ULTRA Top 10

ULTRA Liquors have some amazing wine promotions during the year. At the moment they are running their Autumn Promotion, some amazing wines at great prices, but some stand out from the crowd. Do yourself a favour and head down to your local ULTRA and get your hands on:

Le Bonheur Prima @ R 69.99: Way over delivers. A Merlot blend, soft and sexy, with curves in all the right places.

#Dinner Table Wine.

Diemersdal Sauvignon Blanc @ R 46.99: If you have to drink a super fresh super crisp Sauvi drink Diemersdal. A 4 and a half star Platter wine for less than R50 bucs, enough said.

#Impress Platter Fundi Wine.

Van Loveren Neils Pick Colombar @ R23.99: I buy this by the case loads, its like Jesus feeding all those people with a few loaves, you can satisfy crowds at this price, and they will love it.

#Girls Book Club Wine

Buitenverwachting Meifort @ R 54.99: Masculine Cab blend, think rugby player with a sensitive side.

#To Impress Wine

Perdeberg Chenin Blanc Reserve @ R 36.99: Say after me, "I promise to drink more Chenin." This has to be the best value for money you can get anywhere, buy truckloads before it sells out.

#The Deal of a Lifetime Wine

Slanghoek Pinotage @ R 33.99: Braaivlies, rugby, Pinotage, sunny skies and Chevrolet.

#Kuier Wyn

Bon Courage Hillside White @ R28.99: Perfect for enjoying the last few days of summer, great by the pool, with lunch or at the dinner table.

#The Allrounder Wine

Orange River Wine Cellars Soet Hanepoot @ R28.99: Put in the fridge and drink ice cold. Forget Easter eggs put you kids on a Hanepoot diet...

#Sweet Tooth Wine

Alexanderfontein Cabernet Sauvignon @ R38.99: Looking for something to share with a loved wine, or to get romantic with on that chilly winters evening?

#Guaranteed to Score Wine

Cheers!

Dear Mark

I hope you don't mind me being so casual, but you don't strike me as a formal sort of bloke. I just wanted to say thanks for an amazing "jol" on Saturday.

I have been to a few harvest festivals lately and can honestly say yours stood out. I was under the impression that South African wine farms were highly mechanized, as I am yet to see anybody other than farm management at these so called harvest festivals. Your obviously do things differently. Either way it was great to meet the people that do all the hard and sometimes dirty work. Your team certainly seemed like a happy bunch, dancing, laughing and celebrating life. I actually learnt a few new dance moves, to be honest I never new any before Saturday. I also got a few marriage proposals so I may just be moving onto the farm, but looking at your staff housing it certainly would be a great move as your digs are way better than mine.

I know that it was an Oesfees, but being a wine farm I was surprised to find that there wasn't a more formal wine element to festivities. No spittoons, no swirling, sipping, smelling? Shock horror. I even noticed people putting ice into plastic wine glasses, surely a first for a wine festival? I must say I took a liking to your Cape Jazz Shiraz, I wasn't the only one, it seemed to add a more rhythmical step to most dance moves. Heck you could be on to something: wine and music pairing...I even tried some of the lovely traditional Cape food, boboties, samoosas and a lekker breyani. If there is any left, could I pop around for leftovers?

Your line up of bands, dancers, singers, rappers and graphitti artists certainly proved better value than the R1000 I paid for my U2 ticket. I may not be ready for the ArtScape just yet, but I certainly learnt a few things and found my rich South African heritage on the daans floor of Solms Delta. I believe there is this group called WOSA, they market SA wine overseas or something like that. They like to promote SA as the floral capital of the world, and somehow tie this in with wine...maybe you should invite them to next years Oesfees.

The best thing about the Oesfees? I have 365 days to practice my riel dans.

Cheers!

xxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Dionysus

I hope you don't mind me writing straight back like this but you don't strike me like a formal sort of god. Hang, you and I even share a few vices. I am truly delighted to hear that you attended our Oesfees, especially in view of the fact that it was not really laid on for Gods, as you noticed. Yes, I have heard that WOSA markets the Cape's biodiversity overseas. Please do feel free to bring them along next year. I would love to introduce them to another aspect of our diversity. On Saturday the thought even occurred to me that this human aspect might be more important than the floral one, but I was a little tipsy at the time and can become sentimental. I guess international consumers(like many of your fellow Gods) have never heard of South African farm workers. Anyway, thanks for your kind remarks, sorry about the ice, and good luck with the Riel dancing.

With all good wishes,

Mark

Solms Delta

Chenin is King

Chenin is King, long live the King.

I was fortunate enough to be invited by the kind people of Wine Magazine to the Chenin Blanc Challenge 2011 awards lunch at Overture Restaurant. Lets just say I don't think they could have chosen a better venue: beautiful views, stunning food, relaxed vibe, great service and chilled Chenin Blanc...what could be better.

What of the wines: well personally I was very impressed. A very broad range of styles, some wooded, some rich and ripe, some elegant, and some great value. What the results proved is that the humble Chenin grape can produce a broad range of styles.

My thoughts on some of the winners, starting off with the value wines:

Leopard’s Leap 2010 @ R34.99 pb: great value, buy a case. Very elegant. Really surprised me.

Boschendal 2009 @ R45 pb: beautiful balance. Again not what I was expecting.

Kanu 2009 @ R35 pb: Well made, loads of fruit. Kanu has a reputation with Chenin, so no surprises.

Kleine Zalze Cellar Selection Bush Vines 2010 @ R33 pb: All those Sauvignon Blanc fans will love this! I am going to start a campaign to get people to switch from fashionable Sauvignon Banc to Chenin. This is the Chenin I would encourage people to start with...

Douglas Green Chenin @ R31.50 pb: Surprised? Douglas Green, Douglas Green (say it in your best Chinese accent)

Of the top end stuff I enjoyed:

Simonsig Avec Chene 2009 @ R127 pb: Pushing the boundary of plush, ripe, big, and bold

Graham Beck Bowed Head 2009 @ R95 pb: Kind of a half way wine, rich but not too rich, plush but not too plush. Good value for the quality.

Perdeberg Rex Equus 2008 @ R180 pb: The winning wine. The most expensive wine of the lot, so keep for the inlaws, the boss and other special occasions. Is it worth R180...I will let you decide.

Most of these wines are available from your local Pick n Pay, Checkers, Ultra, Wine Concepts or directly from the producers.

Cheers and enjoy!

Dionysus