Not sure I quite understand the significance of the coffee pot that Bertus Fourie is shown pouring his wine from on page 312; but it has something to do with being an innovator. This latest edition of the South African wine bible – Platter’s South African Wine Guide – has a theme of ‘innovation’. Scattered amongst the pages are short profiles of those the guide views as the “innovators in the South African wine industry”.

“Using a coffee pot to decant wine is somewhat unconventional, but then so is Bertus Fourie. The wine-maker and educator, nicknamed ‘Starbucks’, is the creator of an entirely new wine category, the ‘coffee pinotage’. He discovered the recipe for this brew by accident in 2001, after trying many combinations of yeasts, oak types and varieties. Though Bertus, who makes this style of wine under the Barista label, believes only pinotage presents a very specific coffee profile, all sorts of taste-alikes, across numerous varieties and blends, are pouring forth faster than you can say cuppa java, And consumers love them”

Are they saying he adds coffee to the wine? Even reading his directory entry I am none the wiser…

The 32nd edition of the guide features 7,000 wines from more than 900 South African wine producers, merchants and brands. All such guides feel the need to award various accolades on their top recommendations; Platter’s is no different with the Boekenhoutskloof winery for example being their winery of the year. Their Red Wine of the Year goes to the Cape Chamonix Reserve 2010 Pinot Noir [Adegga / Snooth]

“Our Red Wine of the Year, shows savoury cedar whiffs, with bright cherry and strawberry aromas powering though tealeaf cigarbox spice. Plush tannins, sweet berry notes integrated 80% new French oak, natural ferment. Even more vibrant and detailed than finely managed 09.”

The Badsberg Badslese 2009 Natural Sweet is their White Wine of the Year [Adegga / Snooth]

“Our White Wine of the Year is this outstanding, elegantly presented Natural Sweet dessert from Chenin. 09 great concentration and spread of flavour, from floral to spicy, huge sweetness concludes on a tangy savoury/leaf note, which is uncloying and decidedly moreish.”

Platter’s South African Wine Guide Superquaffer of the Year is the Boekenhoutskloof The Wolftrap White 2010 [Adegga / Snooth].

“Budget level Swartland-style newcomer is our Superquaffer of the Year. Mostly Viognier, splashes Chenin Grenache blanc, 2010 offers great value. Creamy, leesy body with ripe stonefruit. Delicious.”

Platter’s South African Wines 2012 is listed on Amazon for £15 and is also (soon to be) available from SA Wines Online.

The Wolftrap White is indeed a fine, everyday, glugger. It would make a decent party wine with its soft richness, gentle spice, rounded palate and eager to please nature. Although the alcohol is getting on to 15%. Versatile enough to handle food too – a lemony, herby roast chicken last Sunday, a pitta bread stuffed with gem lettuce and some left over shredded chicken with mayo for lunch today for example.

There is a red version. The Wolftrap red, a Syrah-Mourvèdre-Viognier, I found a little more interesting and engaging. Again smoothly ripe fruity palate tempered with a little pepper-led spice and fine-grained tannins on the finish.

Orvieto is a tourist destination, not just because of its association with wine, but for the miles of caves that run under the gruund and the 14th century catherdral. As with all tourist spots their are oppotunitie-aplenty to part with your Euros in exchange for tat. Such as this tasteful wine jug. Nice, ain’t it?

I’m on an Italian bent (Oi! Stop it…) at the mo. Last October’s EWBC in Brescia and trips out to Fruili and Alto Adige followed by a trip to Perugia (and trips out and about) for the IWineTC. Who would not want to continue the exploration and keep the longing to return alive?

So I made biscotti. Cinnamon flavoured, Biscotti Di Vini Cannella, and paired them with a dessert wine, only the wine wasn’t Italian but English. Now while I do have a half-bottle of something gorgeous and sweet I lugged back from Italy I opened this bottle of Chapel Down Nectar Late Harvest [Adegga / Snooth].

