What do you think of when I say Cabernet?

Did you think of Cabernet Sauvignon? That’s what came to my mind first, anyway, but I’m indulging in something a little different this evening: the Woolworths Paul Cluver Cabernet Franc Reserve 2008. I don’t remember ever having tried a Cabernet Franc before, but I am feeling adventurous, and it is #CabernetDay!

Me and my evening's entertainment...

Ever since I began working at theVine, I have taken every opportunity to taste new wines. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is at a wine show or tasting where you get to sample a variety of wines for your fee. Taking a chance on a whole bottle may prove to be an expensive mistake.

Luckily, Woolworths is somewhat less of a gamble, since they select their wines with discretion (I actually met a Woolworths taster at a wine event once – not a job I’d mind having, to be sure!) and this Paul Cluver Cabernet Franc Reserve 2008 is a definite win.

The wine is quite dark, but very approachable and easy to drink. According to the bottle, I’m enjoying it at its peak (thank you Woolies for doing the necessary aging for me), suggesting that the wine be drunk 4 – 5 years from harvest.

The label also suggests enjoying it with a roast rack of lamb, but I opted for my far less sophisticated midweek dinner of a simple salad. I’m sure a hearty roast would pair wonderfully with this wine, but it’s honestly juicy, fruity, and delicious enough to be sipped on its own as well.

This may have been my first Cabernet Franc, but I’m looking forward to trying another one soon – long before next year’s #CabernetDay. Actually, why can’t every day be #CabernetDay? I’m sure we’d run out of days before we run out of options. Maybe it’s because I’ve been drinking, but that seems like a pretty decent idea to me!

The Italian Job: Laughing, learning, and enjoying Italian food and wines

Apparently, if you want to have an outstanding evening, all you need to do is fill a room with ladies and add some imported wine! At least, that’s what how easy the Savvy Sisters’ Wine Club made it seem at their Italian Job event.

Our outstanding hostesses, Debi and Kirstin

The evening was hosted by Kirstin, the Savviest Sister of them all, in the Wanderers Cigar Lounge (although the only cigars to be found were in the characters of some of the wines we tasted). Would you believe that I got lost trying to find it? (Me? Never!) Luckily, though, the friendly staff directed me to the correct venue after I somehow found myself at the bar!

There I found Kristin, with her perfectly-painted Ferrari-red toenails, waiting very patiently for everyone to arrive. Well, everyone except me! Turns out that I had somehow RSVPed to the wrong person, and so I wasn’t actually on the guest list. She was so accommodating, though, adding a seat for me right next to her. I felt so very VIP that night.

As a pleasant surprise, I discovered that I’d already met our second hostess, Debi, at an event I’d attended a week earlier (which you can read about here). She very generously poured me a welcoming glass of Howard Booysen Pegasus Cinsault 2011 to calm my nerves.

It was the only local wine we would be tasting that evening, and what a wine it was! I’d never even heard of Cinsault before that moment, but its fresh, fruity, and approachable character really hit the spot! “The question you want to ask Howard Booysen, when you meet him, is ‘can I feel your abs?’” Debi insisted. “You’ve never seen fitness like that, and this coming from someone who has been to events with Ryk Neethling!”

Intriguing and tempting…

Lovely ladies everywhere...

Also tempting was the line-up of wines we could be enjoying that evening, (which you can read about in more detail here). However, before we could move on to the Italian section of our evening, Debi had to hush the excited girly chatter and give us a brief overview of what made the wines she’d selected so special.

“The world of wine is not dominated by women in any respect,” Debi observed. “It seems that the only role women play is to wear pretty little short skirts and sell wine!” Although all the wine we tasted that evening was for sale, courtesy of Wine Cellar, who Debi represented, it seemed she was intending to rely on her wit and charm to win us over. No “pretty little short skirts” there!

Italy, though, is seeing a reversal in this male dominance. According to Debi, there are more Italian female winemakers than anywhere else in the world (Woo!). In a country with 3 000 varieties of grapes, it is the 3^rd largest producer of wine worldwide, with South Africa trailing at eighth (Less woo). Such statistics demonstrate the diversity in Italian wines. “As you travel from the North to the South, the wines differ tremendously,” she revealed.

Every wine has its story, and imported wines come with exciting, foreign ones! An excellent example of this was the beautifully bronzed Terre Nere Etna Rosato 2010 from Sicily that tasted of marzipan and had me wishing my skin could be of the same hue. Grown in volcanic soil, Debi explained that “these wines are centuries old, and come from the ugliest damn vineyards you have ever seen.”

