Being the home of my First Great Wine Adventure, I was most
pleased to return to Mulderbosch for what was sure to be another wine related
life changing experience. The evening did not disappoint.
The occasion – a celebration of the first year of existence
of a team of wine-loving cat lovers (or cat loving wine lovers, I am unsure as
to which it is anymore). The event – a black glass tasting affair. The results
– fairly dismal on the score sheet but record breaking in terms of experience.
The evening began, as all successful evenings do, with some
marvellous wine and equally marvellous snacks ranging from pork wantons to fig
& parma ham foccacia with delightful roasted vegetable wraps and deep-fried
calamari in between.
Soon we gathered around the long table set with 12 seats but
24 black wine glasses. I will by no
means claim my mathematical skills to be of my strongest, but a simple
calculation left me feeling this was “my kind of party” to put it rather
plainly.
Upon being divided into teams of four, we were allocated
marker cats on a board for keeping track of our rather dismal scoring. Owing to
the rather delicate front paw of our said market, we charmingly dubbed
ourselves The Gay Cat Team and hoped to do our feminine feline mascot proud.
Of all the criteria of this particular test, we were proud
to correctly identify the colour of all of the wines on offer. In the remaining
criteria, we were, however, mildly less proficient.
The test of our skills began with 2 white wines which in our
minds were Tokara Sauvignon Blanc & Jordan Riesling. The first, tasting of
pineapple & lurking guava, turned out to be Diemersdal’s Unwooded
Chardonnay. Our second Mystery Thimbleful had an oily mouth feel and smelled
rather like burnt rubber. This was revealed as Themela’s Riesling.
Mildly disheartened but still enthusiastic, we moved along
to the next pair. Being zesty, buttery and slightly acidic yet smooth, we
identified the first as Thelema’s Wooded Sauvignon Blanc, which was revealed to
be Haute Cabriere’s Chardonnay Pinot Noir. The second was salty smelling of
lentils and chickpeas with a lurking tannic feel which we incorrectly deemed
Signal Hill’s uncommon offering of single varietal Grenache Blanc. While we
were incorrect, we took heart in the knowledge that we had at least had the
presence of mind to identify that a rare varietal was in our midst (and
glasses). It was, in fact, Asara’s Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc.
Remaining confident, we sniffed and sipped, sipped and
sniffed our next pair. A whiff of marshmallows and candyfloss turned to toasted
marshmallows and butterscotch on the tongue, leading us to believe we were
enjoying Boschendal’s Pinot Noir Rose, which in fact was First Sighting’s
Shiraz Rose. I was more than happy to linger over the next, smelling honey
& flowers buttered treacle and tasting of sweet asparagus with dissipating
acidity. We correctly identified this lovely lass as a Wooded Chenin but were
incorrect in our assumptions around her origin. We thought she’d been brought
to us by Kanu but had in fact been delivered by Post House (unbeknownst until
only a minute ago, did I realise I in fact enjoyed the wine so much at a later
date that I can now see my bottle of it perched merrily on my wine rack.
Perhaps it’s a sign to pop it in the fridge....).
By this point, lesser enthusiastic folk may have been
discouraged by our performance but we remained hopeful (I in no way believe our
confidence was in any way impacted by the ongoing consumption of The Wine). We
moved on to a smokey sniff of floor & mushrooms, tasting of slightly
vinegared yet creamy tannic biltong which we unanimously identified as a Pinot
Noir from the Elgin region, perhaps Beaumont or Paul Cluver. The familiar fume
was in fact that of our dear friend Netwon Johnson. Our next whiffer retained
the biltong and the hint of vinegar but this time combined them with some
berries to lead us to believe we had a blend of Shiraz & Merlot on our
hands. Being rather wary of our wily Whiskers by this point, we made a team
decision to go out on a limb. We named this limb Tassenberg. Unfortunately, the
bough broke under the weight of our misdirected egos, spilling Kleine Zalze’s
Gamay Noir.
Mildly mollified by our failed bet, we nonetheless
approached the last 2 sips before supper with gusto. The first fling with the
second last of our Mystery Thimblefuls brought to mind a dessert wine and
prickly pear syrup laced with spice. On the palate I found ground, chalky
tannins on a wisp of smoke. After much debate as to where our Whiskers had
found this particular thimbleful (“KWV? Like hte Russian spies?”), we settled
upon Laborie Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Shiraz, which it was not. It was , in
fact, Stellenzicht’s Shiraz/Pinotage. I have a sneaking suspicion, however,
that my team mates were not especially concerned with noting that particular
fact (“I’d rather drink water, Jesus can leave this.”
Our very last brought berries to mind, with a lurking slice
of fresh ginger, leading us to believe we had in front of us Thelema’s Cabernet
Sauvignon Blanc. In keeping with an apparent trend of betrayal, our senses
failed us one last time, revealing Du Toitskloof’s Nebbiolo as the last truth
for us of the evening.
Scores were counted, cat markers made their last move across
the board, leaving our feminine feline one paw print behind a tie for first
place. The leaders were challenged to a duel of the wine-world, a sip-off of a
final Mystery Thimbleful. Unfortunately, my attention was diverted from the
drama of the sip-to-the-death by the heavenly smells wafting from the pizza
oven outside. Tie being broken, title being won, we were soon eagerly gathered
around our chef for the eve, who kindly
created pizzas of our request, winding up a yet another Wonderful Wine
Adventure at Marvellous Mulderbosch.
