Christmas Cheer(s)

As the last-minute-shopping madness and holiday-making-Gautengers descend on Cape Town, I thought it prudent to take a few minutes for scratching out a last little post for the year. As with most thing I love doing (reading and sleeping, mostly), writing here on a regular basis has taken a backseat to work, panic and the general anxiety that hits the modern (wo)man from around October every year. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions but this year, I am doing some rather impressive planning for 2016. Part of the plan is to triumphantly resurrect Incogvino next year with regular, magical content. Think unicorns. Think chocolate fountains. Think finding-a-parking-spot-right-across-your-destination-in-Cape-Town-CBD. That’s high-level mojo right there. We have plans for our SuperFANS, our member farms (there are new additions coming, so you better watch this space) and general magnificent, world-class, ground-breaking, earth-shattering content for this here blog. Am I building it up a little too much? Not at all. If even one iota of what’s rambling around in my head materialises, then I’m underselling it. In the meantime, have a happy, indulgent, moderately responsible and most importantly safe festive season. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

Christmas cheers and wishes,

Marthélize & Andy

The post A Very Incogvino Christmas appeared first on Incogvino.

Wine Club for Cool Kids

I am not a fan of the traditional wine club format. I was duped into joining one ages ago – not a wine farm affiliated club, just a general wine-of-the-month type. It was horrific. I could put together a better selection than the ones I received by tossing glue-covered corks at a supermarket wine shelf and taking the first ones they stick to. It’s horrendous and nearly always “good idea, bad execution”. There are many reasons why this is the case, probably mostly because of badly sourced wines or budgetary constraints; if you want to offer people 6 or 12 wines of a certain quality, then there is a certain cost associated. And if you don’t happen to like the selection, you’ve just paid a bundle for a case or two you don’t care for. Thankfully, there are those among us who have wrestled with this problem on behalf everyone who has have suffered through the annoyance of being sold awful wine in bulk. Could it be that Tank & Barrel has managed the impossible? Have they created a cool wine club?

Tank & Barrel is a concept created by Alex Brodbeck and winemaker Francois Haasbroek. They wanted to take the mostly outdated idea of a wine club and drag it into the now by making both the process and offerings appealing. They’ve transformed the monthly wine club by breaking it down to its bare bones. Membership is R300 per month and for that you get two exciting, unusual and very much niche wines delivered to your door.

At first glance, the idea of two wines seems a bit underwhelming – we’re so used to these operations selling us multiples of 6. The reasoning behind it though is quite pragmatic: when you are subscribed to a wine club delivering 6 or more wines that you don’t specifically pre-select, the odds of you being stuck with wines you don’t like are quite high. Receiving only two bottles a month means if you don’t like what you get, you only have the one bottle to deal with. On the upside, if you DO like what you receive and you want to buy more, you can order as many as your heart desires directly from T&B. Win. Win.

In short, it’s an efficient monthly wine exploration service offering easy discovery of new wines and the anticipation of a new surprise each month.

The wines that feature in the club are definitely more off the beaten track than mainstream. Not entirely unknown or unacclaimed, of course, but not always the type of vino that you’ll pick up at your local supermarket liquor shop. They don’t stick religiously to the R150 per bottle average – some packs are made up of two wines worth a tad more than R300. The R150 per bottle price point is one where you often find a multitude of exciting wines. The T&B monthly selections so far have included (to name a few) Duncan Savage White, The Foundry Grenache Blanc, Vuurberg White, Overgaauw Cape Vintage Port AND Touriga Nacional, Fram Pinotage and Keermont Terrasse.