Chapel Down Nectar Late Harvest has been lovingly created by winemaker Andrew Parley using the aromatic grape varieties of Schönburger, Bacchus, Reichensteiner and Siegerrebe harvested during 2010 and 2011. The fruit was allowed to hang on the vine longer than usual to accumulate high sugar levels and, in the case of the 2010 Bacchus (which makes up 20% of this blend), clean ‘Noble Rot’ was achieved.

The fermentation was halted by chilling to leave a wine with a high amount of sweetness from the unfermented sugar and a wine low in alcohol. It comes in at just 8%

It’s a rather delicate little number but with a glorious aroma of elderflower and a palate sweetly perfumed with apricots, oranges and a hint of hawthorn, it is wonderfully ‘English springtime’ in a glass.

The producers recommend it with a fruit based dessert or a light blue cheese; but seeing its delicateness I opted for a couple of cinnamon flavoured biscotti; just to keep a pulse in the Italian vibe…

Nectar Late Harvest is available, exclusively from www.chapeldown.com, at £12.99 per 50cl bottle.

Hard to select just one image for this weeks Sunday Snapshot. The set of eight images covering people holding wine glasses, taken during the 2012 International Wine Tourism Conference in Perugia, Italy, are all quite strong. It is this image, a combination of colours, angle and the detail in the hands that just tip the scales in its favour. The full set of Wine Tasting photos is available to view on my photo blog.

I’ve been in Italy, vineyard hopping, snow permitting, from Umbria down to Campania and Naples. Not just me, I should add, but a party of fabulous people gathered in Italy for the International Wine Tourism Conference and various trips out after, if we behaved ourselves!

The Mustilli Winery was just one such stop, quite quick, in the little town of Sant’ Agata dei Goti. An old, established local family with vineyards reinvigorated since the 1960’s. They appear to own several buildings in the town – a 400 year old cellar, an Agriturismo that “serves authentic regional cuisine” and the family home itself that also houses a wine bar the “Le Cantine di Mustilli” with live music, plus a guest house. Not entirely sure where we went after delving into the cellars but assume it’s the restaurant.

It is local grapes all the way with the Mustilli’s – Falanghina and Agliancio perhaps more well-known than the Fiano, the Piedirosso and the Grifo di Rocca. All these wines shine brighter with food; and even expert palates struggle to appreciate this when faced with nothing more than a bread stick. Actually we didn’t even have those.

We were offered some local apples after, the Annurca variety that only reveals its delicate red hue once picked and stored and turned regularly, we were told.
Three wines were offered. The sparkling Mustilli Spumante is made from Falanghina, its applely, dry in an aperitif style and, as was suggested, would be good with various fish dishes, just as a still Falanghina would.

“a lemon and mandarin thing going on here… a mineral apple thing” – Julie Pegg

The Mustilli Falanghina Sant Agata Dei Goti 2010 [Adegga / Snooth] demonstrated this; the acidity is quite marked. Flavours of those Annurca apples abound.

“a decent nose -a little touch of honey… a little peel… citrus” – Bill Eyer
“Very fresh, citrus, and floral tasting. Would taste great with seafood” – Mary Cressler
“There’s a definite aroma of perfumed talc… old lady’s perfumed talc” – David Lowe

The red variety, the Aglianico, really is a beast of a wine (in general) with the Mustilli version really crying out for food. The Mustilli Cesco di Nece Aglianico 2007 [Adegga / Snooth]. is the house ‘cru’ wine, named after the hills on which it is grown.

“really impressed with the nose, fruit forward, rich, jammy fruit lots of raspberries. Very approachable. Medium to full bodied, a little dryness on the after taste. Tannins as expected. Really nice.” – Melba Allen

The tasting was preceded by an exploratory wander through the estates ancient cellar – mould covered walls, racked vintages snuggly aging, and oak barrels maturing the latest vintages. Well worth a visit.
Mustelli lies just a little inland from Naples and is open to visitors and staying guests. The historic cellars, wine bar and room for wine sales are on Via dei Fiori 20.