I want skin this colour! How beautiful is that?

And, yet, from such origins comes a wine that is nothing short of stunning! “This rosé has been made the traditional way,” Debi informed us, “with very little skin contact at very low temperatures.” It is unlike anything I’ve ever tried in South Africa.

As we sipped it, Debi revealed her ‘shaky shaky’ method for intensifying the aroma of a wine, which is very funny to watch, but surprisingly effective! It essentially involves covering the glass with one hand, shaking the wine around, and then removing your hand right before you put your nose into the glass. “You wouldn’t want to do this in a restaurant,” she cautioned, “but it’s acceptable in a tasting like this.”

What followed was the vegetal Corino Barbera d’Alba 2010 and the Nardi Turan Sant Antimo DOC 2010 – the wine in which we found the cigars! Each wine had a very distinct character, and it was hard to decide on a favourite. A quick show of hands indicated that the room was almost evenly split between the three we’d tried in the first flight.

Clearly, we needed time to mull it over, so Kirstin arranged some delicious Italian-style pizzas to nibble on, while enjoying the wine and chatting to girlfriends. During that time, I got to know our hostess better. She loved wine and was married to a German, so we were bound to have loads in common. My husband is Swiss-German, so, like her, I’ve had my fair share of mother-in-law-made-sauerkraut!

As we enjoyed our pizza, Debi insisted that “wine should be enjoyed by everyone, and it is not meant to be sipped alone but to be enjoyed with food.” She promised that enjoying wines with food would give them “a totally different perspective,” which turned out to be right on the money. The wines selected paired well with the rich, cheesy pizzas. Who says wine can’t be paired with fast food?

The waiter's Italian Job was to keep those pizzas coming!

As we moved on to the wines that Debi described as being for “the more serious wine drinkers,” she revealed a few more unconventional tips to help us along our journey of discovering wine. As we sipped the fruity Ca’Marcanda Promis Toscana IGT 2010, she revealed to us that not all wines are ideal for ageing, with this one needing to be drunk now. “Wine in a clear bottle, such as that of the Rosato we had earlier, generally mean: drink me now!” she told us.

Her next kernel of wisdom is one that I am going to start putting into place immediately. “If you intend to age your wines, place little post it notes on them with the year that you intend to drink them so that you don’t lose track – and then try to hold out until that date!” She also advised on never keeping reds in the fridge, but rather somewhere that is cool. Considering that I live in something that feels like a greenhouse, I am now considering investing in a wine cooler.

The Tuscan Nardi Rosso di Montalcino 2010 we tried next reminded me a lot of cigarettes. I suppose the correct terminology is ‘cigar box’ or some such, but Debi encouraged us to use our own words to describe what we were smelling and tasting. “Don’t let anyone dictate to you,” she ordered. “For me, a tasting is not about me standing here and telling you what to smell and what to taste because I don’t have your nose, and I don’t have your mouth.

We ended off with the tannic Corino Barolo 2006, arguably the best (and most expensive) wine of the evening.  At this point, someone asked Debi to describe the difference between tannins and acidity, which she managed to do most amusingly.

In order to test the acidity of a wine, Debi demonstrated the “spit test” where she swirls and sips the wine normally before spitting it out. Then, once the flavour returns to her mouth, she spits again, counting how long it takes between spits. “The sooner it happens, the more acidic the wine,” she explained, “but don’t do this in public! Please, ladies, this is a private moment!”

Three of the six Italian wines we were treated to

Tannins, on the other hand, Debi felt could be best experienced by brewing stronger and stronger cups of tea, allowing the strongest one to steep for as much as an hour. “Tannins represent the structure of a wine,” she revealed, “and there are also tannins in tea. Taste the tea as you would taste wine, and you will get a sense of the mouth-feel. It’s a textural thing.”

To end off the evening, Debi offered us a real treat: an opportunity to taste a faulty wine. You really don’t get many chances to try this, so I was quite excited about it. “You always have the right to send a wine back in a restaurant,” Debi advised, “but speak to the manager rather than the waiter, and don’t make a production out of it.”

For a faulty wine bought at a liquor store, she advises that you contact the farm directly and describe how the wine is faulty, letting the winemaker know where you bought it. “Most winemakers in South Africa will honour their wines,” she reveals, “but Europeans are very unlikely to replace a bottle, unless you can absolutely prove that there is a fault.”