I was generously sent a “test box” (containing the Keermont Terrasse and the Fram Pinotage) to see if I – with my deeply ingrained dislike of wine clubs – would be sold on the idea of this one. Hand on heart: I am converted. Each month’s wines come with fantastic tasting notes, dripping with wit and information. An infographic styled image in the middle tells you all you need to know about the wine, including what it smells like, whether to decant or not, ideal pairings and serving temperature, what it looks like and where it’s from. Paragraphs dotted around it provide some extra info on the wine, the winemaking, the winemaker, region and soils and a very short and sweet “What WE think (Why we picked it)”. There’s also a superb Bad Pairing suggestion: for the Keermont it was “Don’t pair with people who think white wine can’t age” and for the Fram it read: “Creme Soda – Why spoil the world’s most noble drink with wine?”. Each delivery also has a little blurb on a wine-related topic, just to get you thinking about wine some more.

Tank & Barrel is, in some ways, still a work in progres. Their ‘To Do’ list for the future includes a new website, eCommerce and maybe even an app to snap together and streamline the whole thing. T&B as it is today is definitely a must-try. Ingeniously selected wines with brilliantly informative and entertaining tasting notes and the option of buying your favourites directly from them is an unconventional and convenient; it’s the most innovative way to discover new wine that I’ve come across.

Membership is R300 per month and (for now) you sign up for 6 months with a once-off payment of R1800. As the club grows, monthly payment options are likely to follow.

For more information (or to sign up!) you can find them on Facebook or check out their website.

The post Tank & Barrel – Finally, a Cool Wine Club? appeared first on Incogvino.

2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Report

It’s often said that Cab is King in Stellenbosch, and that the area is generally considered “Cabernet Country”. I’ve heard winemakers and others in industry mumble the sentiment that if you can’t make a decent Cabernet Sauvignon in Stellenbosch, you have no business being a winemaker. Perhaps a harsh sentiment, but it rings true in many ways. South African wine is going in many different and exciting directions, but perhaps we must be wary of spreading ourselves too thin in a cultivar sense? Of course diversifying and experimenting is great in terms of new offerings and discovering what is possible (and equally, what is not) but there is also no sense in moving rapidly away from our strengths – of which Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely one. The annual Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report take a good look at what’s potting with local Cab, and this year continued the showcasing of the top specimens.

The #CabReport2015 was revealed during a casual ceremony at Burrata on Wednesday afternoon. Christian kicked off the proceedings with an introduction and thanked Derek Prout-Jones (thereafter referred to as DPJ) for sponsoring the 2015 report. He went on to explain that for the 2015 report, they moved away from the 20-point/5 star rating system and used the (internationally more standard) 100-point system. They also did away with the Top 10 and instead awarded all wines scoring 90 points and higher a certificate.

DPJ also shared a few thoughts with those gathered. He underlined the importance of the Cab Report, mostly in terms of what it does to raise consumer awareness and – as a result – drive sales, ultimately expanding the wine-drinking footprint. This is specifically important for the cultivar as it’s arguably one of SA’s most important – some would claim it’s our most iconic grape.

The approach to the report as follows (quoted directly from the report):

“The tasting is capped at 60 wines, partly consisting of examples which have fared well in recent local or international competition and partly from those producers I consider to be the best in their field even if somewhat low profile. While other bigger tastings can have a useful talent spotting function, the intention here is very much to do good by what might be called the seeded players, the finite line-up in particular intended to avoid the perils of palate fatigue. The judging panel was chaired by myself – Christian Eedes – and further consisted of two trusted colleagues, namely Roland Peens and James Pietersen, both of Wine Cellar, a Cape Town firm which brokers and cellars fine wine. We tasted blind, scoring done according to the 100-point system.”

If Cabernet is your game, you will want to take note of this report. And to see the consistency with which many of these producers perform, a gander at the report of the previous 3 years illustrates their continuously excellent performance brilliantly – names like Le Riche, Graham Beck, Warwick, de Trafford and Spier (to name but a few) keep popping up in and around the Top 10 and scored 90+ in the 2015 report. It’s a safe assumption to make that these are the winemakers and estates leading the way to top SA Cabernet. If you’re  serious about Cab Sauv, do yourself a favour and page through all the reports to spot the trends and have a squizz of where your favourites rank. All previous years’ reports are available on the WineMag.co.za site.

