The Rustenberg farm is made up of two farms, Schoongezicht and Rustenberg which were brought together by Peter and Pamela Barlow after they had purchased Rustenberg in 1941. The magnificent farm borders on Ida’s Valley which is an outlying suburb of Stellenbosch.

The Rustenberg Ida’s wines are a new addition to their range but the idea was conceived from the success of the Rustenberg Dry Red and Schoongezicht Dry White which were so enjoyed in the 70′s and 80′s. Many folk today will remember when the Cabernet and other wines were priced out of reach for many during these years, so the old Dry Red became prominent on their dinner tables while growing up all during a time when wine consumption and production was on a different scale and had a different image than it has today. While the wine making practices and styles are poles apart from their parents the two new Ida’s wines have the same intent……. to have a Rustenberg product affordable to enjoy regularly yet to provide a quality product to all wine drinkers.

The Ida’s White 2011 is predominantly Sauvignon Blanc (sourced from Elgin) and the rest of the blend is made up of Chardonnay, Viognier, Semillon, Roussane and Grenache Blanc which gives the overall complexity of the wine without losing drinkability and freshness. I found delicious flavours of light tropical melon with hints of apricot leading to an intense yet lengthy finish.

The Ida’s Red 2011 is Merlot based with added components of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Flavours of dark soft berries with hints of spicy chocolate the wine is firm but supple on the finish.

Both wines have labels which are modernised from the original dry red and dry white and come with screw cap ultra light weight bottles. This shows Rustenberg’s commitment not only to the wines carbon foot print but also to the fact that they believe that the bigger heavier bottles are becoming less important when selling a good wine.

Buy now at Wine Concepts
Rustenberg Ida’s White 2011 @ R53.00
Rustenberg Ida’s Red 2011 @ R63.50

Food24, in partnership with MSquared, proudly announces the inaugural South Africa’s Wine List of the Year Awards. The awards will be the most inclusive awards to date, giving every restaurant, whatever the size of their wine list, the chance to win. Organised by industry leaders, Michael Olivier and Michael Bampfield-Duggan, South Africa’s Wine List of the Year Awards aim to be the standard accolade for any restaurant which cares about serving good wine to its customers.

Five good reasons why YOUR restaurant should enter:

1. Value for money – for little more than the cost of one meal, a restaurant has access to a year’s marketing and exposure across Food24, Africa’s biggest wine and food website.

2. Direct downloadable links to your menu and wine list on Food24’s comprehensive restaurant directory.

3. Ongoing marketing activity through the Food24 site, associated 24.com sites and various other social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

4. No restrictive entry conditions – any restaurant which sells wine is able to enter.

5. Experienced judges evaluating your wine list.

All entrants will have their wine lists and menus listed on their Food24 listings which will increase traffic to the restaurants websites through South Africa’s largest wine and food portal. There will also be extensive media coverage on Food24 and News24 national media, and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

All lists will be scored by an experienced team of judges and elegant award certificates will be awarded to category winners, who will be flagged on the Food24 website, plus prizes for category winners.

Check out the entry forms here and decide which category best suits your restaurant wine list, then download the entry form, complete it and return it by 30th April 2012

Entry per wine list is a once off payment of R450 (banking details are available on the entry form).

Competition closes 30th April 2012. Winners announced on Food24 during the week of 4th June 2012.

For further information email sawinelistawards2012@iafrica.com or click here for more information on scoring guidelines.

An invitation last Friday by Stellenbosch Hills winery to attend a biltong making course at Freddy Hirsch changed my outlook about making my own biltong. (Freddy Hirsch, South Africa’s biggest spice suppliers to the meat industry, have joined forces with Stellenbosch Hills as the sponsor for the Biltong Maker Of The Year 2012 Challenge). During the fascinating lecture we learnt how to prepare and cut the meat correctly as well as about the best spices to use to produce different flavoured biltong. We were each given a parcel of meat, which we carefully spiced for the flavour we wanted, as well as a Biltong King maker (yes I now have two!) and told to let the meat “rest” for several hours before starting the drying process. While the meat was resting in the fridge at home I attempted to assemble the biltong maker and found it to be a lot easier than I had anticipated and so on Friday evening my four pieces of hunters spiced sirloin were hanging in the biltong dryer where they will hang for the next 4 days!

Of course I am hoping that my spice recipe will give me a fair chance of winning a prize in this years competition, but I must also clarify that it’s not just the biltong that has to be great tasting but that it should suitable to enjoy while sipping a glass of Stellenbosch Hills Shiraz 2007.

