocal

And for now this blog’s just been local

Little at the moment‘s maintaining its shine

This, I suppose, is why we wine

p.s. With Human Rights Day celebrated this week

It would be remiss to exclude patriotic speak

Remember the heros who sacrificed for the rest

And raise a glass of South Africa’s best

Nomvula Mokonyane is Premier of Gauteng Province in South Africa

Fikile Mbalula is the South African Minister of Sports and Recreation

Kebble – Brett Kebble was a South African mining magnate with close links to factions in the ruling political party, the African National Congress (including treating then youth league members to expensive whisky and monogrammed shirts). Deceases 2005.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa.

Velvet Sky – an independent airline that has been grounded due to financial disputes.

3 jets, 6 wives and a partridge in a pear tree

What a way to start a new year!

When everyone’s detoxing from too much beer

Our pres flew three jets across to the states

Even Air Force One flies with just one mate

Etolling[1] arches decorate the highway

No-one’s paying to drive that way

US pres wannabees all in the race

While the sheriff’s held in Nomvula’s[2] place

Homophobic comments – was the king [3] misquoted?

Questions over how Ivory Coast voted?

The Italian captain has sailed his last ship and

Seal and Heidi end their trip!

What kind of news year lies ahead?

Nothing we can’t handle with a good Bordeaux red.

Will we survive and will we be fine?

This is exactly why we wine!

Footnotes for the readers outside South Africa

[1] New highway tolling system in SA in complete disarray

[2] Premier of Gauteng province, served by sheriff in Johannesburg office, Sherriff mysteriously ‘detained’.

[3] The Zulu Royal Household has denied reports that King Goodwill Zwelithini called homosexuals “rotten”, blaming the incident on a “reckless translation” instead.

Part One – Hawkes Bay   

The first thing I learnt in New Zealand was that it’s not all about Cloudy Bay. The second thing I learnt was that it’s a lot about Pinot Noir. And the third was not a lesson but new love for rounded fuller bodied Pinot Gris. I also think it’s a myth about the sheep being afraid.   

The main objective of my trip was to be with family. My brother and sister in-law have a fantastic foodie outlet that has quite a cult like following. Ontrays Food Emporium (www.ontrays.co.nz) based in Petone, Wellington, is a both a professional and amateur chef’s dream. With specialist cured meats and cheeses globally sourced and literary thousands of other interesting products, not to mention some great wines of the world, this is quite a spot. I am probably going to be one of the few Jews to confirm that pork is the new food black!   

Ontrays - a true foodie mecca

 Okay back to the subject of wine. I have to confess that I love our new world heady sunshine driven reds, but the many styles in Pinot Noir were quite amazing.   

For South African wine drinkers here is what you’re not going to find in New Zealand – the big architecturally opulent estate tasting rooms, the wide range of varietals that we’re exposed to and the concentration of estates like in Stellenbosch. What will you find is passionate owner/wine makers often running the cellar door, a wonderful obsession with Pinot Noir and a quaint simplicity and charm as one travels through the wine lands.   

My first region visited was Hawkes Bay where I spent the morning with Lime Rock (www.limerock.co.nz) winemaker Rosie Butler and the afternoon with Hawkes Ridge, Managing Director and wine maker Douglas Haynes. This was a real treat and a first for me – to spend an entire day with two wine makers. Lime Rock has many accolades for Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé and wine maker Rosie, a former Medical Laboratory Scientist is as modest as they come.   

I particularly enjoyed the origin of the name of the Lime Rock White Knuckle Hill Pinot Noir which involved a tractor driven down a steep slope after the rain. The white knuckles had something to do with poor traction.   

Rosie Butler, winemaker at Lime Rock

I spent the afternoon with Douglas as Hawkes Ridge (www.hawkesridge.co.nz) where both wine and olive oil is produced. I loved it. Quite a maverick character who gave me the only NZ Tempranillo that I tasted and then en route back to the airport in Napier popped in to a few wineries to taste. I was also treated to the Hawkes Bay Viognier at back in Wellington had a taste of the late harvest Viognier.   