A special treat was having all the 90+ pointers available for tasting. My favourites – in no particular order – were the Vergelegen V 2011 (unreleased) which is still preposterously young but will shape to be a fantastic number in years to come, the de Trafford 2012 which seemed to me the most elegant and beautiful wine of them all and the Warwick Blue Lady 2012. Warwick also went one step further and had a 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon to taste alongside the Blue Lady. It was exquisite, aged beautifully but with enough life in her to go a few more years yet.

You can read the full 2015 report here. Congratulations to Christian on his valuable contribution. While no single report or document is likely to ever be considered comprehensive (for a given value of comprehensive) by everyone who reads it, the fact that we have these inputs available to the public goes a long way to building and promoting wine in general.

The post King Cab – The Christian Eedes #CabReport2015 appeared first on Incogvino.

• Download SnapScan if you haven’t already. Scan the code in the image below and you’ll make a donation to the Volunteer Wildfire Services. You can choose the amount, it’s not preset.
  

  Donate via SnapScan

• If you’re in Cape Town and you want to provide supplies, check the VWS Twitter feed or their “How to Help” page to see what is needed and where.

They’re currently quite well stocked on supplies (food and water) but cash donations to cover the fuel costs to run the helicopters and other vehicles is always welcome. If you’re unsure about the situation, check the website or the Twitter feed for updates.

Words can’t quite express the gratitude for the tireless firefighters. All the accounts I read of people driving past or talking with them mention the smiles, the thumbs up and the positive attitudes. I don’t know how they do it, but we are all eternally grateful.

The post Thoughts and Thank Yous appeared first on Incogvino.

Sediment. Vrydae 17:30 op Kanaal 144

Tydens Desember 2014 het ek op Twitter kennis gemaak met die @SedimentTV rekening wat voorbrand gemaak het vir ‘n Afrikaanse KykNet reeks wat handel oor die plaaslike wyn wêreld. Op Vrydag 2 Januarie 2015 om 17:30 het die eerste episode die lug gesien, met ‘n gemengde ontvangs van die industrie af. Enige interessante nuuthede (veral dié wat ‘n bietjie omstredenheid veroorsaak) verdien om van naderby ondersoek te word.  Daar is reeds drie episodes uitgesaai en Episode 4 wys vanaand. Incogvino het die PVR hierdie week laat les opsê en al drie episodes bestudeer, en ek is reg om my beskeie uitspraak te lewer.

Die debuut episode het ‘n redelike mengsel van kommentaar op sosiale media ontlok; van uitermatige hoë lofprysing tot ‘n paar bitsige aanmerkings, sommige blykbaar meer gefokus op die aanbieder en die produksiespan as die inhoud self. Dit verras my glad nie. Sommige mense lewer altyd hul opinies as blindelingse lofsangers en ander het maar net ‘n skerp tong. Daarom het ek eers besluit om nog ‘n paar episodes te beloer voordat ek my R0.02 ook in die pot gooi.

Ek moet bieg, ek het maar gesukkel met die eerste episode. Die bewerige kameraman het my na my Stiguron laat gryp om die seesiek gevoel af te weer. En ek het by tye gewonder of hulle betaal word vir elke keer wat die skoot verander: 5 sekondes op die wynmaker, 2 sekondes op ‘n uit-fokus wynglas, terug op die wynmaker vir 3 sekondes, dan 2 sekondes op die bottel en so aan, en so voort. Ook maar goed ek het gesit en kyk want ek het begin duiselig voel. Ek besef ek is nou baie krities oor aspekte van die televisiebedryf waarmee ek nie bekend is nie (my gebrek aan terminologie in die opsig verklik dit reeds) maar vir my as kyker was dit te opvallend. Dit daar gelaat, die kamerawerk het myns insiens baie verbeter in die derde episode, ‘n tendens wat ek hoop om deur die res van die reeks te sien.

