Ha ha – made you look!! I know this is a pretty lazy way to entice you to read this article but don’t you find this heat is completely exhausting? I
certainly do, and find myself increasingly in need of something long, cool and
refreshing earlier and earlier each day. The sun starts crossing the yardarm
for me at about 11am, so if there are any of you out there in need of a
little something to get you through the day as well, here are 6 of my favourite
white and pink wines of the last few weeks – some I paid for, others I didn’t,
but all of them are delicious.
Slowine Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc 2010 R30 from major retailers
This comes from a joint venture between Villiersdorp Co-op in
conjunction with 2 Bot Rivier wineries, Luddite and Beaumont. It’s one of my favourite
combinations with lively, limey Sauvignon rounded out by ripe yellow Chenin
fruit in the mid-palate. Great flavours + nice packaging + doesn’t make a fuss
if you stick a block of ice in it = my kind of wine.
Bon Courage Sauvignon Blanc 2010 R31
from the farm
This was my Christmas and New Year quaffer and the real cause of my
early-morning drinking habits. I can thoroughly recommend a tumbler-full of
this wine- ice-cold, glistening with
condensation, smelling divinely of lemons and lemongrass, trickling slowly down
the back of my throat to assuage my thirst – with breakfast. And lunch and
dinner too. Probably the best Robertson Sauvignon in this price bracket I found
this year.
Adoro Sauvignon Blanc ‘Three Regions’ 2009 R80 from the farm
This is one of the most intriguing sauvignons I’ve had in a while. I am
getting very fed up of people picking the stuff, sticking it in a tank, then a
bottle and slapping on a high price simply because it’s a trendy grape variety.
Try harder please!! Like Ian Naude, who here blends Sauvignon from three
different regions, always striving to make food-friendly wines with great
ageability and a South African twist. This is full of fresh, nutty fruit with a
zesty lemon-pie zing.
Pierre Jourdan Cuvee Belle Rose MCC
R115 from the farm
You can’t beat a fizz when it’s frazzlingly hot – whatever the colour. This
emerged from the fridge during the 40 Celsius heat at the beginning of the
month and swanned around like Audrey Hepburn in a Cecil Beaton frock. Cool,
elegant, dry, refined with cherry/strawberry froth exploding on the tongue – I may
not have felt cool, but by god, I looked it!
Newton Johnson Resonance 2009 R120
from the farm
After a fabulous tasting with Gordon and Nadia Newton Johnson in their
cellar, lunch was celebrated with a bottle of this Sauvignon/Semillon blend.
The restaurant was packed, it was blowing three kinds of gale outside and this
wine quietly and effortlessly stole centre-stage away from one of the most
divine-tasting pork bellies I ever seen. Elegant green and lemony fruit,
lightly supported by the merest kiss of cream and oatmeal. Fabulous.
Botanica Chenin Blanc 2010 R130
from the farm after March 2011
Ginny Povall didn’t enter the recent Chenin Blanc challenge – she didn’t
need to because she’d sold out of all her Platter 5* Chenin ages ago. This is
the follow-on vintage and I loved it for two reasons – firstly because she has
achieved wonderful balance and a rich, expansive depth of flavour in such a
short time and secondly because she has refused to put the price up following
her Platter triumph ‘I charge only what I need to charge and no more.’ You go
girl!