TWO interesting wine tastings in Durban recently again showed South Africa is making huge strides when it comes to continually raising the standards.
Ken Forrester vineyards, established in 1994, and Bosman Family Vineyards, dating back to 1699, are top quality estates which showed off some of their finest wines.
At a lunch at La Storia in Westville, Ken Forrester brand manager, Anthony van Schalkwyk, at the invitation of Meridian Wine Merchants’ local boss, Sue Wardrop, presented four wines, while Bosman cellarmaster, Petrus Bosman, conducted a tasting for his wine club members at Little Havana in uMhlanga.
Forrester has built up a wonderful reputation in South Africa and abroad since starting up 20 years ago and we tried wines from his three ranges, Petit, the Ken Forrester range and Icon range.
First up was the delightful petit chenin blanc of this year. This was just the right way to start the lunch, the fruity (think peaches and pears) and ripe chenin giving off wonderful flavours and so very crisp and fresh, having only been bottled earlier in the year.
Others in this range include the petit sauvignon blanc, the rose, pinotage and cabernet and merlot blend, one of my favourites when I go on a shopping spree.
Then came something special, the Old Vine Reserve chenin blanc, vines 38 years old with the wine in barrels for nine months.
There is a hint of vanilla here and this wine deservedly gets four stars in the Platter Guide.
But the coup de grace in any Forrester tasting is the FMC, which stands for Forrester, Meinert Chenin, the result of Ken and friend Martin Meinert, himself one of the country’s top winemakers.
This is full and rich, with a touch of botrytis, with a vanilla and honey flavour and consistently wins awards across the country. Definitely my favourite white wine in the country, year after year.
Finally, we were spoilt by something called The Gypsy. This is 30 percent shiraz and mourvedre with grenache and only the best barrels of each variety are selected, blended and matured in oak for two years.
The 2009 gets the ultimate five star accolade in Platter and it is indeed a masterpiece.
The Bosman tasting was also highly enjoyable with Petrus Bosman, eighth generation in the family, giving us a welcoming Methode Cap Classique Steen which was outstanding, then the Optenhorst chenin blanc, a smooth, creamy wine.
We also had the De Bos Walker Bay sauvignon blanc plus the Walker Bay Rose, which was followed by the merlot, malbec (cherry and plum characteristics), the Nero D’Avola (something new in South Africa) and then Dolce Primitivo, which is a natural sweet red wine from dessicated grapes.