Meerlust Pinot Noir Reserve 1997, Stellenbosch

Bei meinen „Beutezügen“ durch mehrheitlich mitteleuropäische Weinhandlungen kommt es ab und an zu Begegnungen mit gereiften Pinot Noir Flaschen die zwar stets ein erhöhtes Risiko in sich bergen, doch mich letztlich nie davon abhalten solche auch solche zu kaufen. In den letzten Wochen habe ich mit zwei sehr gereiften Italienern äußerstes Glück gehabt. Bei dem heute an den Korken gehenden südafrikanischen Beutegut, welches ich den Tiefen des an dieser Stelle besonders dunklen Schwarzwald entrissen habe, war das Risiko noch höher als bei den beiden Italienern. Nicht wegen dem Wein an sich, sondern eher wegen seinen fragwürdigen Lagerung und des zum Abraten neigenden Verkaufsgesprächs mit dem Händler. Da mir klar war das Meerlust, so heißt das Weingut – nur mal so nebenbei bemerkt, früher sehr viel Wert auf lange Flaschenreifung gelegt hat, konnte mich meine zur Unvernunft neigende Neugierigkeit einem inneren Diskus dazu überreden, diesen „Pinot weit Weg“ ein neues zu Hause sowohl an meiner Zunge als auch in meinem Gedächtnis zu geben. Wie der Wein hergestellt wurde und wo sein Traubengut herstammt entzieht sich glücklicherweise meiner Kenntnis. Glücklicherweise deshalb, da diese peinliche Nichtinformation dazu führt, dass mein Einführungstext nicht wieder alle Erträglichkeitsgrenzen sprengt. Also, auf nach Stellenbosch zum Meerlust Pinot Noir Reserve 1997 ...

Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc Steen op Hout 2011, Stellenbosch

Today it is time for Steen! Steen, besides Pinotage, might be the top-dog grape varietal of South Africa. In case you guys don't know. In other places on our lovely planet this varietal globetrotter is called Chenin Blanc. In fact South Africa is the largest grower (approx. 19000 hectares) of this very varietal. I've chosen today's wine because it is highly proliferated, reasonable and made by a quite renowned wine producer. The Chenin Blanc Steen op Hout 2011 from Stellenbosch (and some Swartland material) viticulture area is the entry level wine of Mulderbosch Vineyards which is definitely more famous for its Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs. Since the dawn of the cooperation between Larry Jacobs, a career changer from physicians to wine, and the  winemaker Mike Dobrovic, Mulderbosch started to gain quite some reputation for their crisp and reliable white wines. As I've mentioned earlier, their Chenin Blanc is their bread and butter wine. Ment to be uncomplicated, fresh, crisp, pleasing, stimulating (for more) and probably just ... joy providing. A classic summer wine after all! Let's check out how I got along with it …

Duckhorn Vineyards Decoy Pinot Noir 2008, Anderson Valley + Three

Today I get back to my wine drinking roots! One of the first mentionable and expensive wines I had was a Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 from Napa. Then, it was a really wine "hooking"! I have no idea how the Cabernet Sauvignons from Duckhorn do nowadays As far as I know they still have a very renowned name in the Napa business. Anyway, today's wine is a product of a Duckhorn branch called Decoy in Anderson Valley AVA. The most northern AVA in California. This Pinot is the little brother to the by far better known and much more expensive Goldeneye Pinot Noir. Some years ago I had the opportunity to taste this Goldeneye. A once in a lifetime Pinot Noir experience I would not like to miss for all the wine in the world. Not because it was so fantastic or remarkable. Certainly not! More because it was so extreme. It had not a lot to do with features of Pinot Noir I so much adore. Maybe it was the best caricature of high-quality Pinot Noir I ever had. A pure poster-boy of Californian Pinot Noir as one might expect it to be. But that was then and a very different Pinot. Let's see how the little brother was doing. 

Besides the Decoy there were some additional Pinots from Burgundy and a Stellenbosch guy for dessert!

Rare Pinotage Expirience: Springfontein Pinotage Terroir Selection 2007, Walker Bay and a Grenade?

This time I got a wild mix of three very different wines for you. I suppose it wasn’t the best idea to have them at the same time ;-). Whatever, at least it wasn't intentional! More a bit later ...
It was a cold climate Pinotage from Walker Bay, the Trentino Classic named "Granato" from Elisabetta Foradori and another classic, this time from Stellenbosch, the Thelema Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.

Bio-dynamic Red'ster from False Bay: Reyneke Cornerstone 2008, Stellenbosch

Today’s wine is a red blend made of Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Syrah (40%) and Merlot (10%) from a biodynamic winegrower and producer in Stellenbosch. Mostly known for its various and very unique Sauvignon Blanc wines, Reyneke gained quite some reputation over recent years. Today’s red blend was pretty unique and somehow full of character. So let’s get on with it …

Quick Chardonnay Interlude: Amani Vineyards Chardonnay 2007, Stellenbosch

Unfortunately I don’t know much about today’s winery. It is relatively young (est. 1997), it is situated in the Polkadraai Hills in Stellenbosch, the winemaker is a very energetic young woman named Carmen Stevens and it seems to be very much in favour of John Platter wine guide in recent years. The vines for this Chardonnay were 10 to 11 years old, grown on klapmuts and fernwood soil, the fermentation was 50% spontanious and the rest inoculated with a pre-selected yeast culture and finally the juice was aged for 10 months in 19.6% new French Oak. UUUUhhh!