Well, there was nothing faulty about her presentation, and she hoped us ladies would be encouraged to expand our palates and try new wines. “South African wine consumption has dropped since 1994, but alcohol consumption has remained the same,” she laments. “The inclusion of alcho-pops, such as Brutal Fruit, has diluted the market.”

Well, she doesn’t need to worry about me! I will take one of those outstanding Italian wines over an “alcho-pop” any day because, thanks to Debi and Kirstin, I am now a savvier wine sister than I was when the night began.

Starting a Conversation at Capeesh?

On Monday nights at Capeesh? in Brooklyn, the pizzas may be half-price, but they are full-quality, I discovered as my dish was set before me… As is the conversation promised in Capeesh?’s slogan! I was out having dinner with strangers again, this time with the Pretoria Social Club, who I also met through Meetup.com.

This event turned out to be very different to the Lemberg Wine tasting at De Kloof that I enjoyed with the Pretoria Wine Lover’s Club, which had been centred around David Sadie’s presentation of his wines. At Capeesh?, our meetup was far more social, with discussions varying according to each person’s interests.

As I arrived at Capeesh?, after getting a bit lost, as usual, I realised that I hadn’t double checked our hostess’ name before leaving the house. I told the friendly manager at the desk that it was a reserved table, but seeing as Monday is such a popular night at Capeesh?, it turned out that most of the tables were reserved.

“It’s a big table,” I offered, “of about 8 people, I think?”

That did the trick, it seemed, since the rest of the reservations were for fewer than six. The restaurant certainly was busy, I noticed, as I was led to the back where the table was situated. The five strangers (not 8!) seated there stared at me as I approached, and I seriously hoped I wasn’t approaching a private table by mistake – that would be embarrassing!

Luckily, they quickly informed me that they were indeed all members of the Pretoria Social Club, two merely hadn’t arrived. Our hosts, Adam and Julie, did a great job of guiding the conversation through dinner. Having only moved to South Africa five weeks ago from the States, they amused us with their fresh perspective of South African culture.

Adam admitted that it had taken a good deal of convincing before he agreed to visit dangerous Johannesburg, but he had loved visiting the organic market there. He and Julie are keen to do a lot of travelling during their two year stay here, with Cape Town next on their hit list! I promised to supply them with a list of “must visit” estates based on my own experiences.

Also at our table were two ladies that both worked in the field of education. Nadia, a tiny teacher (in both senses – she is a tiny thing, and so are the kids she teaches), filled us in on the joys and terrors of trying to educate young children from opposing walks of life, contrasting hardened refugees with the privileged children of diplomats.

Erna, on the other hand, works as a specialist consultant in the Client Service Centre of Tuks, helping young adults decide what direction their lives could take. The quietest member of the group also works at the University of Pretoria, Alex, as a researcher. Originally from Iran, Alex informed us of the experiences he has had as a foreigner in our Beautiful country.

While it may be the place to “start a conversation,” Capeesh? is also the place to enjoy good pizza! (I reckon they should work that into their slogan somewhere, too). I enjoyed a generous portion of the Carnito pizza, lavishly topped with green peppers, olives, onions, mushrooms, artichokes, and garlic (well, not too much garlic, luckily), on a thin and crispy base. It was hard not to polish it all off in one sitting, but I managed to save some to take home and enjoy the next day as well.

Perhaps the best part was that the pizza was half-price, making it exceptional value for money! I see there are half-price pasta evenings on Tuesdays at Capeesh?, with live entertainment, and I am mighty tempted to give that a try as well. Their menu boasts a wide range of Italian delicacies and an impressive wine list.

Even though the dimly-lit restaurant was bustling with patrons, the staff members were attentive and friendly. Good service is something I’ve sometimes found lacking in restaurants that serve great food, so it was wonderful that, despite the tons of orders placed that night, we didn’t need to wait long for our food and drinks.

Unfortunately, what with it being a school night (quite literally, in Nadia’s case), we headed off home fairly early in the evening. Even over the course of only a couple of hours, though, I got the sense that our little ragtag group of strangers were leaving as friends. And Capeesh? lived up to everything we expected, including its promise to “start a conversation.”

(Almost) Too Pretty To Slice: The Grove Mall Cake-Off

I’ve recently begun consulting the event calendar on www.pretoria.co.za for entertaining ideas to get me out of the house. It’s a great website that suggests places to go, things to see, and events worth attending. Even if you’ve lived in Pretoria all your life, as I have, I highly recommend paying the website a visit for a bit of social inspiration.