A day late with this Sunday Snapshot post; but I have an excuse – I have spent the last week in Italy. It seems an age ago now, but in reality it was just over a week that our party rolled up at the Castello della Sala winery in Orvieto. Its new and gleaming, all shiny stainless steel, designer lights and clean, crisp lines. But its a working winery not a batchelor pad. We had a single bottle tasting here but, I expect not the best the estate produces. It was the shadows from this metal stair that attracted my eye. It seems to me to be better in black and white…

Not having given it that much contemplation I always assumed that Marvin Gaye was walking through a vineyard for his 1968 song. But apparently not. And, while I was aware that the word alcohol was Arabic in origin, I didn’t know it was a kind of make-up al kuhul. As kohl is an extract and a dye, alcohol began to mean the pure essence of anything (the alcohol of an ass’s spleen anyone?) and only from the 1750’s did (wine) alcohol become what it means today. Just two snippets from the amazing The Etymologicon that now resides in my Kindle ap.

Elsewhere there is also a superb explanation of why George Washington’s plantation is named after British Admiral Edward Vernon, who, incidentally led a 1739 British assault on Porto Bello in Panama and how, to the west of London a farm was named in honour of the attacks success. The road to the, long vanished farm, is now home to Portobello antiques market. Old Vernon’s nickname (from his thick coat made from grogram) also came to mean the watered down rum he served to the seamen (grog) and lent, eventually, to how alcohol makes you groggy. I mean, you just got to love this stuff!

To avoid being groggy perhaps make today and tomorrow a non-drink day. For these, according to the latest edition of When Wine Tastes Best (a biodynamic calendar for wine drinkers), these are Root days and not good for wine tasting. Not good also, for celebrating today’s Chinese New Year although Burns night on the 25th is a Flower day – they thus recommend substituting wine for the traditional whisky!

“Vodka, whisky [aqua vitae – water of life], aquavit, balderdash [wine mixed with beer or water that could be sold cheap] and rum are just enough to make the sort of punch that will knock you out. Only just, mind you, because punch comes from the Hindi word for five: panch. That’s because, technically, a punch should contain five different ingredients: spirits, water, lemon juice, sugar and spice. That’s also the reason that the area of India that contains five rivers is called the Punjab”

The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language is available in book form from Amazon for £7.99 and as a Kindle download for £1.99.

The booklet When Wine Tastes Best: 2012 is available from Amazon for £2.99.

It’s a mammoth operation, industrial in scale, but the Raimat estate in Spain operates within strict environmental constraints and practises. Here, between the vines, are freely growing cover crops, a haven for wildlife, and a sign of a healthy balanced vineyard.

The latest photograph in the Sunday Wine Shot series.

Cognac Masterclass The video below is the result of the live webTV show held on Wednesday 18th January 2012

Whether it’s drunk neat or in a cocktail, cognac lovers everywhere are familiar with the smooth, fruity taste that the drink brings to the pallet. A taste which, over the years, has continued to evolve through a variety of new blends, cognac has definitely developed into a classic favourite, no matter how you choose to enjoy it.

But with such a long history of evolution and a wide array of options available, how do you choose the perfect tipple for your tastes, and how do the experts think cognac is best enjoyed?

Baptiste Loiseau, Deputy Cellar Master at iconic fine champagne cognac makers Rémy Martin, joins us today to hold a rare Master Class on all you need to know about cognac, whether you’re a seasoned fan or just want to try something new. He’ll be taking us through the heritage and history of the drink, and offering up different ways to serve cognac along with his tips and advice when it comes to tasting.

Personally I thought today was just fine and dandy. It was going to be a ‘non-drinking day’ too but perhaps not if this Oddbins formula is to be believed…

On the widely reported most depressing day of the year, Oddbins has calculated the likelihood we’ll reach for a glass of wine tonight – and the probability is looking high…

Dubbed ‘Blue Monday’, due to a combination of cold weather, lack of light, and possibly a lack of imagination on the part of the PR industry, the national wine merchant suggests we’ll choose to relax indoors and enjoy a glass of wine this evening. On top of today’s woes a general lack of motivation to keep up the New Year gym and detox regime, inane ‘holier-than-thou’ stories from gloating exercise-fiend friends, plus of course the riveting antics of the housemates of Celebrity Big Brother 2012 will likely find you grabbing yourself a sweet spot on the sofa tonight.

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