Rosé Rocks

For such a pretty, beautifully hued and generally cheerful-looking wine, rosé in South Africa has had a really strained relationship with consumers over the past decade or so. I’m not pointing fingers or laying blame but I suspect we’d all agree that this is largely due to two reasons: sugar and volume. I sincerely mean no offense to any producer but sugary sweet pink wines and pink wines in big boxes have – in the minds of many – set the tone for rosé consumption in SA. OBVIOUSLY not exclusively, but it’s a connotation that has been pretty dominant.  Pair that perception with the idea that rosé is for girls, and you’ve essentially shoved your average rosé consumer into a pretty tightly defined box. Today though, I say to you, rejoice! For rosé is riding its own little wave of revolution – and we are all better off for it.

I may have mentioned previously my pained personal relationship with the rosy liquid; a definite case of “It’s not you, it’s me”. For years I avoided any and all wines which I even imagined had a hue of blush in it. This aversion was not because of anything wrong with rosé as such – not cultivar or style, not even sugar or bulk. It was all based on one week in 2006 where I was immersed in pink wine. As part of my honours degree, we completed a sensory training course at the Stellenbosch University Department of Food Science. The subject for that year was rosé wine. I spent a full week tasting, evaluating, studying, spitting, swirling and accidentally swallowing pink wine – from 8AM to 5PM. Five full days. The aim of the course was to teach us about the basic principles of sensory evaluation by training the group as a sensory panel. So we spent the days familiarising ourselves with the typical rosé characteristics, comparing each aroma and taste with the actual foodstuff, and then went into painfully detailed scoring processes. The wines were dead average. Dead boring. Dead awful.

I am not even moderately exaggerating when I tell you that for nearly 6 years I refused to even taste pink wines. At wine outings, I’d simply let the blush bottles pass me by. I wouldn’t even sniff it. I was traumatised. Academically the experience was fantastic. Practically, I was ruined.

Now, anyone who has ever read a word I’ve written has probably garnered that I pride myself on not being a judgmental wine drinker (or writer). Like everyone, I have my preferences, but I’ll try anything once and give all wines a fair chance to impress or inspire me. So when I ventured into the world of wine writing, I realised I could not be a credible wino if I ignore an entire style of wine. I reconciled with the pink monstrosity I’d so battled with for years and I can tell you now, I could not be happier.

Anyone who has paid a modicum of attention to what’s happening in your local wine shops will probably have noticed significant growth in contents of the pink shelves. Not only are there more rosé wines being produced, but styles are lighter, more Provençal and undoubtedly more delicious. SA has seen rosé consumption treble between 2007 and now – it is the fastest growing local wine category. And it’s not just here that the pinkies have been moving and shaking. Both USA and UK show double digit growth figures in the category and – shock! horror! – last year the richest of the rich in the New York Hamptons ran out of the precious pink nectar.

It’s a brilliant food wine (not sure if you should pair white or red with that meal? How about pink. Ding ding ding! We have a winner.). Pink MCC has also increased dramatically with winemakers exploring new styles and cultivars. And you know, the pink bubbles are often more expensive (even arguably, more delicious?) than their white counterparts.

Doubtless then that now is a terrific time to introduce SA’s first exclusive rosè wine competition. Conceptualised and brought to life by Clare Mack and her team at Spill Brand Communications, the Rosè Rocks competition was born. I was tickled pink (sorry…) to be invited to judge the competition. We were chaired by the brilliant Allan Mullins and the judging panel consisted of myself, Tinashe Nyamudoka (the head sommelier at The Test Kitchen), Neil Pendock, Malu Lambert (freelance food & wine journo) and Praisy Dlamini (winemaker at Zonnebloem). The judging went down yesterday and was completed as a blind tasting. All the results will be audited by Grant Thornton to ensure transparency and results the public can have confidence in.

We tasted around 160 odd entries and I was both impressed and slightly relieved to find that the majority of the entries were dry and off-dry. A relatively small amount of sweet pinks were entered. There were also a good amount of MCC entries (and what a treat it was to judge those). The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on the 30th of September. As everything was tasted blind, not even the judges knows who came out tops. There will be a Top 10 announced for the still wines as well as one overall winner, and a Top 3 MCC wines and also one overall winner.

This may have been my first formal competition judging experience, but it was an excellent one. Scores were tallied, results discussed and the top wines were re-tasted to ensure that a deserving winner was picked. I’m counting the days until the embargo lifts and I can quiz the organizers about the identities of my personal favourite picks, because I will definitely be stocking up.

