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Having a winemaker is always appreciated
by
our members and guests. This SOLD OUT evening was a great event
as we had Mr. Nico van der Merwe the winemaker at Saxenburg
winery from South Africa as our guest speaker. Nico has been educated
in winemaking in South Africa and in Germany. He also has had
the rare opportunity to be the winemaker at both Saxenburg in
South Africa, and Chateau Capion in France. Nico provided us with
some information on the Saxenburg winery and how easy it is to
get to once you land in Cape Town.
Our reception wine was the 2002 Chateau Capion Apollonia
a wine blend of chardonnay, viognier, and rousanne. Apollonia
is named after one of the Saxenburg's owner's daughters. Nico
noted that this wine had a mediterranean flavour. This wine had
light acidity, with a citrusy bouquet. A nice sipper for the summer.
 We
had two white wines for this tasting. The first was the Sauvignon
Blanc Private Collection 2004. This wine was straw in appearance
with some bubbles clinging to the glass. The bouquet was gooseberries
and grass. The gooseberry continues upon tasting and had light
acidity. The Chardonnay Private Collection 2003 was our
second white wine. This wine is 100% oak barrel fermented and
aged for 12 months in French oak. This wine was a deeper straw
colour. There was oak and a lanolin bouquet to this wine. This
wine had a very rounc mouth feel, along with some spiciness and
oak. It had a long finish. Nico noted this this wine can handle
spicy food as there is some residual sugar left in the wine. The
smoked salmon went well with both white wines.
Our first
red wine was the Gwendolyn Family Selection 2000. This
wine is one level below in quality compared to the Private Collection
level. This is a Shiraz / Cabernet Sauvignon blend. Nico had noted
that 2000 was the hottest year in South Africa in 100 years. This
wine after fermentation in open tanks had undergone malolactic
fermentation (MLF) then placed unfiltered into barrels. This wine
had tomato, oak, vegetal aromas. The flavours were of cherry and
leather. It had low tannins and a long finish. One of the stars
this evening was the Pinotage Private Collection 2000.
Pinotage is a unique grape to South Africa. Some people love it
while others don't. There does not seem to be a middle ground.
Nico mentioned that all the "Private Collection" wines
must be able to age 10 years in the bottle, so you know how long
you can keep these wines before drinking them. The other stipulation
for this wine is that they must be oak aged. This  pinotage
was deep purple coloured. The bouquet had some of the signature
banana and acetone aromas. The flavour was of dark cherries, spice
and some banana. The wine still was abit tannic. Nico mentioned
that pinotage goes well with ostrich steak and chinese food; something
for you to try. The Merlot Private Collection 2000 was
our next wine. It had 5% Cabernet Sauvignon to add a bit more
structure to the wine. The grapes for this wine were grown on
both north and south facing plots, with the north slope being
cooler and thereby giving a different flavour profile than the
grapes from the south slope. This wine, and all the Private Collection
red wines, were very deeply coloured and all had long finishes.
This wine had capsicum, plum and oaky aromas. On the palate, the
plum flavour continued. The wine had low tannins and a round mouthfeel.
The
next wine was the Cabernet Sauvignon Private Collection 2001.
Nico noted that 1999 was a cool, difficult year in South Africa
for winemaking. This wine is starting to be past it's prime. Some
brickish tinge was visible at the end of the glass. The wine had
oak, leather, plum, capsicum, and earthy aromas. On the palate,
you tasted sweet cherry. The wine was not very tannic, but it
was noted that the acid level was going up, due to it's age. This
wine brought out the flavour of the cheese in the proscuitto buffalo
mozzarella wrap.
 The
last wine of the evening was the Shiraz Private Collection
2001. The wine was deep purple in appearance. It had earthy,
barnyard aromas. This is a very smooth wine. There was some sweetness
and flavour of cherries. The wine had soft tannins as it underwent
malolactic fermentation. This wine as well as many of the other
wines were fermented in open tanks, then aged in french oak. Overall
all the red Private Collection wines were big, fruit forward wines,
much like the big Australian reds. This was overall a very memorable
experience with Nico van der Merwe.
 Tasting
Selection
Our favourite white wines were:
1) 2004
Sauvignon Blanc Private Collection
2) 2003 Chardonnay Private Collection
Our
favourite red wines were:
1) 2001
Shiraz Private Collection
2) 2000
Merlot Private Collection
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