Constantia Fresh Delights
Monday, 8 March, 2010
Norman McFarlane
Let's face it, Jörg Pfützner knows how to organise a classy bash. The Aylesford Constantia Fresh Festival, well the part of it that I did get to attend on Saturday afternoon, was fabulous.
The green velvet lawn quad atop the hill next to the cellar at Buitenverwachting in the heart of the Constantia wine route was milling with wine glitterati from mid-morning I believe, until late into the evening.
Regular wine touring companion Erica Liebenberg and I only arrived at about 17h00, so we missed the food and wine pairings with the fabulous cuisine of the likes of Overture's Bertus Basson, La Colombe's Luke Dale-Roberts, Roland Gorgosilich of Bosman's, Garth Almazan of Catharina's, Peter Tempelhoff of The Collection and Buitenverwachting's own Edgar Osojnik, but at least we did get to taste a good number of the Sauvignon blancs on show.
The lawn was ringed with producers, and the measure poured to taste at each table was usually generous. The tables were manned by people who were generally friendly, outgoing and willing to engage, and although there were a goodly number of people at the event, it did not give the impression of being crowded. At R400 a ticket this was not your average wine tasting opportunity where people come to get hammered on free wine. Eavesdropping on conversations made it quite clear that on average, these were wine savvy people out to experience the best Sauvignon Blancs on offer, to be able to engage with producers, and to swop notes with each other. Not your classic wine anorak, I might add, rather people who are serious rather than self-opinionated about wine.
An interesting feature was the number of older Sauvignon blancs that were on offer, far too few of which - to my great regret - I did not get the opportunity to taste. Molly Tokaz of Highlands Road in the Elgin Valley did get to taste a range from Newton Johnson Vineyards in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, as far back as 2001, which vintage she tells me was fabulous. Balanced elegant, and with remarkable structure despite its age.
I tasted Highlands Road's own Sauvignon Blanc, '07, '08 and '09 with winemaker owner Justin Hoy, who was holding forth at his table just in front of the manor house, complete with kilt and sporran. Justin tells me that the tartan was designed by a local Scottish tailor, using the colours in their crest. It is registered with the Caledonian in Scotland, making Highlands Road the only winery in the world to have its own registered tartan. Now fancy that!
The '07 was showing beautifully, with a full citrus fruit nose, with underpinning minerality, so characteristic of the Sauvignon's coming out of Elgin. The palate is also vibrant and fresh, with tantalising lemony lime flavours balanced by crisp acidity with a long finish. Regrettably, the ’07 is all but finished according to Justin.
The '08 is more restrained, with the fruit still somewhat shy, but the threads of minerality of fresh acidity follows through.
The '09 shows great promise. The fruit is more tropical with steely mineral notes on the nose. The fruit is vibrant on the palate, supported by balanced crisp acidity and the finish is long with a no unpleasant steely dryness and a faint almost tannic nip.
Justin is in the habit of selling "side by side", so to speak: '07 with '08 and '08 with '09, which he says allows one to assess where the successive vintage is likely to go to, provided of course that there is a thread of consistency in how the wine is made.
Constantia Glen's Sauvignon, the '09 I believe, was sumptuous and elegantly fruity, off-set by racy acidity, with a fresh finish, and Klein Constantia's was equally impressive.
The red wines were allowed to emerge after 6pm, just about the time the welter of food at the braai area was ready, and Andrew Leaver of Eagles' Nest Wines, situated high up on the southern slope of the Constantia Valley, hauled out their '06 Merlot, a bottle of which found its way onto the lawn where our impromptu dinner party took place. Fresh and sumptuous dark berry fruit on the nose follows onto the palate. The tannins are silky and gentle, rounded (18 months in French oak only 25% of which is new), and the mid-palate fruit is enticing, fading into a long finish. The wine has breadth and structure, yet is uncomplicatedly approachable.
An interesting aside was a tasting of a wonderful grappa, which magically appeared in a small hipflask-like bottle with lock down porcelain stopper, thanks to Eikendal's Corina du Toit. She didn't have it, but she knew who did, and since this was a Sauvignon blanc event, my lips will remain eternally sealed. Perhaps the notion that we were doing something vaguely illicit had some sort of halo effect, but I suspect not. It was a fine example of the grappa makers art, having that distinct oily almost diesel like note so reminiscent of true Italian grappa, with remarkable smoothness on the palate, and subtle fruit flavours. What a lovely way to round off the meal.
After a very full day, we began to wilt at around 21h30, and with the party still very much in full swing, we headed for the car and the long road home to Somerset West. Nice one, Jörg, roll on next years event!