Cakes on display at The Grove Mall

What I like about consulting local event calendars is that it allows you to find something to do that’s fun but not necessarily pricey. (And because this one is specific to Pretoria, it means that there isn’t too much travel required, either.) One of the events listed for this weekend was The Grove Mall Cake-Off, which sounded yummy, so I went to check it out.

Perfect cake for a tea lover like me

Situated near the Wilgers Hospital, it’s pretty close to where I work, and it was a little odd heading towards the office on a Saturday. The Grove derives its name from the pretty olive trees decorating the outside court where most of the restaurants are situated. It was in this area, just outside Woolworths, that all the cakes were on display.

(Almost) too pretty to slice

The event, in honour of the mall’s third birthday, boasted 34 cakes on display. Some were cute, others were amusing, and some were plain gorgeous! Each was unique. The cakes were supplied by local businesses, and were competing for the title of  the first ever winner of The Grove Mall Cake-Off.

The judges sampling the cakes

Once the judging panel, made up of Alida Ryder (Masterchef and Woolworths blogger), Marius Pretorius (Head of Pick n Pay Bakeries - Northern Region), and Hanna Grobler (local actress), had sampled a tiny portion of each cake, the public was allowed to purchase a slice of whichever cake appealed most. A slice cost only R10, and the proceeds were intended for The Hanna Charity and Empowerment Foundation.

Decor display for a little girl's tea party

Afterwards, a celebrity cake decorating challenge was hosted with celebrities from "Getroud met Rugby, which I missed, along with the announcement of the Cake-Off winner. I was distracted by the other delights on offer between the stores, including various party and décor businesses that had set up demos. There were also stalls selling crafts and books or offering tasting samples of delicacies for sale. This excited me because I love nibbling on artisan products and discovering new treats.

It was a pretty unique and interesting way to spend my Saturday, and only set me back R10 for a delicious slice of cake! I’m looking forward to any other events hosted by The Grove. If you are looking for an inexpensive and entertaining distraction for your weekend, you might find that a quick glance at Pretoria.co.za might provide you with some interesting options you wouldn’t otherwise have considered.

Mixing Business and Pleasure - Off to the Cape

Flying to Cape Town is a costly affair, but since that’s where my godchildren live, I try to make a trip down every few months or so to see them. This month, however, I was lucky enough to have been sent down on business to promote theVine to producers.

My godchildren, however, were not the only kids I’d be spending my time with, I realised, as my boss’ pretty 5 year old daughter rushed up to greet me with a hug at the airport. As we checked in, she proceeded to fill me in on the names and ages of the additional children we would be staying with in Paarl, along with the gifts she’d brought along with her for them.

This didn’t intimidate me at all, as I love children, even when they are very busy and chatty, as my boss’ daughter Isabel can be. She didn’t stop talking at all as we browsed the departure lounge stores (where she craftily persuaded her mom to buy her games and popcorn) while waiting for our flight to board.

My 5 year old travelling companion

On the two hour flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town, I realised that children don’t merely require constant attention – they demand it. Seated between my boss, Alida, and I, Isabel kept chatting to us, playing with us, and getting us to help her with things.

If we became distracted with something else, such as the inflight magazine, she would regain our attention promptly either by diverting it to something that interested her, or by getting involved in whatever you happened to be doing. She’s enormously cute, though, so it’s attention I appreciated. However, it’s a wonder that Alida manages to keep up with her constantly.

We finally landed, much to Isabel’s delight, since the games that had promised “hours of fun” on the packaging had lasted her 10 minutes at most, and she had begun getting bored. Even the sweets she was offered were not enough to distract her, making me think she gets to eat more than my mother ever allowed me. She also struggled to equalize her ears and they hurt as we descended.

Problem: getting the luggage into the car

Sweets were a great novelty for my little “deprived” self. Hell, even carob-coated rice cakes (not even real chocolate!) or fat free fruit yoghurt used to be enough to bribe me with. Kids these days don’t know how spoiled they are!

Once we’d disembarked, collected our luggage, and filled out the paperwork for our rental car (well, Alida filled out the paperwork while I enjoyed a complimentary hot chocolate), we were faced with an interesting problem. Having been given a tiny car, we somehow needed to squeeze three people (well, two and a half) plus a mountain of luggage into it!

