Seems to have more alcohol than their Riesling-Kabinet

Clear, clean, light pale-straw

Nose: candy, sherbert, fresh, lime-minerality, tinned-peaches, honey

A lot fuller – more dimension to it, broader on the entry, much fuller mouth feel, more bracing finish… would stand up to food a lot better than the Riesling-Kabinet. A bit more graceful – certainly not as lively but certainly better rounded.

Serve with: shell-fish (scallops pan-seared in chilli-infused olive oil)

or – with Thai-green curries/ Chicken Korma with pineapple and coconut

Seemed to have a higher acidity

Clear, clean, light pale-straw

Nose: Apple sour-patch-kids, fresh green melon, sea-breeze, cheeky, clean

Muscata on the entrance; immediately makes the mouth water; enough sugar to keep you bouncing off the walls, fizzes with sweetness, pumps vitality. Rocketing sugar cut with a high acidity – making for a high-wire act that still pulls off a fine balance between two extremes.

Pleasant and clean finish, lingering tingle on the tongue,

Balanced – could make a crazy spritzer… or even used in cocktail instead of sour-mix… would work well in a punch as well (perhaps two-shots Van Gogh Appel Vodka, one part Riesling, one part soda water, a twist of lime, a dash of bitters and ice.)

When one looks at a vineyard – you’re not looking at it in the same way as you would look at an orange orchard. Instead one sees a multitude of experiences past and of moments yet to come - moments of intimacy, memorable occasions, conversations and treasured friendships. Since time immemorial, vineyards have not only been the touchstone of certain regions, but have often been the lifeblood of local communities and the cornerstone of entire generations of families. Every vineyard contains a family, a history, a culture and a purpose. This was at least, the sentiment I had before embarking on a mission to New York City, where I would promote and sell wine’s connected to my family in some ways, and more importantly – wine from my country. During that time – having spent much time in preparation for the mission, I left with those stories and sentiments of culture and family fresh in my blood. But with every sales-call and wine event I began to feel further and further from the vineyard. Soon it was about laid in cost, case-discounts and what kind of Point of Sale material was on offer. I travelled the country in a rental car with a case of wine, a corskrew and a power-point presentation along the way having people from Westchester Wine Warehouse cruelly spit wine on my shoe after having left me waiting for an hour, sitting in cold-rooms of cellars in Maryland, helping do stock-takes in Ohio, presenting to Wholefoods buyers in North Carolina and pushing on-premise retail in Atlanta: and with every step I became a bit more confused and lost the focus of what I was doing. Having believed that wine was so important to my country and stepping into the States to tell the story of South African wine, it was very dispiriting to suddenly be faced with the fact that no one really cared so long as they could make a profit.

Read the rest of this entry »

On a recent trip to the Benicassim Festival in Spain, I purchased a pair of quick-dry camping pants from Titanium for the trip. Walking to outside the festival grounds and sitting on our back-packs whilst waiting for the campsite to open, we took the opportunity to crack a bottle of Rioja we’d got on RENFE (a quick note on RENFE – if you’re on the site and can’t select English you need to select the drop-down labelled Seleccione su Idioma to make it so, which means you have to speak Spanish to get the site into English, go figure!)

Red Wine is a perfect libation for festivals – primarily because it doesn’t need to be kept cold; it doesn’t lose its fizz and if you’re drinking wine locally produced its dirt cheap and super-good. Within minutes of popping the cork however I’d managed to spill the Rioja on my new pants and was questioning the merits of wine in a situation where a shower is hard to find… when suddenly, with a splash of from my water bottle – the wine was gone. Brilliant! Wine proof pants – what more could a young millennial wine-lover at a music festival wish for? I reckon marketing the pants specifically as wine-proof and selling it at Bonnaroo could be a good gig.

Read the rest of this entry »

The East end of Long Island is surrounded by an array of wine vineyards unknown to many. With open doors and no reservations necessary, these vineyards make it possible and accessible to sample and enjoy their love and hard work. The Hamptons have a reputation of being overpriced and I’ll agree on that for the most part, except when it comes to wine. Here is one way of coming out to the Hamptons and being able to indulge.
Read the rest of this entry »