Winemaker PG Slabbert is responsible for making the wines from grapes grown on the 16 member farms in the vicinity of the winery. From these farms they are able to select the finest fruit for the Stellenbosch Hills, 1707 Reserve and Polkadraai range and the rest is sold off commercially. Stellenbosch Hills (previously Vlottenburg Winery until 2003) is located 8kms outside of Stellenbosch. A state of the art wine cellar along with a modern tasting facility, where they offer the world’s first” Wine and Biltong Adventure” makes the visit a memorable one.

Anyone can enter this year’s Biltong competition and entry packs cost R150.00 with prizes of R60 000 are up for grabs. The pack includes a bottle of Stellenbosch Hills Shiraz 2007, a Freddy Hirsch spice pack, as well as delivery costs. Visit www.stellenbosch-hills.co.za or phone +27 (0)21 881 3828 for more information.

The best thing for me about the competition is that I will be able to drink several bottles of the Stellenbosch Hills Shiraz 2007, as the one bottle in the entry pack certainly won’t be enough while I try out the different spices for my biltong before I make a final choice before closing date on the 31st August 2012.

Luckily the wine is delicious and as my first lot of biltong was not ready we enjoyed a bottle with friends on the weekend. We had prepared butterflied Lamb with a spicy marinade grilled on the Weber and the pairing was perfect.

The wine had a dark velvety colour with aromas of black cherries, dark chocolate and warm spice. The palate was rich and intense with silky flavours of dark spicy fruit followed by firm tannins with a savoury aromatic finish.

Buy from Wine Concepts @ R58.00

Our winemaker friends are pleased about what is going on in the vineyards. They’re abuzz with happy people noises and the clip, clip, clip of the pruning shears for the grapes picked by hand and the hum of the automated picking machines. Picking is usually done in the early hours as vineyard managers rush their grapes into cellars while still cool from the night air. Tanks of white, red and rosé are fermenting while the yeasts work their magic turning juice into wine.

We have been busy sourcing and tasting wines for your ultimate enjoyment and from our selection we have chosen several to add to our shelves. Come and discuss with our professional staff the wine which is best suited for you!

February also spells romance and in this issue we have some lovely ideas of where to go and what you can buy from our two stores.

Read our February newsletter now.

Mail us if you would like to receive our monthly newsletter.

• Kloovenburg White from Red Brut Shiraz NV
• Chateaux de Sours Bordeaux Rose 2009
• D’Aria Music White 2011
• Howard Booysen Pegasus Cinsault 2011
• Mooiplaas Langtafel Red 2010
• Wildekrans Cabernet Franc/Merlot 2009

Send us an email or call us on +27 021 671 9030 to place your order.
Multiple packs are just as easy and delivery in the Cape Town area is free.

Traditionally the grape varieties used for Champagne and Cap Classique production are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. There is, however, a third variety which is sometimes added namely Pinot Meunier, a red grape variety. It is similar to the Pinot Noir grape but offers an extra dimension resulting in delicious aromatic fruit flavours during the early stages of the wine. Simonsig was the first Cap Classique producer in the Cape to use all three varieties when they introduced the Pinot Meunier to their Kaapse Vonkel in 1997.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2011, Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel over the years has proved immensely popular and has been awarded countless awards during this time. The 2005 vintage was, in fact, so good that it won awards for both its 750ml and 1.5 litre by coming 1st and 2nd place respectively out of 70 wines in the Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge held in 2009.

Johan Malan

Simonsig’s winemaker and cellarmaster, Johan Malan achieved a similar feat in the inaugural 2002 Challenge, when his Kaapse Vonkel Brut 1999 scooped first prize and the 1998 vintage placed third – and his repeated success in 2009 suggests this craftsman has been fine-tuning his technical skill when it comes to producing this style.

The Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel 2009 is made in the fuller, fruitier style and showing “pleasing developed character on the nose” and a “rich and full” palate, the wine offers good value at R99.00 – delivering on what Johan Malan describes as a wine that is “trustworthy both in terms of price and quality”.

We enjoyed a bottle of this delicious wine over a selection of Sushi with salmon, prawns and tuna, but as it’s my partners favourite bubbly I have bought a bottle for Valentine’s day!

The wine also has the complexity to develop further in bottle so great to buy some now and enjoy over the coming years!