Most importantly, the interest in this competition has been immense, boding well for a summer of superb rosè sales and consumption alike. If you are someone who (like I was) simply does not rate rosè, I urge you to take a fresh look at what’s happening in this category. In fact, I will struggle to take you seriously as a wine drinker if you don’t at least try. And the idea that pink wines are for ladies is so last year. I’d refer you to the brosè movement and tell you that real men can pull off drinking pink drinks.

I’ll be spending my summer sipping away on some cool rosè, feeling pretty pleased to be back in the pink.

The post To Be (back) In The Pink appeared first on Incogvino.

FNB Whisky Live Showroom

While this website has its roots firmly planted in wine, the content and appreciation is definitely not limited to said precious liquid. We here at Incogvino do not discriminate between alcoholic beverages and especially not against whisky. Or whiskey. Whichever you prefer. With that in mind, it’s nearly time for the net FNB Whisky Live festival. These annual events are held in Cape Town, Durban, Nelspruit, Sandton and now also Soweto. To celebrate the upcoming FNB Whisky Live Showroom in Soweto, we’re giving away two sets of double tickets to two Incogvino winos (Whiskiers? Whiskos? Whiskocvinos?)

The 2014 FNB Whisky Live Showroom in Soweto will take place at the Walter Sisulu Hall from the 15th to the 17th of August. Moving to a slightly smaller venue than the 2013 event, this promises to be a bit more intimate a setting for whisky lovers, but also means tickets will be limited. To make sure you don’t miss out on this event you can a) enter our Incogvino Twitter competition (details below) or b) secure your place by booking online.

Attendees can look forward to an impressive line-up of international whiskies, including Glenlivet, Bains Mountain Whisky, Balblair and Glenfiddich, to name only a few of many. This event is a great one for anyone to attend, whether you’re a long-time connoisseur or if you’re just starting on our journey of whisky appreciation, it will be a great opportunity to learn, enjoy and indulge.

Tickets for the festival are R150 if you book online and R170 at the door (if there are any left!). Ticket prices include a complimentary tasting glass (of course, how else would you taste the marvellous offerings?), a 2014 SA Whisky Handbook (that will come in handy!), a 500ml bottle of Valpré Spring Water (the key to a good whisky festival is hydration…), 15 tasting vouchers (that’s a lot of whisky) and a bonus 10% discount on any purchases made at the Showroom’s Whisky Shop OR on the Whisky Shop website.

Sound good? Keen to go? Feeling lucky? Then it’s competition time!

Entering for a chance to win one of two sets of double tickets to the FNB Whisky Live Showroom in Soweto (on the Friday 15 August) is as easy as falling off a whisky barrel. All you need to do is:

1. Tweet us @WeAreIncogvino using the hashtag #WantToWhisky and tell us why you want to whisky in Soweto on the 15th of August. Go nuts, be creative or just express your love for whisky in one crazy tweet.
2. For a bonus entry, comment below and tell us your funn(i)est whisky story. 

Entries close on Wednesday morning at 11:00. Winners will be contacted via Twitter and email. Please ensure that you will be able to attend the event in Soweto on the 15th of August. 

*Images and event information courtesy of Tribeca Public Relations*

The post FNB Whisky Live Showroom (and competition!) appeared first on Incogvino.

Turns out someone rather liked my scribblings and I was chosen as the winner. This wildly unexpected turn of events lead me to pursue the idea of Incogvino, my own little platform on the interwebs where I can write about wine. Which is all I really want to do, really. There will be a bit more on how this website came to be in a future post. For now, you can read my original entries (written in Afrikaans) here. After a number of requests, I translated my entries to English. You can read that below.

Quaffers and their counterparts

Wine. Making it, selling it and enjoying it is a fluid and ever-changing world. A world that is becoming increasingly diverse, inhabited by all kinds of people. From students enjoying little boxes of wine in pubs to true connoisseur who attend auctions and travel to all corners of the earth for new oenological discoveries. The spectrum in between is vast, surprising and never boring.

As diverse as the people who worship at the feet of Bacchus may be, the precious liquid that they all enjoy is what brings them together. Countries and regions. Styles, colours and tastes. Cheap as chips or eye-wateringly expensive. A lifetime can be dedicated to the knowledge that comes with a passion for wine. Some do just that. Sommeliers. Winemasters. The rest of us do what we can, learn what we can, decide what we like and what we don’t care for.