JP Quickelberge as aanbieder het ook my opinie verdeel. Hy’s jonk, vriendelik en kom baie gemaklik voor: ‘n vars gesig uit die wynbedryf. Die toon van die reeks is ontspanne en sy interaksie met die wynmakers en almal wat op die program verskyn is informeel; minder soos ‘n onderhoud en meer net ‘n lekker gesprek. Sy dikwels gemaklike ‘ad-lib’ styl laat hom soms amper in die steek wanneer hy effens minder voorbereid voorkom. Ek verstaan dat om die insetsel 27 keer oor te skiet om die dialoog 100% te kry sal beslis die natuurlike gevoel van die gesprek heeltemal vernietig, maar in veral die eerste episode kon die aanbieding miskien ‘n bietjie meer afgerond gewees het.

Maar ek is nie net hier om krities te wees nie. Ek het nie KykNet genader met ‘n idee vir ‘n wyn program nie, ek het niemand oortuig dat ek ‘n goeie aanbieder vir so iets sal wees nie en ek is beslis nie op die kassie om te gesels oor wyn nie. Die konsep is fantasties en presies wat Suid-Afrika benodig om die wyn boodskap na sy mense te bring: wyn vir die massas in die gemak van hul sitkamer. Ek verneem die plase het betaal om deel te neem aan die program en ek is nie bekend met hoe die proses verloop het nie maar ek is verheug om te sien dat die fokus weg is van die tradisionele “groot”, meer kommersiële plase en meer op kleiner, boetiek landgoedere. Die plekke besoek tot en met Episode 3 sluit in Black Elephant Vintners, Môreson (terloops ook een van die Incogvino lede), Rickety Bridge, Clos Malverne, Middelvlei, Marianne, Klawer, Lutzville en Fryer’s Cove. JP en die span snuffel die stories agter die wyn uit, gesels met die wynmakers en meng ‘n goeie dosis wynkennis by, veral met die gebruik van die “Wynfeit” oomblikke (die visuele aanduiding van die wynfeite – ‘n klein logo wat op die skerm verskyn wanneer JP ‘n wynfeit uitlig – is afwesig in die eerste twee episodes maar duik dan op in episode 3. ‘n Klein redegerings foutjie miskien?) en geselsies met die wynmakers, nie net in die proelokale of kelders nie maar ook in die wingerd.

My grootste teleurstelling is dat daar nie meer gemaak word van die saamproe aspek van die program nie. Deel van die Sediment aanbieding is die geleentheid vir kykers om by die Wyn Klub aan te sluit en elke week 6 bottels van die wyne wat in daardie week se episode geproe word, te ontvang. By elke plaas wat besoek word, word een van die wyne in die pak geproe. Ten spyte van al die moeite wat met die wyn klub gedoen word, is dit baie maklik om die proe deel tydens die episode heeltemal te mis. ‘n Vinnige bekendstelling of visuele aankondiging van die saamproe sou nie te versmaaie gewees het nie. Hulle mis ook uit op ‘n reuse geleentheid om  tydens die episode met die wyn klub lede op Twitter ‘n bietjie interaksie te skep, veral om die wyne wat geproe word. Hier by Incogvino weet ons darem al ‘n ding of twee van Twitter wynproeë. *kug*

Ek sluit af: dis ‘n uitstekende konsep. Ek haal my hoed af vir JP en almal wat dit uitgedink en deurgevoer het. Dit is hoogtyd dat die wynindustrie sien wat die jonger garde kan bemag en hoe gedrewe ons is om ons liefde vir wyn met die wêreld te deel. Nietemin, soms laat die vervaardiging en afronding die inhoud in die steek. Tog, soos ek opgelet het, blyk dit dat elke episode ‘n verbetering op die vorige een is en dit maak my hartjie bly. Ek gaan aanhou kyk, die PVR is gestel vir elke episode ingeval ek iets mis. Dit is beslis ‘n eerste vir SA televisie en vir die wyn industrie, en hopelik is dit ook nie ‘n laaste nie.