Buy now from Wine Concepts @ R99.00

The Rhone varieties planted are Shiraz, Mourvedre, Viognier, Grenache, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne as they tend to do well in the warm climate and type of soil on the farm. Other varieties planted include Pinotage, Merlot and Chenin Blanc. The vines receive no irrigation and rely solely on winter rains and natural moisture in the summer. The vines are cared for by viticulturalist Kevin Watt who follows sustainable organic farming practises. It’s pleasing to know that no chemical fertilisers and pesticides are used. This is largely due to the warm breezy climate and dry land farming techniques. Organic farming is not easy and demands constant vigilance and ongoing application of new methods based on trial and error. However each successive vintage allows for the Nativo team to gain more knowledge which results in better management and control of their vineyards.

One of the positive results of their organic farming practise is that the berry develops strong healthy wild yeasts which means they don’t have to use  commercial yeasts to induce fermentation. Billy who regards himself as a “wine designer” rather than a wine maker states “This is integral to the development of flavours and other characteristics that give a wine its site-specific signature”. Billy’s first wine was the Nativo 2004 red blend and the current vintage, the 2009 continues to please the most discernable palate.

The white blend was introduced with the first vintage in 2008. The current vintage, 2010, is a harmonious blend of oaked Viognier (75%) with the balance of Chenin Blanc. The wine offers subtle spicy aromatic aromas with complex, yet silky flavours of peaches and cream, finishing dry and minerally. We enjoyed the wine with a creamy mushroom risotto and later we finished it with some Roquefort cheese. The wine is also delicious on its own and has the ability to mature for another couple of years.

Buy at Wine Concepts for R84.00

With the seasonal rush behind us and the holidays all but over we slowly ease back into our daily routine, and so we take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful and safe year ahead.

Those of us who over indulged with the Xmas festivities are conscious of losing a few kilos this month! We tend now to eat more salads and drink less alcoholic, lighter styled and drier wines (less sugar) which must be crisp, fresh and very cold…good for the hot weather as well! We have some delicious white and red wines (serve the reds slightly chilled at 17 deg) on our shelves which are low in alcohol…see our list below.

In the vineyards we are seeing the grapes on the vines increase in size and start to change their appearance indicating the first signs of ripening. Our wine makers prepare their cellars, buy in their yeasts and make sure all their machinery are in working order for the start of the picking season in a couple of weeks time.

Read all about our picnic ideas and braai days and more competitions for you to take part in!

Read our January newsletter now.

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I reckoned Pinotage would be the best partner and selected a couple of bottles of the Knorhoek Pinotage 2009 from my cellar. What a stunning wine and it worked so well with the different flavours and I received loads of compliments and several asking for top up!

Knorhoek is a delightful Stellenbosch farm tucked away on the gently sloping foothills of the Simonsberg mountain and due to the odd leopard sighting a lovely illustration of the leopard is on all the Knorhoek wine labels. From the grapes grown on the 105ha vineyards only 15% are kept back for their own labelled wines, the balance been sold to other well known wineries. Co-owner Hansie Van Niekerk remembers his family making non-labelled wines in the cellar dating back to the 1930’s but it was not until 1997 that the farm bottled its maiden Cabernet Sauvignon under its own label. Today they produce over 10 different wines, predominantly red with a couple of whites completing the range.

The Knorhoek Pinotage 2009 is well balanced with a strong sense of varietal integrity and remarkable finesse. Ideal growing conditions and slower ripening produced excellent quality grapes that imparted complexity and intense flavours to the wine.

“Its complex bouquet unfolds perfumed layers of earthy aromas and ripe bananas, harmoniously backed by a silky tannin structure and integrated oak character and concludes with berry sorbet fruit kisses on the palate,” shares winemaker Arno Albertyn who handled the grapes with kid gloves throughout the entire winemaking process.

The high rainfall during the 2009 vintage enabled the grapes to take their time to reach optimal ripeness and flavour resulting in a wine with soft tannins and succulent, sweet berry fruit flavours owing to the longer ripening period.

In the cellar, the grapes were fermented in open fermenters and then matured for 12 months in French oak, 20% of which was in new barrels and an even proportion of second and third-fill barrels to enhance the wood and fruit balance.

Knorhoek Pinotage 2009 is a versatile food partner and tastes especially good with red meat dishes, wild game or spicy Mediterranean bites, but it is also the perfect wine choice for a pizza evening with friends!!!!

Buy at Wine Concepts for R77.00