Despite being so tiny, children don’t pack light. Besides that, though, we had also brought a mountain of promotional material along with us. Being women, however, with much practice in squeezing everything we need into our handbags, we managed to get everything into the car (taking up a great deal of the free back seat).

One way to sleep in a car

Finally, we were on our way to Paarl. Unfortunately for Isabel, who was thoroughly sick of travelling by this point, Paarl is not very close to the airport. Luckily, she fell asleep – although in an incredibly awkward position. You’d think that kids are flexible, and that should explain how anyone could sleep in that pose, but when we pulled over at deli to buy some lunch, Isabel did complain that her neck was sore. So kids aren’t THAT flexible… ;)

I must say that one of the things I love about the Cape is that you have the option to visit such cute delis out on farms and can try artisanal products that you wouldn’t otherwise. Especially if you come from Gauteng, where you really need to go out of your way to find uniquely made gourmet or delicatessen items. Capetonians are very spoiled.

In this particular one, called SOMETHING, I spotted some dried olives, which I pointed out to Alida because I absolutely adore dried olives. I could eat the entire container on my own, even. Alida informed me, to my delight, that we’d be staying on an olive farm, and I’d be able to enjoy dried olives there. With that knowledge, I became as eager as Isabel to reach our destination!

My home for the next two weeks

After dodging road works and trucks in our tiny car, we finally made it to our destination: Olyvenbosch. The farm is home to Alida’s sister and her husband, who converts most of his olives into award-winning olive oil (of which I have a box at home thanks to Alida’s selling skills that would come in handy on our business trip).

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the farm, though, was not the olives but the children! I was greeted by an insanely cute little 3 year old boy with cheeks that are very difficult not to pinch when he smiles. What’s more is that I was greeted with a hug – even though we had just met!

As I met the rest of the family, including Alida’s sister and brother in law, it became clear that I’d be practicing a lot of Afrikaans in the Cape. All that time I has “wasted” watching local soap operas, such as 7de Laan, would certainly pay off! Even if it does give my Afrikaans a somewhat dramatic flair…

My picturesque room

As we unpacked our car that appeared to be bursting at the seams, Alida enquired as to where we’d be sleeping. Her brother in law responded that she’d be sleeping in his daughter’s room, and I’d be sleeping buite (ourside). It sounds terrible, like I’d be sleeping with the dogs or something, but luckily buite merely meant a charming guest room away from the house.

We had just enough time to drop our bags in our rooms, have a bite to eat, and answer some emails before we needed to be off to our first meeting in the Cape. It was at Hartenberg Estate, where Alida had worked before, so it promised to be an easy meeting, since Alida already knew the people there personally.

When we arrived, it became clear that she not only knew them, but they adored her, in fact. Of all or time spent there, possibly only 30% was dedicated to business. The rest of our time was focused on catching up and tasting wine.

My first glass of wine in the Cape

The latter appealed more to me, of course, and the wines we tasted were among the best I’ve had. I particularly fell in love with Hartenbeg’s Cabernet Shiraz, which will earn 5/5 from me on theVine, our website where wine lovers can rate and review South African wines, deciding the local Top10.

It is possible to rate and review producers as well, and Hartenberg is scoring high for good reason! Their staff is knowledgeable and friendly, serving their wines with whole olives and tapenade on bread in their quaint tasting room. The whole experience serves to do the wines justice.

By the time we finally left, having tasted all their wines, including the exclusive Gravel Hill, it was already getting dark, and we still had a long ride home. I was quite exhausted from our day of travelling by the time we got back to Olyvenbosch.

Such a stunning estate

I was immediately greeted with hugs from all the children as I walked through the door. They were clearly unconcerned by the fact that they had only just met me earlier that day because I scored extra hugs as they were saying goodnight and heading for bed.

I retired to my room soon after them and was out in no time at all. Despite feeling as though I hadn’t got much done, I was exhausted. For a change, though, I actually slept through the night! And I was in the Cape, so there would be no complaints from me.

An Evening of Firsts: The Pretoria Wine Lover’s Club samples Lemberg Wines at De Kloof

My quest for adventure may be getting a little out of hand, I mused, as I navigated towards De Kloof restaurant (getting lost twice on the way), where I had a Lemberg wine tasting event with the Pretoria Wine Lover’s Club. I’ve been to wine tastings before, of course, mostly as part of my job as a wine writer for theVine, and I am growing accustomed to meeting winemakers and tasting new wines.

