Cape Town Wine » Kanu

Sweet wine tasting with Catharinas restaurant sommelier, Higgo Jacobs

Glenda — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:38:03 +0000

Higgo Jacobs, current sommelier at Steenberg Vineyard’s restaurant Catharinas, guided us through a flight of off-dry to natural sweet wines.

Higgo grew up in Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo wine district of South Africa and no doubt developed a love for the complex, delicious port wines that the area is famous for.

Early in his career he made his mark by achieving an Advanced Certificate at the UK Wine and Spirit Education Trust as well as passing the Michael Fridjohn Wine Tasting Academy course with distinction. Higgo has worked for Jeroboams Wine Merchants and Anthony Byrne Fine Wines in London and has also served on many wine assessment panels.

Higgo is soon to open his own wine consultancy. He can be contacted at higgo.jacobs@steenberghotel.com or on (27) 21 7132222.

The flight of wines were:

Villiersdorp Kelder Rose 2009

A drinkable, honest, cheerful rose with freshness of fruit made from Muscat d’Alexandrie.

Jordan Riesling 2008

Showing drier than what it is with sugar levels that vary according to the vintage.

Thelema Muscat de Frontignan 2009

All Hanepoort and a great accompaniment to pate and charcuterie.

Domaine Huet Lemont Vineyard Vouvray 2005

Simonsig Gewurtztraminer 2007

A clean and straightforward wine which pairs well with spicy food.

Kanu KC Chenin blanc 2006

A winning wine which earned an Old Mutual Gold medal and a Veritas Gold medal.

Donhoff Spattlese Riesling 2007

This Riesling was voted wine of the night by the tasting group and originates from the Nahe wine-growing region of Germany.

Hazendal The Last Straw 2006

The Chenin blanc grapes were dried on straw mats to concentrate the sugar and reduce the must to give 200gm residual sugar to the finished wine.

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Two South African wines included on the Atrium’s tasting menu

Glenda — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:59:38 +0000

Multiple award winning Edinburgh restaurant, Atrium is owned by Andrew and Lisa Radford and the head chef is Neil Forbes. Recently, on a six course tasting menu two South African wines were included, which is fantastic recognition for the wine farms considering the huge choice of wines that Neil would have had.

6th January 2010

(4th Item on the menu)

Breast of Gressingham duck, fondant potato, roast butternut squash, thyme jus.

Hawequas, Mont du Toit 2006, Paarl

(6th Item on the menu)

Dark chocolate pithivier, coffee bean custard.

Noble Late Harvest, Kia-ors, Kanu, 2004, Stellenbosch

Mont du Toit is owned by Stephan du Toit, a Johannesburg based advocate and is in the Wellington ward of the Paarl wine district. Sadly, the

Atrium restaurant

Hawequas is for export only, which precludes us wine locals from enjoying it. It is a cabernet sauvignon blended with 5 other varieties in the 2006 wine.

Kia-ora, Noble Late Harvest 2004 is an outstanding, botrysised desert wine made from chenin blanc. The winery is the acclaimed Kanu in Stellenbosch.

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Chenin Blanc Challenge 2010

Glenda — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:36:50 +0000

The results are out for this year’s Chenin Blanc Challenge and it’s no surprise to note that the 11 wines which were awarded 4 stars and above had wood treatment creating complex, layered, age-worthy wines.

As described in an earlier post on this blog, chenin blanc is the most planted and most versatile grape in South Africa and the wines range in price from super economical everyday wines priced at about R30.00 ($4) to R260.00 ($36) for the more elegant chenin styles.

Listed here are the four and five star winners. For the complete awards list, please visit Wine Mag.

Best Value Chenin Blanc

Kleine Zalze Cellar Selection Bush Vines 2009

Best Unwooded Chenin Blanc

Simonsig 2007

Best Wooded Chenin Blanc

Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection 2008

Best Chenin Blanc Overall

Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection 2008

Five star awards

Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection 2008

Four and a half star awards

Kanu KCB 2006

Graham Beck Bowed Head 2008

Simonsig Chenin Avec Chene 2008

Four star awards

Forest Hill, Fort Simon 2008

Fort Simon 2008

Simonsig Woolworths Limited Release Chenin 2008

Stellenrust 44 2008

Spier Private Collection 2008

Land of Hope 2008, The Winery of Good Hope

The FMC Forrester Meinert Chenin 2007

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