Wine, Wine, Everywhere Wine!

I had the privilege to spend yesterday at the Stellenbosch Wine Festival, South Africa's largest regional wine celebration incorporating more than 100 local vineyards with nearly 500 wines available for taste.

I'll repeat that.

500 wines. And I tasted darn near every last one of them. The festival itself was a delightful experience, with not only wines available for tasting, but also samplings from area food merchants and other products and goodies. It was a fantastic laidback atmosphere, very South African in feel, complete with a dance troupe roving through the main festival hall with African drums in tow.

Stellenbosch town does not disappoint either. A small, Afrikaner college town and capital of the South African wine industry, Stellenbosch blends magnificent mountain views and rolling vineyard hills in a very quaint setting, perfect for an oenophile of any rank. It is very reminiscent of some small Sonoma or Napa Valley wine towns, but it still boasts a distinctly African flair which sets Stellenbosch apart from almost anywhere else in the Wine world. If you're ever in the Western Cape, Stellenbosch is certainly worth a side trip. And, I hear there's a hotel there on a vineyard (Spier Wines) where you can not only stay the night in elegance and luxury, roaming through the vast vineyards of one of the region's top winemakers while sampling local cuisine, but where you can also - and I swear to god this is true - roam in a small nature preserve with cheetahs. Al, our driver - who deserves his own post and will get one soon - told us about Spier on the way into town and many of us began making plans just then to return and play with cheetahs.

Ok, now on to the important stuff, because, as I said, El Vino did flow!

Of the many wines I sampled, I was able to come away with a few favorites. I ended up spending only R400 (about $65 U.S.) on a half case of 6 fine wines. I had three vinters in particular which I list among my favorites, both for the quality of wine and the knowledgable wine stewards who guided us through the process of tasting.

First up is Grangehurst, a small, artisan vinter from the slopes of Helderburg Mountain who has their 2000 vertical on taste. I picked up a bottle of their "Nikela" red blend and it was well worth the R110 I spent for it. The blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Pinotage and 11% Merlot was aged in 90% French oak for nearly two years before being bottled. As this wine has had time to age in the bottle, the 2000 vintage has shown a very mellow, smooth character that is both round and well-balanced. The small percentage of Merlot acts as a mediator between the smokier Cabernet and the hearty yet fruity Pinotage. With a dark ruby color, the coffee and chocolate flavors of the Cabernet come together with the earthier tones of the Pinotage. It is a wine that has aged well and lost many of the tannic qualities one would find in a younger vintage making the wine less astringent in the mouth with more taste on the finish.

Next up is Mooiplaas Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2000. Mooiplaas, as my new friend Bobby, a student at the reknowned University of Stellenbosch, told me, means "beautiful farm" in Afrikaans. In fact, most of the Afrikaans or other language names for wineries in South Africa usually translate to some spin on "beautiful farm." Anyway, from the beautiful farm comes a very big wine. The 2000 Cabernet from Mooiplaas has aged very nicely after two years in French oak and a further three years in the bottle and is being released in a big way now. The dark maroon color is met by a very strong, smoky nose and a heavy sensation of cocoa on the palate. The wine finishes very easily and would be a perfect complement to a big family meal.

But the hit of the festival for me was, without a doubt, Stellekaya Vineyards, especially their Cape Cross Blend 2004. Mark from Stellekaya led my fellow Tuftonians Jessie and Sarah and I througha few different blends, daring me to guess the grapes from their newer Hercules blend. (For the record, I picked out Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. I missed the third grape, Sangiovese. But really, who blends Sangiovese in this country? Who, I ask you? Who?! ... Uh, I mean, I'm not bitter...) The Cape Cross Blend was 50% Merlot along with 30% Pinotage and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and the character of the wine truly came across with very fruit-forward, mellow yet exciting flavors coming through from each of the grapes. An extremely drinkable and approachable wine (which, and I forgot to write this down, but I think it was only about R50 a bottle!), the Cape Cross was the wine of the festival for me both for its versatility and affordability as well as its sublime flavors.

As we finished tasting, some of us sat down in the cricket field behind the Paul Roos Centre and watched the sunset across the mountains which guard Stellenbosch while drinking some of the newfound treasures we had unearthed throughout the day. And so brought a close to a warm winter's day in Stellenbosch, when the wine world had come and shown us all a wonderful time.

P.S. Look for each of these wines in your local wine shops, or find them online:
Grangehurst - www.grangehurst.co.za
Mooiplaas - www.mooiplaas.co.za
Stellekaya - www.stellekaya.co.za
Wine Online SA - www.wine.co.za