Some of the Hawkes Ridge wines tasted

So it was back to Wellington for some serious drinking with my brother and the sharing of both New Zealand and South African wines.  The South African wines I took along for sharing included
* De Toren Fusion V
* Warwick Trilogy
* Hermanuspietersfontein Kleinboet
* Raka Quinary
* The Chocolate Block
* Boschkloof Syrah
* Jordan CWG Auction Reserve Sophia 2003 

Next region featured: Martinborough

21 November 2011

Juju’s defiant; he’ll take on the crew,
This may inhibit his Johnny Walker Blue.
But Jozi is baking under the November sun,
Me thinks only ice in my wine will be fun!

The Eurozone crisis gets the Italians behind Monti,
I think what’s needed is jugs of Chianti.
While Angela and Sarkozy continue to brew,
No-one can buy a Bordeaux premier cru.

With an eye on a holiday where the costs are leaner,
Let’s raise a glass – OMG it’s Retsina!
Another damn recession is just not fine.
This is exactly why we wine.

Footnotes and references for foreign readers.
Juju is Julius Malema – suspended ANC Youth Leader
Crew here refers to the ANC (African National Congress)
Jozi is Johannesburg

A few of you may have read my pained blog on Michael Fridjhon’s wine judging academy in Cape Town in January and would have understood that I was not at the top of the class. I love wine; I’ve consumed it for years with some level of knowledge. In fact enough to get me to continue to explore and continue to appreciate. One of my favourite tastings of the year is the CWG tutored tasting at Spier, the night before the auction but to give some context, I shlep my “more or less” non-drinking husband along with me and because he supports this passion of mine, I need to engage with him through the tasting and not get too caught up in it. So keeping it real, below are some of my notes:

• De Grendel Amandelboord Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Like crisp Granny Smith Apples

• Cape Point Vineyards Barrel Fermented Sauv.Blance 2010
Definitely the hottest winemaker
I want this one! (the wine not the winemaker!)

• Flagstone Happy Hour 2009
Sam likes this – probably because of the Viognier (not too austere for him)

• Edgebaston Chardonnay “Tete du Ciel” 2009
Too many years of ABC has tainted my thinking but hey, I could force myself

• Vriesenhof Pinot Noir 2010
Winemaker said he could “taste the earth” – that’s cool (could be local translation for terroir?)

• Kanonkop CWG Paul Sauer 2008
Just have a wavy line on my tasting sheet – could be mmmmm as in yum?

• Louis Turtles all the way down 2009
Louis’ talking about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Turtles??? Not sure about the story especially since we’re on wine number 31 but I love it!

• Kleine Zalze Granite Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Sam is now losing focus and talking about sex? He’s done well though 32 wines into the tasting.

Finally …I am a much happier drinker and armchair commentator than a judge.

p.s. I left the Cape with two cases of The Guildsman 2009 which was a favourite, but the booklet says “will be best enjoyed in 2017”. I hope I can wait.

p.p.s. I did actually pass another wine assessment course, but I’m still sticking to armchair twitter-type judgements.

The first episode of the much anticipated Come Dine With Me South Africa aired last week. The producers, following the very entertaining and workable British format, chose four individuals that were from such disparate backgrounds that the chances of great cameraderie were low. I watched with two interests – the first was in pursuit of entertainment and I definitely was entertained. The second is an interest in how regular everyday South Africans consume wine. While the wine snobs mince around their wine shows finding “minerality”, “capsicum” and “forest floor” wherever they go, people out there probably couldn’t give a continental $#@!, while they throw back their iced white wines.

But let’s get back to the show. You would probably not see any one of the four contestants at our many wine shows and although the one woman stuck her nose into every plate of food, funnily enough this didn’t happen when the wine was served. But they did drink wine and more wine, and cocktails and more cocktails.

I think this show is just a great little piece of wine research into South African consumer behaviour. My prediction is that we won’t find anyone making a fuss about the wines they serve but we’ll probably find everyone serving some wine. I would also hazard a guess that none of the contestants on the first show has heard of the Platter guide or the stars awarded. I look forward to watching more, understanding more and just being entertained.

