The Enchantments of Elgin

I do believe, my intrepid readers, that you may be spotting a trend in the number of Great Wine Adventures embarked upon in recent times - this can be attributed to a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

• The prolificacy of The Good Wine
• The prolificacy of The Homes of The Good Wine
• The prolificacy of our enthusiasm to drink The Good Wine
• The prolificacy of our enthusiam to visit The Homes of The Good Wine
• The incredible and most admirable willingness of The Homes of The Good Wine to host a Magic Tour bus load of The Ones who Love The Wine But Do Not Necessarily Know Much Thereof
• The ingenious ability of The One Who Knows The Wine (fondly referred to as The Gem of The Wines) to convince these poor, unsuspecting souls at The Homes of The Good Wine to host the aforementioned enthusiasts of The Wine

I do also believe that, by now, you may have realised I am building up to an account of another Great Wine Adventure. You are correct in your assumption. Below commences aforesaid account:

As the standard appears to be, our keen group of Enthusiasts gathered. There may have been a party or two who appeared mildly less keen but this was mainly attributed to their inability to reign in their enthusiasm for The Wine the eve before.

Onto our Magic Tour bus we hopped, fresh & buttery pastries in hand, compliments of the finest Hatch of baked goods.

The adventure began with talks of icing sugar related drug habits & the multiple forms of The Cancer Stick.

We adventured along winding mountain roads as the demerits of various rather unfortunate names were discussed.

After a brief debate on whether to indulge in the Wonderful Pies from our previous adventure before or after The Wine, we, most predictably, chose The Wine. Down a small dusty road we discovered our first destination - a tiny home of momentous examples of red wines filled with little jewels from wine. This proved that The Wine truly is a thing of Wonder.

We enjoyed blends, single varietals & vintages - we even took a little stroll around the vineyards where we discovered a pet or two enjoying the Fruits of The Vines (some of whom may have enjoyed a bunch or two too many).

The general response of The Group to The Wines on offer was overwhelmingly positive - so much so that 3 of the bottles purchased were consumed before we reached our next destination (given there was a brief stop for the purchase of The Wonderful Pies en route).

Having satisfied our breakfast apetites for The Red Wine, we were swiftly usher up a hill to a rather impressive Home of The Good Wine where we were, rather bravely, set free to create our very own example of The Good Wine. The Group was divided in order to foster a modicum of healthy competition & away we went - we were tasked with sampling 7 examples of the newly fermented vintage of The Sauvignon Blanc. We embarked on this task with gusto. There was also the small matter of having to combine the correct (in our wine-soaked minds) proportion of each to create a stunning example of The Good Wine. I recall much drinking of The Sauvignon Blanc - all of them in turn tasting rather pleasant and in the end we concurred that a blend of these would, in deed, be a good foundation to a worthy example of The Sauvignon Blanc. The exact details of how to go about this became far less pertinent when we caught sight of a table laid heavy with The Cheese.

A feast of The Cheese & all it's best associated ensued along with many more examples of The Good Wine.

In a haze of The Cheese & The Wine (I do appear to leave these events in a haze rather oftentimes), we delicately made our way back to The Magic Tour bus where much merriment (and Bavarian brews) ensued en route homewards where the fun continued to escalate at the beloved Beer Bar where many of our best examples of The Good Wines find themselves at home.

A true adventure was had by all - and all are counting down until the next.

A Way with (Painted) Wolves

Painted Wolf

I loved this tasting for a number of reasons

1. There was Roussanne

2. The winemaker, Jeremy, is a fascinating chap that you kinda wish was your uncle

3. I got to keep a toy wild dog on my lap all through the tasting

4. There was Roussanne 

 WHITE:

• Den Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (Rosalind):  Buttery asparagus, pears, soft but sauvy, vegetable quiche, comforting but juicy, North-facing vines, 1986 vines, 12,8% alcohol (*)

• Den Chenin Blanc 2012: Pineapple, litchis, buttered toast, crème brulee sugar topping, apricot, lightly oaked, round, French oak staves (**)

• Black Pack Roussanne: Sweet raisins, syrupy, mango, rich, buttery, velvety, easting buttery pastry of a treacle fruit tart, very woody, nose softens as it breathes. 7 months in barrel, grape is naturally intense, flavour comes from the wine vs the wood (***)

• Lekanyane 2010: Setswana word, imitation Roussanne. Chenin, Viognier, Verdelho. Baked butter pastry, savoury, saltyness lurking, silky vs velvet – friendly Dirty Julie = Clean Julie. Green tinge, low pH (3.2) – longer aging potential (*)

• Penny Viognier: Kasteelsig Nativo wine, apricots & honeysuckle, geranium, ginger, bicarb, savoury finish, salty freshness, skips vintages, own yeast, 5g sugar (**)