Sediment. Vrydae om 17:30 op KykNet, Kanaal 144

The post Sediment – Wyn op die Kassie appeared first on Incogvino.

“Without being known for predictable tastes and opinions”

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions and retrospectives. I used to be, when I was younger, but then I realised how bad I am at sticking to my lofty ambitions of bettering myself. So I stopped bothering. I pondered this post for a while. The idea was to write an end-of-year post before 31 December 2014. That never happened, partly because of my professional level of procrastination and partly because internet connectivity in Stilbaai was practically non-existent this year. Then I wondered if writing a 2014/2015 New Year’s post wasn’t going to be utterly boring and predictable; was I going to write one just because EVERYONE is writing one? Do I really have something to say, or would I just be rehashing the year and end up sounding hopelessly beige?

2014 was quite a year, both personally and professionally. Despite all the ups and downs, I had a big idea for 2014: Incogvino (you can read about how it all got started here, I won’t re-tell the story now). With some help from talented friends and by joining up with Andy Hadfield, we breathed life into a domain I had registered on a whim years earlier. It was a place where I could write freely on my favourite hobby: wine. The essence of Incogvino has been and will continue to be spreading word on all things wine: that wine is fun; that wine doesn’t have to be smothered in pompousness and snobbery.

Most importantly, I wanted to drive home the idea that wine is for everyone and anyone. We Are Incogvino. An unassuming character. With oft unassuming tastes. Sure, boxed wine isn’t for everyone. But then neither is Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Why should anyone be shamed for what they drink? To each their own, live and let drink etc. etc. Just because I don’t drink katembas doesn’t mean somebody else can’t.

2014 was a good year for Incogvino. From our first post in April, we’ve managed to drink some fabulous wines, visit some amazing wine farms, send our SuperFANS to some exciting events, give away some free things and continue the tremendous Twitter tastings.

None of this would have been possible without our incredibly impressive member farms: Warwick & Vilafonté, Haut Espoir, Beau Joubert, Lithos and Môreson. The concept of the Incogvino Twitter tastings (as begun by Real Time Wine) just took off this year. We had massively successful, fun and exciting tastings with Lithos, Haut Espoir, Beau Joubert and Vilafonté – the latter taking it to the next level with an interactive tasting seeing Mike, Sophia and co. setting up a webcam and leading the tasting via live stream. Tastings had 20 to 30 people from all over SA joining at any one time. Dinner parties were set up, menus planned and prepared to pair with the wines, restaurant bookings made and tweets and photos flying everywhere. That’s a far cry from the five or six app users that used to gather fleetingly – and without much ceremony – to sip two or three wines and send three or four tweets about them.

Here we go.

So that’s it for the look back. Now I have to look ahead to 2015. And to be truthful, I don’t know what to expect. I have plans and ideas. I have a small but capable army of immensely talented people who are backing Incogvino. I want to grow this little passion project and I want to see it turn the wine industry, or at least the writing/blogging part of it, on its head. Ok, maybe that’s me tilting at windmills. But I want to try.

I want to shake things up. I want to do more. Say more. Write more. More wines. More farms. More of the usual fun stuff. More events. More hidden gems. More giveaways. More people. But also more opinions. More on the things I disagree with. More on the things that are controversial. More on the things that really grate my proverbial cheese (or crush my proverbial grapes?). And learning. Lots of learning. Wine is magic; I don’t think anyone can ever really know ALL the secrets. But we can give it a damn good try.

Pop those corks, lovelies. Decant and let breathe. Polish the glasses. And hang on to your Panama hats.

The post A Very Incogvino Year appeared first on Incogvino.