Judged from the colour of this wine - it seemed pretty well aged. Pretty strawy golden yellow reflexes with hardly any particles. The nose was rather flinty, got a lot of aged lemon, some petrol and not a lot of typical oak scents. Same impressions from the taste! Here the lemon flavours reminded me of lemon-flavoured-whipped-cream which was supplemented with plenty of egg white and maybe some traces of egg shells. I couldn't spot any obvious difficulties or even faults. Nice, easy drinking, New-World (but not too New World ;-) ), semi bodied, classy Chardonnay for less than 10 Euros. No Problems at all!

GOC: Bouwland Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2007, Stellenbosch

Definitely no discovery! Definitely not astounding! Definitely not overwhelming! But still noteworthy and in its own way - beautiful! But not too elaborate or excessive wine blather, pls.! And without further exclamation marks. Promise ! (Arrggh, agaain ...)

A Medoc from Stellenbosch: Kallista 2004, Vriesenhof, Stellenbosch + some original friends

Isn’t it nice to have a couple of comparable wines next to each other waiting in line to enter your gullet? Of course it is! This time I had a very interessting tasting with several Bordeaux'ish red blends. Why Bordeaux'ish? Well because the most classical Medoc (for me) came from Stellenbosch. Let's start with this one.

Vriesenhof Estate Kallista 2004, Stellenbosch

The Kallista 2004 was a “true” Medoc from Stellenbosch. Very continental and classical style. Extremely surprising! In a blind tasting you might get deceived by the austere, straight, forward, pretty powerful, gentle and down-to-earth style of this red blend. A well known feature of the Vriesenhof wines in general. This Blend was composed of 37% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Cabernet Franc. My first impression was: rather hard and classic style, hyper dry, not all too fruitful, maybe a bit clumsy, still rather hard tannins and stronger acid, plenty of chocolate, dark rubber, some animalistic components, slightly stinky fragrances and still pretty juvenile. After a while impressive cold and dark cherry flavours, as well as quite a lot of red paprika powder flavours, developed. A gentle and rather fresh acid remained. The wild animal components faded a bit, but never vanished completely. A certain amount of black pepper, and aromas of wild spices joint the reclined party in my mouth. The impressive power and elegance remained throughout the whole evening and the next day. Very convincing wine with a fantastic QPR. I really don’t want to compare the styles of the consumed wines. In my personal and utterly subjective opinion this wine was by far more Medoc than the other ones. Maybe with the exception of the Langoa-Barton 2001. This one was very St. Julien, agian in my utterly subjective opinion ... 

Chateau Langoa Barton 2001, St. Julien

My first impression of the Langoa-Barton 2001 was very silky and a light combination of typical Medoc wine flavours. Quite a lot of spice, black pepper, a bit tar, a slight hint of eucalyptus, a bit too much steel, a lot of pencil, somehow impetuous, not so power-gentle and surely elegant like many St. Julien wines. Later far more contenting flavours of milky-bitter-cherries, pepper, coffee, a hint of bitter choco and undergrowth developed. After some hours and on the next day a more typical elegance and arrogance took the lead. Just the way I like my Juliens. Nice treat, but 2001 wasn’t a super vintage for sure. A little bit more force and power would have been better ;-)

Chateau Sociando-Mallet 1999, Haut Medoc

At first, the Sociando appeared far more accessible, silkier, rounder and maybe a more “sweet” than the others. I got flavours of chocolate, cappuccino, dark berries, ketchup, a hint of cola and a bold variety of warm indescribable feelings. Its style was straight, a bit warm, cosy, mildly elegant, with a certain freshness and almost quaffable. Later more rigid and butch flavours like white and black pepper combined with wilder spicy components evolved. Impressive Medoc expirience without a lot of potential to improve. Drink up, I say!

Chateau Tour de Pez 2010 (barrel sample), St. Estephe

This Tour de Pez 2010 I was a barrel sample I “snitched” from a wine merchant. It is always a nice opportunity to overlook the development of a young wine for several days. My first impression was purple soup! Great! I got loads of caramel, liquorice, rubber, cassis, smoke, fart, intensive fruit and juvenile sweetness in my nose and on my palate. Very fleshy and forceful stage at this moment. Surprisingly not as harsh and hard as I would have expected this wine at the moment. The tannins or acid were rather tame and peaceful. Already pretty accessible, but not as a Bordeaux. More like a powerful / juvenile Grenache based wine from the Rhone region. On the third day the distressing features faded and a decent young Bordeaux appeared. I see a lot of potential for this one. According to that impression 2010 will be a fantastic vintage. Again …. Beware very high headache potential!