So let's talk South African wine. I'll be honest and say there are a few areas around the world that kinda leave me with puzzled thoughts of "really...they make wine there?" South Africa was one of them. So I'm gunna start with a quick run down of their climate. It's classified as Mediterranean which means intense sunlight and dry heat, with winters being cold and wet, sometimes snow in higher elevations.
Their top 3 grape varieties grown are Chenin Blanc, Cab Sauv, and Colombard, but the varietal that's considered their signature variety is the Pinotage. It's a cross breed of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, created way back when in 1925. The grapes got kind of a bad rep, it's biggest drawback is during the wine making process it has a tendency to develop Isoamyl Acetate which leaves the wine smelling like paint, gross! and not very inviting. Most often it's used in blends or fortified wine but over the years they've steadily found ways to combats its stinky reputation to make some decent wines. For example, there's a certain strain of yeast they use during fermentation, added with the help of heavily oak staves that produces a strong coffee and dark chocolate flavour. Thus creating what is now called a "Coffee Pinotage." Which brings me to this delight in a glass, The Grinder 2011 Pinotage.
I gotta say once again how much I love a winery that has a "cool" label. I mean come on, it's the first thing people see, and I can't even count the number of times people have told me they bought that particular wine solely because they liked the label. This one to me looks like it was designed by Dr. Seuss, it's fun and silly and is a perfect portrayal of what's inside, coffee mixed with grapes, seriously, but not actually. It never ceases to amaze me the flavours you can get out of wine, this one blew me away.
As soon as you open the bottle it's like you just walked into your favourite coffee house, espresso beans, mocha, and hints of caramel wafting from it's barber shop top. The palate was full of coffee, dark chocolate and wild berries (think blueberries and blackberries), smooth with a dry finish. I felt like I should be drinking this in place of my morning tea, haha, just kidding, I have a no wine before noon rule, gotta keep things under control ya know...well, except for Mimosa's annnnd maybe Sangria if it's sunny enough ^o^
All in all I was pretty impressed, go South Africa! The price was only about $15 too. So if you're a avid coffee drinker I highly suggest trying this wine and lemme know how it compares to your favourite Americano
So the past 2 weeks have been crammed full of travelling, birthdays, work, house hunting and wrangling my monster of a son. Naaaah I shouldn't say that, despite the occasional cat food snack he's a pretty good boy, just growing insanely fast and becoming incredibly smart :D
I've also been working vigorously to get my Etsy shop up and running. Limited time and limited funds makes it all a slow process, but thankfully when you become a Mum your patience for things triples and I just gotta remember to breathe and that I'm doing the best I can. I'm aiming for the first week in July to be "fully operational" but in the meantime here's some sneak peek pics of what I've been working on to get you all excited :D
Now as much as I say I love every varietal out there, it's not entirely true. I'm gunna be honest and admit that I'm not particularly a huge fan of Shiraz/Syrah (Exactly the same grape by the way, just a different name to make things totally confusing for people).
Pretty much anything remotely spicy, peppery or leaves your mouth feeling like it's on fire I steer clear of. That being said, I know there are a lot of Shiraz/Syrah's out there that don't have these "hot" qualities, but for the most part that's what people want or expect out of it.
When we brought this wine into the store a few months ago I couldn't resist grabbing a bottle. The label, the name, the write up on the back, it all intrigued me and made me smile - sold!