Smoked mackerel pate

What made this event unique, however, was the fact that I would be sharing it with a group of people I had never met before. I stumbled upon the Meetup.com page for the Pretoria Wine Lover’s Club while searching for additions to theVine’s event calendar at work. Always keen to try something new, I signed up and gave my RSVP for this event.

I was also interested in the venue, since I’d never even heard of De Kloof restaurant before. Located at the Waterkloof Golf Estate (which I misunderstood as the Pretoria Country Club, and that is why I got so lost), it hasn’t yet had its first birthday, which explains why I didn’t yet know of it. The restaurant was already bustling when I finally arrived.

A whole table had been booked for our group, with the rest of the room filled with tables for other guests. Someone was already seated at the Pretoria Wine Lover’s Club’s table. Her name was Desire, and this was not only her first event attended on Meetup.com, but her first wine tasting as well! She was pretty excited to be seated next to someone who could help her practice the correct tasting technique, and we hit it off immediately.

Springbok shank and garlic mash

Other ladies arrived, joining our table, including our hostess Lizé and her father René, who has a business interest in the De Krans winery in Calitzdorp. They graciously welcomed us to their club. Although I had never met any of the ladies before, it didn’t take long for us to start jabbering away, and the Owner and General Manager, Charl Whitlock, had to silence us in order for the event to begin. He introduced David Sadie, the talented winemaker of Lemberg to us, who would be presenting is wines that evening.

David is a tall, well-spoken man, who had no trouble engaging his audience, even when discussing the history of the wines. Lemberg is a small farm in Tulbagh that focuses on red wines. In the 80s and 90s, the farm was known best for its Hárslevelű, an old Hungarian cultivar that is being replanted there now. “Only one other farm in South Africa is producing it,” David told us, “and many people who remember the Old Style have been requesting it from us.”

Lamb skilpaaitjies

In general, Lemberg’s production is fairly small, and David describes his winemaking as “intimate.” He reveals that he avoids too much sulphur and commercial yeast in his wines because he prefers “a more natural and pure way of winemaking.” To demonstrate this, David offered several wines for tasting, each carefully paired with a delightful delicacy specially prepared by De Kloof’s Executive Chef, Leanne Roberts.

The Vionier 2001, which was presented with a delicious smoked mackerel paté, is the first Lemberg Viognier to be made with David’s natural approach. It boasts no acidification, no enzymes, 50% natural fermentation, and the use of older 500 litre barrels to enhance the natural beauty of Viognier. It is fresh and easy-drinking, with an underlying minerality. Production was quite small, at only 1200 bottles in total.

This was followed by the Pinot Noir 2011, which is a cultivar that only Lemberg is producing in Tulbagh. David revealed that Pinot Noir “doesn’t normally do well in warmer climates,” but he promises that, despite the small production, “in the future, we will do much more Pinot Noir because the proof is in the pudding.”

Goat's cheese mousse topped with caramelised red onion

The grapes were harvested earlier to “capture what is so beautiful about the wine – its feminine character.” Paired with De Kloof’s version of sweet bread (which is actually meaty and not a kind of bread at all), the wine took on a spicy, smoky character.

The Pinotage 2010 had a much larger production, and David admits that “it is the most influential grape on our farm. We are establishing ourselves as premium Pinotage producers in South Africa.” Served with Springbok shank and garlic mash, the wine was surprisingly smooth for a Pinotage and had a nice spiciness to it. I would describe it as premium indeed.

Next was Lemberg’s Flagship Spencer Pinotage 2010, which was spicier and stronger, served with lamb skilpaaitjies. The difference between the two Pinotages is purely barrel selection, David explained. “It’s the same wine, but after 12 months, the Spencer is placed in newer barrels. It remains unfiltered, as a way of preserving the character of the wine.” I loved it so much that I took a whole case home. Definitely my favourite of the evening!

How pretty is this appetizer? I will be coming here for dinner!

Lastly, we enjoyed the Surin 2011, which was paired with goat’s cheese mousse topped with caramelised red onion. This is a nice dessert wine, with a fruity apricot character, which is not too sweet. David explained that Surin is another name for Sauvignon Blanc, and the wine is made “on the desiccated method of dehydrating the grapes on the vine until they become like raisins.

Afterwards, us ladies ended up chatting to the event’s hosts and getting to know each other late into the evening, as we enjoyed some fantastic desserts that we ordered off the menu. It was hard to choose because there is nothing on that menu that I don’t want to try. I’m just going to have to go back, I realised, hopefully soon, for another fantastic event with Lizé and her Wine Lover’s Club!