Real Time Wines seems to be made up a cool crowd who’re a bit gatvol(1) of the ponciness in the wine world. I’ve just had the pleasure of meeting one of their tasters Ricardo on The Wine School’s Uncorked Two. Apart from Real Time Wines, I keep coming across interesting people that could have a wonderful influence on improved wine consumption in South Africa. In a recent conversation with Jenny Ratcliff-Wright of Winestyle, she commented at how she’d love to see people at a wine events comfortable enough to throw some ice into their wine without being “pounced on by the ponces” (my words).

But I’m kind of grappling a little with the dissing(2) of some of the traditions and terms of wine commentary. Real Time Wines bans the word NOSE (with tongue in cheek I think). So if we’re no longer going to “nose” the wine, we could be smelling, sniffing, snorting (3), inhaling, breathing in? Irreverence is all well and good and I’m all for making wine real for the people VIVA! But irreverence for the sake of it, just doesn’t cut it for me. Don’t get me wrong. I like the whole vibe of Real Time Wines, but I think this crusade may burn a few too many heretics at the loss to our wonderful wine religion.

So sorry Real Time Wines, but nose has to stay in my wine vocab for want of a better substitute. I think however we’re still supporting the same party with some minor policy variances. VIVA no wine ponces VIVA!
(1) Gatvol – Afrikaans. Literal translation “hole full”. Fig. End of tether, seriously had enough of, etc.
(2) Dissing – dismissing included here for anyone over the age of 60? Our kids think they invented the term. They also think the song “every breath you take” was written by Westlife.
(3) I once did snort by mistake while demo’ing how to taste wine in front of a group of 30 at a humourless corporate.

In addition to the amusing assonance in the headline, there is actually much truth to it. According to a few online wine glossaries, the Brits took the French terms blanc (white) and adapted both pronunciation and meaning, creating the word plonk with reference to cheap wine.

Now I’ve read a whole lots of blogs and articles on how experts are regularly proven wrong in blind taste tests, how they are surveyed tasting expensive wines and then cheap wines and often awarding their vote to the latter. But why the whole obsession with the subject?

Is it possibly to 1. Show up the possers at their own games? 2. Expose some of the cheaper producers as …um cheaper producers? I just don’t get it. I’m very happy for my friends to enjoy throwing back bottles of Obikwa Pinotage at R27 a bottle. It may not be for me but hey, drink what you like and what you’re willing to pay for.

Double dip or not, times are hard, and not everyone’s rushing off to buy first growths for daily consumption. These are just boring wine articles about the same old bull! There are some great “good value” producers out there making perfectly acceptable wine. Let’s support our wine industry, both the boutique premium producers and the value producers. It’s about making wine accessible to everyone.

On hearing that The Grace Hotel in Rosebank was to close its doors at the end of August, a friend and I decided to have a farewell dinner to the hotel in its famous Dining Room. Both our memories of The Grace are (were?) good. It was one of the first to include a great list of wines by the glass with good pairing recommendations for each course on the menu. I recall writing a blog not that long ago, when we met for a drink around the ground floor fireplace and my friend commented to the wine waiter that she’d not enjoyed the recommended Shiraz which was offered by the glass on her previous visit. “Which one would you like to try,” was his response. Impressive stuff I thought.

I have celebrated birthdays, friends’ weddings, a great third date with my then boyfriend and now husband. So it was with a sense of nostalgic romanticism that my friend and I took ourselves off to dinner last night, but it’s time to say a final grace for The Grace.

In the previously loved downstairs lounge where we decided to have a drink, no waiter materialised and after 15 minutes of salivatory anticipation, we gave up and headed upstairs with the expectation of the dimly lit famous Dining Room with its roaring fireplace. Alas no fire, bright light and OMG – a buffet.

Within minutes we found ourselves surrounded by slippered feet (no not Cinderella satin type slippers!) but the fluffy pink ones, belonging to youthful delegates at a conference. The buffet we were told was for them.
So in the noisy, bright, no fireplace Dining Room of the soon-to-close Grace Hotel we sipped on our wine, having chosen from a single label option, Spier and I chewed my way through what for me has been their signature dish for years, the slow roasted Springbok shank. Venison biltong would have been a better descriptor on the night.

I suppose a little unfair to critique an institution about to close. At the end of the day, the company was great and the memories remain intact. Farewell, so long ….