Monday, 23 September 2013

(Pinot) Noir’ing with Newton (Johnson)

Another day dawned and another adventure of The Wine onboard the Magic Tour bus awaited.

 As has become our custom, the group of ever-enthusiastic Lovers of The Wine congregated early in the morning to embark on the road to discovering more of the beautiful secrets of The Good Wine. Eagerly we boarded our newly refurbished chariot, distributed the mandatory baked goods and set upon our very merry way up a hill and far, far away. Far away indeed and rather high up said hill we did travel to a beautiful place of wine-growing magic falling between the earth and Heaven itself.

After a quick dose of caffeine, we were ready to discover the Wine. We happily herded into the cellar where we learned of wine, gravity, barrels and bottling. Whilst terribly fascinating, we were all rather eager to proceed to the part involving the actual consumption of The Wine.

Showing a great display of foresight, our kind host provided sheets of paper along with glass-fulls of wine and hence, a first (and possibly last) set of tasting notes emerged:

WHITE:

·         Newton Johnson Sauvignon Blanc (2013): 5% Semillon. Litchi, green peppers, zesty cheese, zingy.

·         Resonance Sauvignon Blanc (2012): 15% Semillon. Dusty grass, richer, sour worms, warmth, baked lemons.

·         Southend Chardonnay (2012): Picnics & butterflies, buttered scones, hugs of jasmine, fresh lemon butter, heavy-ish. (*)

·         Newton Johnson Chardonnay (2012): Buttered jasmine & lemon, fresh, lemon in water aftertaste, perfumey cream. (**)

RED:

·         Felicite Pinot Noir (2012): Runny hot chocolate, cheese spread, soft cheesey sawdust, lead pencils.

·         Newton Johnson Pinot Noir (2011): Caramel cotton candy, meaty sweetness, soft, tickles as it goes down, lady-like, pretty, buttermilk, creamy. (**)

·         Elgin Pinot Noir (2011): Dusty biltong, meaty, rare meat, rare lamb, lamb fat, smokey.

·         Full Stop Rock (2010): Shiraz, Mourvedre, Grenahce. Dark chocolate brownies, violets, black cherries, spicy wet biltong.

DESSERT WINE:

·         Ulla (2011): Noble late harvest, yellow raisins, sweet corn soup, pumpkin fritters with butter, raisin bread with salty butter, clotted cream with pate and bread, salty French toast with maple syrup and bacon.

Post this rather comprehensive & comparative tasting of The Wines on offer, I was most happy to have taken notes as from here we progressed to tasting another round of Pinot Noir in order to recreate our very own interpretation of the house speciality. Dividing into teams, off we went to create our own masterpiece through combining, science, art and three kinds of Pinot Noir.

Our creations were then put to a blind test against our fellow enthusiasts as well as our very role-model. We awaited the results with baited breath (until an array of picnic-style goodies arrived and distracted us), all hoping against hope to have won a very large bottle of The Good Wine.

Bellies full and prizes shared, we again hopped onto our Magic Tour bus for the journey back down to earth.

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