It’s Women’s Day this weekend. Here are my suggestions for the perfect weekend box of wine from some hip-chick women winemakers.
Twelve bottles of deliciousness for all eventualities and occasions. Pack yours today!
A ‘Chink Chink Cheers’ x 1 bottle:
JC le Roux Scintilla MCC 2003 by Elunda Basson
JC le Roux has just won SA’s most trusted brand for the 3rd year in a row so clearly they are the watchword for consistency.
And surprisingly, fizz is one of the few categories where you DO want consistency, where you do want to be able to say ‘it tastes the same as last year’ and mean it as a compliment.
Elunda is JC’s Queen of Fizz and this is my favourite by a country mile – rich, savoury and effortlessly-elegant. Go and do the fun meringue and nougat pairing, then sit in the newly revamped, totally ‘bling’ surroundings and sip on this for the rest of the day.
A ‘Drinking Red’ x 4 bottles:
De Bos Handpicked Merlot 2012 by Corlea Fourie
This is the good value range from Bosman Family Vineyards which uses fruit from outside the farm’s base in Wellington.
It’s also a Fairtrade range which is something very close to all the Bosmans’ hearts as well as winemaker Corlea who has been building the brand there for many years now.
Quietly confident, she juggles 3 young children, a winemaking husband and her own high quality wines and I bet this is the kind of wine she kicks back with in the evening – lovely, juicy, friendly and accessible – I certainly would!
A ‘Drinking White’ x 4 bottles:
Zonnebloem Blanc de Blanc 2013 by Elize Coetzee
I love this little blend and couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw the price it’s going for at the moment.
I’m crediting Elize with this wine, but actually, there are a few women on the Zonnebloem team so it could have been any one of them!
Either way, if you want an amazing all-day, all-night drinking wine, you can’t get much better than this. Made from Chenin and Sauvignon, it’s crisp, fresh, cheery and lipsmackingly good.
A ‘Good White’ x 1 bottle:
Graham Beck The Bowed Head Chenin Blanc 2011 by Erika Obermeyer R120 cellar door
Erika is rather coming out of the shadows at the moment – up until now, she has been more content to let her fantastic wines do the talking, but in this world of social media marketing, people want to see the woman behind the wines as well.
And why not when she has so much to say for herself and has achieved so much? This is a great example of that – from old 40+ vines, bowed over with the weight of antiquity.
Concentrated and intense, yet with balancing fresh acidity – perfect Chenin.
A ‘Good Red’ x 1 bottle:
Stellekaya Orion 2007 by Ntsiki Biyela
Seems like you can’t open an international wine mag without seeing a profile of this talented and driven winemaker!
Good for her – she deserves all her success, and now that she has been invited to make the 8th edition of the prestigious Winemakers Collection for French Chateau d’Arsac, the world is her oyster!
If you want to get an inkling of what she might come up with in France, try this Cabernet-dominated Bordeaux blend for size. Chewy, dense, dark and delicious.
A Sweetie Darling x 1 bottle:
Mullineux Family Vineyards Straw Wine 2012 by Andrea Mullineux
Okay, I’ll admit that this is actually a joint effort between Andrea and husband Chris, but Andrea was the one recently voted into the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild (one of only two women at present) so I think we’ll celebrate her anyway!
And what a glorious wine to do it with. Rated 5* by Platter for the 2011, this is a wonderful continuation.
Made by lying bunches of grapes out on straw mats to concentrate and dry, this is rich and unctuous with flavours of marmalade & apricot jam.