International Grenache Day tomorrow but we have enjoyed this tonight. The Piekinierskloof has some of SA’s best Grenache. One of the first producers from this area was Jan “Boland” Coetzee, a legendary Springbok from the 70s and winemaker at Kanonkop before Beyers Truter. Father of Cornelia Badenhorst, married to Adi and a true legend, who passed away this week aged 82.
5 Likes
Superb tasting this afternoon with Kevin and Kimberley Judd, loved al the white wines, thier Pinot was pleasant but had better
8 Likes
Are you going to the Swig SA tasting this Friday in Convent Garden? The usual suspects will be there to show their wines!
I am in London but have a booking at the Cape Winemakers Guild tasting hosted by Bordeaux Index at the same time. Would have loved to be there especially as Adi just celebrated his birthday last week and would have liked to offer my condolences on the passing of his father in law Jan Boland Coetzee. Pass on my good wishes to all the gang including Detmot Sugrue
Will do. Enjoy your tasting
French supermarkets have a wine fair each September. They had some on tasting in the local Super U yesterday. We tried a Gigondas, which while lovely was 15% so too strong for us. Another that we didn’t go for was this one.
4 Likes
Obviously the work of some marketing genius
Leeuwin are awesome wines. Our tasting there in 2018 was fairly whistle stop but the wines are the star of the show, especially the chardonnay. Which vintage were they pouring?
2 Likes
Art Series Chardonnay 2012.
1 Like
Looking at the label and the name it suggests something of a rebel garagiste wine maker though not so rebellious as to declassifying his wine as it has the AOP. Visiting the website it feels a bit more of a marketing thing. They also seem to have sites all across the region, so maybe a bigger operation trying to appeal to le hipster?
1 Like
I‘ve been a fan of their Chardonnay since I first tried it but the Shiraz is also very impressive. Pity we couldn’t fill our rental car up and drive home but it might have broken the bank 
. In the end we took a few bottles of the Prelude Chardonnay, Art Series SB and Art Series Shiraz 2023
4 Likes
Loads of room there - need a few more cases! We were flying back from Perth to Manchester so we just grabbed a few bottles from Margaret River. The 2014 Cullen Wines Chardonnay Kevin John Moon Opposite Saturn Harvest and the Fraser Gallop Palladian cabernet sauvignon though we could have put a shed load more in if we had the allowance! We also had a few from Tassie and Melbourne as well.
1 Like
Yeah these are just for our sojourn here before flying back to Europe via Thailand. I’ll definitely check out those other tips though thanks 
Had this rich Ribeira with a beef casserole today. Big fruity smooth wine, dense and concentrated, excellent with the beef, dark fruit, tobacco, touch star anise at the end. and without the food, the tannins are evident but still pleasant. A very nice wine.
6 Likes
Some excellent Burgundy to end the weekend. The white has great balance, with a lovely tension. The red was rounded and mellow with libel red fruits. Village level but quite charming
1 Like
Thank you for the heads up on Leeuwin . Bottle of the Art Chardonnay on order for a special day
2 Likes