• Black Pack Wild Yeast Chenin Blanc: Barrel fermented, own yeast, cheese wine, 12g sugar, apricots, rich, truffles, pasta in truffle oil, comforting without being too rich, light yet rich, oily mouthfeel (***)

Words on Whites:

• Thelema Viognier Roussanne blend! (disappointingly light – post-tasting @ farm)
• Jansis Robson, Arts Clarke, Robert Parker – wine critics
• Elizabeth David – cookery
• 14 wines – 6 whites, 7 – 8 000 cases per year
• Tartric acid forms crystals in barrels – prevents permeability of wood = wine gems
• Leeuwenkuil – Chenin grapes
• Roussanne – Northern Rhone (home of Shiraz), Hermitage appellation, less than 10ha in SA, texture & mouthfeel, 3 -4 producers in SA, low wooding generally
• Cab Sauv = Cab Franc with Sauv Blanc nose – 1860’s
• Viognier = eastern spices, candida of moulded cheeses
• Own yeasts give wines more texture, complexity & sugar

A Yardstick for Future Adventures

Being new to the Wonderful World of Wine (from now on referred to as www - wine trumps technology), I & my fellow fledgeling were both fearful & full of enthusiasm for our first real wine adventure. We hopped into the Magic Tour bus, Bavarian brews in hand, and embarked on a day to be remembered (partially - the end gets patchy)!

We were met with views of rolling green lawns, vineyards and a very age-appropriate jungle gym. Keeping in mind the need for decorum amongst Those Who Know The Wine, we refrained from frolicking straight over for a casual swing but alas, were not able to restrain ourselves from stroking the Wine Wall - a thing of beauty it was. 
*Side note: This wall inspired #1 of the Wine Bottle Inventions we must imitate/create. We are still actively searching for a place where we can build our own version, made purely of bottles we have consumed ourselves.

We did not spend all day stroking the wall, however. Although, had the bottles been full & there had been straws, we would all have been quite content. But they were empty so we moved swiftly along.

Moving on entailed a mass migration to the mystical Cellar where the wonderous wine drinking commenced. We were instructed to taste as much Rose from a full tank as we dared - and we were all rather daring considering what lay ahead. Immediately ahead was a brief clown-car type incident involving a forklift. 

After the forklift ordeal, we were all in need of more wine, which our gracious wine-making host was all too happy to supply. In excess. Straight from barrels. Starting with Chenin from various regions in various kinds & ages of oaks (at this point we were still novices as to the subtleties so didn't take too much of the finer details in). We did identify a very civillised Chenin who had been to finishing school & was a rather polite & easy-drinking fellow.

Having bade farewell to our gentlemanly Chenin, we meandered, with an empty spittoon ("We swallow, we don't spit"), to an Alice in Wonderland come Charlie & the Chocolate Factory type room with wine-infused walls and tiny trap doors. This largely confused the majority of the group and to soothe our disheveled souls, we were offered more wine. Straight from barrels. In the form of Cabernet Franc, who is also a very pleasant fellow & we all got along Marvelously - oh, wait, the marvelous came later. We got along splendidly.

By this time, we were largely well on our way....to lunch that is. Which was Marvelous in it's own right as well as being accompanied by a small truck load of Marvelous wine. Ostrich carpaccio, apricots, avocado, crunchy roast potatoes...and more things I would elaborate on if I weren't making myself hungry. Perhaps we'll just post some pictures.

After lunch, being the athletic bunch we clearly were, we engaged in some rather serious wine consumption out in the fresh air. Some people needed a rest from all of the exertion & engaged in a little game of Boule for a bit of a break. Even this proved too much strain for some who were forced to remove all their clothing and recover their energy by taking a small, quiet dip in the dam down the lawn.

With the smashing of a few glasses and the clinking of empty wine bottles on the lawn, we took our leave - back to the Magic Tour Bus to take us safely (home).

With that, our adventure ended in a slight blur, leaving us securely ingrained amongst Those Who Know The Wine (especially since we discovered we were not that far behind in terms of knowledge as far as the general group was concerned).

*Images compliments of @ishotimagesza & @andUnionWine

The Beginning

Herewith commences an account of a series of fortunate misadventures & mishaps featuring wine-stained misconduct & miscreancy.

 

Below is a very brief synopsis of events to bring you up to speed (more or less) on the current state of affairs so you have an idea of what to expect:

• A (fairly) innocent girl tasted some very good wine that one time at that one cool bar
• With the increased flowing of wine, innocence was lost, hearts were bruised, heads were hung(over) and  all in all, a jolly good time was had by all.

In a nutshell - this course of events has led these little elves who were once sweet & good & true to simultaneously become fledgling oenophiles & delinquents.

And these are the tales of one of those girls (those I can sufficiently remember). They will include unprofessional tasting notes of the good, the bad & the rat feet; along with some other stuff - maybe about food, maybe about events, all dependent on what I find myself doing -  from an incredibly biased point of view laced with a few of my own experiences stemming from the aforementioned.