Often, two types of wine are distinguished. Quaffers and wines that were made to pair with food. The former created for easy drinking and the latter demanding to be carefully combined with just the right flavours.

Quaffers are everyday wines for everyday enjoyment. Simple. Without pretense. Your glass of sweet relief after a long day at the office. The start of the weekend. A holiday staple. Quaffers are easy to drink. They don’t make you think too much about what’s happening on the palate. The vintage is not important. Ageing potential is irrelevant, because the bottle won’t see next week. Quaffers also won’t really break the bank. Soft red blends, a fresh Sauvignon Blanc, a lovely Merlot that wipes out a long, difficult day.

At the other end of the spectrum are the quaffers’ counterparts. Fine dining wines. Table wines that were made for haute cuisine, special dishes or specific flavour combinations. These wines need something to complete them, challenge them and bring out the best in them. They speak to you. They tell you what should be on the plate, what they need and what they’ll work with. They demand planning and careful, considered choices. A little time and a bit of effort is necessary to ensure that the wines and the feast are perfect a perfect match.

And yet, while these two types of wine seem so vastly different, they have more in common than you may think. It may be more challenging for a serious, fine dining wine to pass itself off as a quaffer, but there’s no reason the latter can’t take a well-deserved place at the table.

Antiquated notions about wine and pairings expect red wine to be paired with red meat and chicken to be paired with white. These ideas are being replaced with new, exciting and adventurous combinations. Heavy reds are no longer solely destined for big, juicy steaks. How about a Pinot Noir with that tuna steak? Or some luxurious, rich Chardonnay to go with the oxtail curry?

The emphasis is shifting to balance of flavours between the wine and the dish. Pair the main characteristic of the wine with that of the food, rather than trying to match the wine as a whole with the entire dish. Of course a few golden rules will ensure a successful pairing, but the hard and fast “rules” of pairings are falling away in favour of a fresh, new approach. A good approach is to focus on the wine and match the food to it. As long as the wine is sweeter than a sweet dish, or more acidic than a zesty one. And try to avoid bitter-bitter combinations.

Ultimately, the best way to find the perfect match is through trial and error. Experiment with unusual combinations, contrasting flavours and those that are complementary. Food and wine were made for each other and complete each other.

In South Africa, quaffers and their counterparts are often found in the same price class. Local producers fill the market with high quality, premium-class wines at affordable prices. Wines are made in many different styles, sometimes classic, sometimes new-world and sometimes according to their own initiative. These wines are comfortable at any table, with or without a fancy menu. They make finding the perfect pairings even easier, and considerably more budget friendly.

The supposed rules around drinking wine are slowly changing and disappearing. Wine is more affordable, drinkable and accessible than ever before. The line between quaffers and fine table wines is fading. Producers and winemakers are making their own rules, as they see fit. The end result? Creating wines that can be enjoyed whenever, wherever and however you please.

Joostenberg Long & Late

(My short blog post on the most unusual wine I’ve ever tasted)

When in search of an unusual wine or wine type, people often chase after them in the farthest reaches of the planet. French Bordeaux, Argentinian Malbec or German Riesling. Sometimes you look so far afield that you end up missing the gem that was right under your nose.

I discovered such a gem in a small bottle with a content resembling that of a brandy. No label. Just a name, written in Tip-Ex. Joostenberg Long & Late.

“A rarity,” I was assured.
“Uniquely dry-sweet,” I was told.
“Perfect cheeseboard wine,” was the advice I was given.

And it was exactly that. All of that and more.

My dad used to buy Hanepoot sweet wine, in those big bottles with the little ear on. A light straw-colour. He has a small, old wine barrel in the kitchen. Just a few liters. The sweet wine would be put in the little barrel. And it would be left there. Until we’d almost forgotten about it. Then one day, a year later, as winter creeps around, the barrel will be opened. Sweet, syrupy goodness would come out, almost the colour of Port. My mom’s favourite.

The Joostenberg Long & Late is nothing like my dad’s little creation. But the story behind it reminds me of it. It’s an experimental wine, a single barrel of 2004 Chenin Blanc. Harvested late, fermented in the barrel for 3 months and then just left for 8 years.

The winemaker isn’t entirely sure what to make of it either. The closest description is a Vin Jaune-style wine. Strong sherry character, but it isn’t fortified. Lots of sugar, but the sweetness is masked by something that dances around the edge of your consciousness, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. An earthy, nutty taste that just barely eludes you.

It’s a damn shame it was such a small bottle.

The post Veritas Young Wine Writer Award 2013 appeared first on Incogvino.